Cranium Zigity is a simple game, designed to be played by children who can spell and add, and it works really well for that market. But this is one of those games that Cranium missed on. They made the cards too cool, so little brothers and sisters always want to play, resulting in either arguments or the parents being drawn into this simple game. They were able to get away with this by simply making the game so cheap that anyone can afford it. Still, I curse the game. But Cranium did provide an out for the creative gamer.

Components: Zigity comes in a small tin, sized perfectly to fit the cards. But the real genius is the cards. They are not the first clear plastic cards, but they are what make this game cool to those little kids. Not only does the game have cards, which all little kids love to play with, but they have clear, slippery, shiny cards that are nearly irresistible.


How could any 4 year old resist? And they don’t. The 4 year old insists on playing. SO does the 2 year old.

Setup: The deck of cards is shuffled, which is a trick since the cards are slippery. Seven cards are dealt to each player. Hand about 20 extra cards to the kids too young to play even with help. Don’t worry. The people at Cranium were smart enough to give you lots of extras. Then you may begin.

Game Play: Flip up the top card from the draw deck until a normal card is revealed. Each card has 4 different symbols and a center field. As in many Cranium games, the color of the center field shows what the player must do that round.

Red: The player must add numbers to a total of 11 using the numbers in the top right corner.
Green: Players play all cards that match the musical instrument in the lower right corner.
Blue: The players must complete a puzzle by combining the 3 segments (right, left, and middle) to make the whole picture in the bottom left.
Yellow: Spell a word using the letters in the top left area.

If a player cannot play, they must either draw a card or play an action card. The action cards can make the next player draw cards, pass the card or draw to the next player, or bounce the card or draw back to the last player.

Play continues in a clockwise manner unless it is reversed by a Bounce card, when play goes the other way.

End of the Game: The game ends when one player is out of cards, and they win.

Conclusions: The real goal of this game is to either get your children to play by themselves (a good objective at times), or to play a game with them (the better approach). Cranium once again does a good job in creating a game that children will enjoy and parents will not absolutely despise. It can even be enjoyable in small quantities. For example, playing once or twice is fine, but the fifth play in a row gets quite tedious. The game takes about 5 minutes, including setup, so even playing multiple times will not hit the clock too hard. The age range for this game is not as narrow as other Cranium games, but it is not extremely broad either. It is designed for those who have leaded to spell in the last couple of years. Once too much time has passed, they will simply move on to other more engaging games.

My biggest concern with the game is that they made the cards too cool. Clear cards are just begging for attention, and 2 year olds love to be included. Luckily, as was mentioned in the Setup section, Cranium provided enough cards so you will never use them all. A good portion can be given to the 2 year old to play with while everyone else is playing the game. The 4 year old can play with a little supervision, but they are generally only good for a couple of times. Then you can concentrate on the kids who can read. This game is really designed for them.

The only major problem I have with the game play is in the timing of playing action cards. It is always nice to have a Dodge or a Bounce to deflect the draw cards from other players, but more action cards just get in the way. The game is frequently over in 3-4 turns, and players can only play 1 action card per turn. Having 3 dealt to you simply makes it so you will never win. The other players will be unloading 2-4 cards from their hands then tossing their last action card to dodge the Draw card you just played. At least the game is short.

The game claims to play 2 to 10, but it works best with 3 or 4. Once you are over 5, it just seems to get too tedious.

That being said, my 7 year old loves the game. He plays it with his friends, and he is generally up for a game or 2 with us. He still generally prefers longer games like Catan or Shadows over Camelot. We enjoy playing with him, and it is nice to get the younger kids involved as well, even if they are just collecting the cards. The 4 year old enjoys playing one game, but then she loses her focus. With a short game like this, she manages to make it through the entire first game before going off on her own. Zigity is a great way to spend a little time with the kids.


Rating by Number of Players:
These are how I would rate the game, not my kids. Note: they rating does get a bump up because I play with my kids.
2: 4
3: 5
4: 5
5: 4
6: Going downhill.