This game is a good idea, Apples to Apples but with a "mad scientist" slant. I was intrigued by a couple of the examples they advertised and ordered it.

First, I just have to say that the packaging in the Atlas games version is sub-optimal... in fact it sucks. It consists of a (non-divided) tray and a sleeve. The cards slide around in the tray and come out of the top with no cover (or, say, a rulebook) to hold them down. About that missing rulebook... I contacted my retailer, they sent me to the Atlas games web site where enough complaints have been received that they had to add the following to the product page:
NOTE: Rules are printed on the underside of the tuckbox tray.
I hadn't found them there because this is the one spot on the packaging that can't really be accessed while you're playing (assuming you're using the tray).

The game consists of "Unstable Elements", a pile of mundane objects such as a glass of milk, beef jerky, or aluminum cans, and a smaller deck of "Insane Assigments" such as Send secret messages across the ocean, Split the atom, etc. One player (designated the "TA") reads the assignment and the others try to invent a plan using their item. The one who read the assignment gets to pick their favorite plan using whatever criteria they wish.

The game works when an everyday object is used in a clever or outlandish way to satisfy a supervillainish scheme. Unfortunately, most of the assignments are decidely mundane: Get a date, Find something to eat, Hide from your parents, Clean your room, etc. Even some of the more epic tasks aren't very mad sciencey (e.g., Bring about world peace). Also, some of the everyday objects are too odd (e.g., Zombies) to be funny when used in something like Raise the dead -- "I'll start with Zombies... and, uh, I guess I'm done."

I'd like to see more assignments worthy of a mad scientist. How about Kill a double-oh agent? Create a hidden lair? Hold a continent hostage? Render a superhero powerless? For that matter, Raise the dead could have been Create an army of the undead. The theme is a great one, it's just not apparent for the most part.

The aesthetics are fine. The art on the packaging is great (it's just its function as a container that is lacking). The cards have a good look and feel and should stand up to all the shuffling they'll ever get. The art is spot on, with assignments appearing as chalk on a blackboard and items rendered as sort of blueprint sketches and are illustrated well enough that my 4 year old usually recognizes her items without assistance (she's had some good plans; if nothing else, this game has shown me that we need to keep a close eye on her).

We've found that dealing two items to each person makes it much easier to come up with a clever scheme. We also allow our TAs to thumb through a few assignments until they find a suitable one. This works well but is going to limit replayability when less than half the assignments seem at all interesting.

To sum up, Atlas Games' Mad Scientist University is a great concept, not fully realized, in oddly ineffectual packaging.

Hopefully, Atlas Games will release an expansion or two containing the additional subjects that were available for the earlier version:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/metasearch.php?searchtype=game&...
From the descriptions, it looks as though they enhance the mad scientist university theme.