Overview and Basic rules

Browsing through DragonCon 2007 exhibitors my fiancée spotted this game on a shelf. She is a very avid movie fan, and after reading the box and realizing its similarity to Apples to Apples (which she loved) it was an instant purchase for her. Not being a big party gamer myself, I grudgingly agreed to play it a few days later.

The contents of the box are simple. A rules sheet and 4 stacks of cards. Cards are separated in different categories like Props, Characters, Scenes, Critiques and others. Cards are all shuffled together and placed in a big pile. The rules is consistent with other Out of the Box games: easy to read through, and easy to explain to new players. You can probably explain this game in about 3 minutes.

Players decide on a "director" who will flip 2 cards out of the stack and will serve as the judge for that round. After both cards have been revealed, players need to shout out a movie that includes something from both cards. For example, if the cards drawn were "Theme - Saving the world" and "Scene - Alien invasion" then you could shout out something like "Independence Day" to qualify. According to the rules, the first player to shout out a valid name wins, and takes one of the 2 cards to show how many points he has. In case of a tie, the judge decided which one of the two (or more) players takes the card. Then the "judge" job is passed to the player to the left for the next round. The first person to collect 10 cards (actual number depends on the amount of players) is declared the winner.

It is possible that sometimes no one can come up with a movie that fits the cards. In this case, the judge draws one extra card, and now players need to shout a movie that includes something from two out of the three cards available. After a winner is declared, the extra card that was drawn stays in play as the first card for the next round. Players are also allowed to debate with the judge on whether their movie fits the two cards better than the other player's in order to sway the judge's vote.

Gameplay and overall experience

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the game. I really thought that because of the people I was playing with, all movie fans and constant Trivial Pursuit players, I was going to just sit around and do nothing while everyone else was shouting out movies left and right. However, it was not the case. I was actually doing pretty well for myself. I was able to convince the judge on various occasions and got a few other cards by myself pretty easily. My biggest gripe with Apples to Apples is that in our group sometimes humor wins over the best match, and from time to time its okay, but more often than not it degenerates to that in our group. However, Cineplexity never did that for us. Gameplay was always smooth and rounds went by quickly, and all players had a good amount of cards. None of us was too far behind in the race at any time.

I would have to rate this game as "enjoyable experience". I do not think I would suggest we play this game, but when my fiancée wants to play something together with me, I do not mind as much when she picks this. I dare say that unlike you totally hate party games or your movie knowledge is close to zero, you can probably enjoy Cineplexity. I like the debates that pop up from time to time, it is entertaining and, yes, silly sometimes. But for the few times I don't mind joining in a silly game, Cineplexity is good fun and provides good times. And that is what playing a game is about, right?