“So what are we doing here?”

“We’re writing a review of Apples to Apples British Isles Edition.”

“But why? I mean, surely it’s just the same game as basic Apples to Apples and everyone already knows about that, right?”

“Well, yeah, but the British Isles Edition has criminally little content and I just got a whole bunch of donated to me by some very generous geeks to help me get my avatar. As such I thought that it might be nice to start giving something back to the community in the form of content where such was lacking.”

“Oh, okay. So what did you think of the game then?”

“Good question, let’s get on with this shall we?”

Apples to Apples British Isles Edition is a new edition of the classic Apples to Apples released last year. This version contains a whole bunch of new cards pertaining to the people, places and history of the British Isles. It doesn’t claim to be spectacularly innovative or ground breaking; it just claims to be more relevant to those of us located on this side of the pond. Thankfully in that regard it’s like Ronseal, it does exactly what it says on the tin.

The game comes with a ludicrous amount of cards (756 red apple cards and 252 green apple cards apparently) that are all of uniformly good quality. They’re sturdy, don’t warp or bend and the main text is big and easy to read. The explanatory text is possibly a little small for some people but, quite frankly, that’s what glasses were invented for (just ask my son.) The box itself is well made and doesn’t look like falling apart despite repeated opening and closing and the plastic insert is one of those rare ones that is perfectly designed for the job. It holds all of the cards in a nice number of stacks and allows you to easily separate the red and green cards. Not rocket science but something that a ridiculous number of gaming companies can’t seem to get right.

So what about the gameplay? Well, it plays just like regular Apples to Apples and if you know that game then you know this one. If you don’t then I’ll give a brief run-down here. Basically everyone gets a hand of seven red apples (red cards). Each card will have a word or a name on it. If it’s a name (of a person or a non-internationally famous place, i.e. the Eiffel Tower is included despite not being located in the British Isles) then it will pertain to the British Isles in some fashion, either a living member of Her fraternity or someone dead who achieved some vague fame or notoriety in their lives. Well, that or some obscure place like the River Liffey, which comes up every bloody game!

Anyway, you each get a hand of seven red apples. Then someone (we like to call them The Judginator) gets dealt a green apple (green card.) They flip it over and read out the word. (e.g. ‘I want something dangerous’ or ‘I want something sultry,’ which again seems to come up every game) and everyone else has to give them (facedown) a red apple that they think the person will like as a match to that word. The person with the green apple then flips them over, reads them out and picks which one they think is the best fit. They can give any reason that they like; it can be serious or funny, accurate or ironic, it really doesn’t matter. Hence (among gamers) you have such bombs as pirates, ninjas and flying monkeys. You also have heavy hitters from the UK such as chavs and Margaret Thatcher (which is just wrong when someone plays it for sultry.) As you can see there’s a lot of potential for hilarity there, especially if you don’t mind losing.

The game is actually quite interesting and is as much about knowing the person doing the judging and what they are likely to find appealing or funny as it is about having good cards in hand. For instance one of my friends played the game with, among others, a young girl. It turned out that the green apple she had was irrelevant, she would always pick the itme of food that most appealed to her. So of course everyone started ignoring sensible choices and throwing the tastiest treats her way that they could find (metaphorically speaking.) Mind you it’s still a bit of a crapshoot and the luck of the drawn can leave you sitting with nothing useful in your hand for pretty much the entire game. Still, the sheer fun contained within those multitudinous cards more than makes up for it (as the good time that I had whilst getting hammered this weekend attests to.)

All in all Apples to Apples British Isles Edition is a wonderful party game (that goes great with alcohol too) that you can easily bust out with your non-gamer friends as well as your hardcore board gaming buddies. The replacement of many cards with UK-centric alternatives is a masterstroke in terms of making the game playable by someone who lives over here. As it is there are still plenty of people that I’ve never heard of but I know I’d struggle really badly if I was dealing with obscure American personalities and places. As such I’ll always take this edition over the basic game; it’s just more fun for someone from the UK.