Applestoapplesbboard

How to Play

- The judge's decision is completely subjective: the official rules condone the judge picking the match that is "most creative, humorous or interesting". A particular judge might think it ironic if Helen Keller is played on visionary, and might give that match the point rather than Galileo.

- All players then draw cards to bring their hands back up to seven, and the responsibility of being the judge passes to the player on the previous judge's left.

- The winner is the player who wins a predetermined number of green cards first.

- Each player is dealt seven "red apple" cards; on each is printed a noun or noun phrase (Madonna, Lightning, Socks, Mahatma Gandhi, Street Gangs, London, The Universe, A Locker Room, The San Andreas Fault, Science Fiction, etc.). Keep in mind, cards that start with "My" such as "My 16th Birthday" are based on the judge's sixteenth birthday, and not the 16th birthday of the person who played the card. (After all, they're not supposed to know who played what, anyway.)

- One player is appointed as the first "judge". The judge draws a "green apple" card on which is printed an adjective (Scary, Smelly, Patriotic, Rich, Aged, etc.), and places it face-up. Each of the other players chooses one of their red apple cards that they think is the best match for the green apple card, and places it face down. The judge shuffles the red apple cards, then turns them face up (without knowing who submitted each) and decides which red apple card is the best match for the green apple card. The player who submitted that red apple card wins the round, and takes the green apple card.

Strategy

- You can lobby and harass the judge to convince them your card is the right one. For example one may say, "Don't you think Michael Jackson is rather frightening? Remember the baby incident..." But you can also lobby for other people's cards, if you think they have a more interesting match.

- Some judges are prone to look for the most technically correct match, whereas others tend to vote for the funniest or most creative association, so play to the judge. Also be aware of the judge's biases. If the judge is a vegan, and turns over the green apple disgusting, you may have a better chance of scoring with meat than with mildew, regardless of how much you personally think mildew is a better match.

- When none of your red apples seems likely to win, you might throw away a boring one in order to draw a new card. Occasionally, a judge will completely misunderstand the definition or will have a twisted interpretation and your card will win anyway.

- Although there is no such thing as a formal "trump card," some cards get better reactions from all players. For example, cards relating to sexuality, politics or other controversial topics have a better chance of winning in a wide variety of categories.

Variations

- If desired, the players may explicitly agree to judge based on which red apple is least described by the green apple, or by which is most ironic, etc...

- A variation known as "Baked Apples" allows all players to play one red card, with no time limit, onto the table. The judge then puts the cards down in reverse order, one at a time, explaining why he or she did not pick the card. The winner not only gets the green card, but becomes the next judge. This variation is rather common among Apples to Apples fans.

- Another variation, known as "Apple Turnovers," has players playing green cards from their hand of 5 to best describe a red card.

- Another variation works by handing out paper clips and allowing players to combine red cards. For example if the green card reads "sexy" you can clip together "cocaine" and "underwear."

- An optional rule is to penalize the slowest player to select a red apple for a given turn by making them keep all their cards. This rule encourages players to make snap decisions, rather than engaging in extended deliberation.

- Instead of playing to a set number of wins, the game can also be played for an open-ended amount of time or predetermined number of rounds. When all the players don't feel like playing anymore, or they run out of cards, each player counts how many cards they have won. The player with the most cards is the winner.

- At the end of the game, just for fun, players can share their green cards and make them descriptors of their personality, whether true or not. For example, "I am witty, green, and scary but also smelly."