Cranium Hoopla Board Game
Cranium Hoopla Board Game
Publisher: Cranium Number of Players: 2+ Playing time: 20 minutes Ages: 13 & up Overview: We like to call this Cranium Lite.not because they skimp on the fun, but because you can lift the box without assistance. Taking the same basic ideas that carried Cranium to the top, Hoopla changes things up by putting all the players on one team against a truly insidious opponent: the dreaded timer. Once it starts, the players are hoping, hollering, drawing and being clever as they race time itself. So, in short, yeah, this is another winner from the folks what brought you Cranium. Other games you might like: Cranium and any of a thousand other Cranium products; Rigamarole; Wit's End; or just about any party game in existence
Customer Review: Great Fun--Especially for Couples!
After being disappointed with the Cranium game Whoonu, I decided to give this reputable company another chance by purchasing two new games--one of which was Hoopla.
Hoopla includes around 300 cards (Who, What or Where cards), 15 minute timer, 10-sided color die, 3 purple "Wild" Tokens, a pad, and pencil.
The premise is pretty simple: Deal 4 cards to each player, make a "Playpile" of 8 cards, then set aside the rest of the deck. Each player rolls the color coded die which corresponds to 5 actions. These 5 actions are ways to get the other players to guess which image is on the card of your choice. They are:
Blue = Coodle. This means that you sketch clues about the card in your hand
Yellow = Tongue-Tied. This is challenging but fun: you have to pick ONE letter of the alphabet and all your verbal clues MUST begin with that letter. For example, if the card image was a Who, and it was Elvis, you might pick the letter "M" and say "Major, Musician, Mephis", etc. This can get REALLY tricky. The other day, I rolled a Tongue-Tied and chose to use it for my Who card of Zeus. I used words like "Athens, Athena, Ares, Almighty, Abba (the Hebrew word for Father God)" and so on. My husband blanked out! (It was fun, though.)
Green = Soundstage. Using gestures, acting, and sound effects, you act out your clues. This, too, can be hilarious and challenging. I chose one of my Who cards, Bono, for Soundstage. So here I am, pretending to sing like a rockstar, gesturing that I have on rectangular sunglasses, humming songs like "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "New Years Day"...and my husband didn't get it right away! In fact, he KNEW I was referring to Bono, but figured I was referring to *another* singer...and Bono was "just an example". Yet, he never actually SAID Bono! It was hilarious trying to get him to state the obvious!
Red = Tweener. This is perhaps the trickiest action. You have to craft two clues at a time, related to the card, but they must be in the form of "bigger than" and "smaller than". For example, I chose Locker Room, a What Card, for my Tweener roll. So I said to my husband "It's bigger than a football, but smaller than a stadium." and "It's bigger than a basket ball, but smaller than the school." Took him awhile, but he finally got it!
Purple = Wild. This means that you can choose whichever action you want--Cloodle, Tongue-Tied, Soundstage, or Tweener.
If you get stumped, you can also use one of the purple Wild Tokens--but you only get 3 per game for everyone!
This fun game doesn't pit you against other players. Rather, everyone is on the same team--pitted against the CLOCK. After each turn, a person selects a card from the Playpile, so after all the cards in everyone's hand is used, including all of the Playpile, the game ends.
This game is aptly targeted towards Teens and Adults. Most of the images are too complex for children (e.g., Platform Shoes, Great Barrier Reef, Psychic, Sorority House, Jack Nicholson, Mount St. Helens, Flea Market, Spring Break, Bob Marley, Walkman, Mardis Gras, Redwood Forest, Colonel Sanders, etc.). While some may be simple enough for children--for example, Cat in the Hat or Barbie, most are not.
I mostly got this game so my husband and I could play (after being disappointed that Whoonu doesn't support a 2-player game unless you form your own complicated set of rules--which is unfortunate). It doesn't take long and is a BLAST to play. You're required to draw on your inner creativity, so it's brain-stretching, too! My 8 year old likes to look at the pictures and try to draw them for us to "guess"--or he mans the wind-up timer for us when we play. (Players stop the timer in between the roll of the die and re-start it when the action is about to be performed).
An excellent game for couples, adults, and teens!
