Game: Cranium Hoopla

Thread: Re: A New Year's Classic

Grimstax — 2008-01-04T19:02:40+00:00

My wife and I love this game and use Apples to Apples cards as substitutes. You'll run into some cards that just don't work, but then that just causes us to have to do some discarding, adding cards to the pile and making the game more exciting. Let me know how it works for you. We've never played this with more than 3 people; we've always seen it as a good game to play with the two of us. We'll have to try with more and see how it goes.

Thread: Re: Tweeners?

starwarsgolfer — 2008-01-04T14:39:07+00:00

We play where multiple clues can be given, but i like the idea of just one clue. It would force more thought into the category and make it a little more challenging. We also have a problem where people are not using nouns to fill in the blanks. Example: Spam = It is bigger that WEIRD and smaller than MEAT. Don't know if anyone else has this issue...

Thread: A New Year's Classic

starwarsgolfer — 2008-01-04T14:34:52+00:00

It was New Year's Eve and we were setting up for the party we were hosting. I was excited to go and raid my game closet for the best party/group games I could find. I was also excited because I thought this would be the perfect time to bust out my new Ticket to Ride version in the hopes that I could convert a few of our guests into the wonderful world of Euro-games. Alas, it was not to be...

When we gathered around the table a resounding cry rang out for the classic (in our group) Cranium: Hoopla. The is a game that sees a lot of action in our Thursday Night Crew. This is especially true when there is one or two people who have not played it with us before.

There were six of us playing and I always try to "raise the stakes" as the rules suggest. I dealt four cards to each player and instead of 8 cards in the draw pile I placed 12. That way each of us would replenish our hands with two new cards at least. We set the timer and we were off. This game ran very smoothly. It was one of those sessions where everyone seemed to either roll a category that they needed or roll a wild and choose the one they needed to complete a specific card.

Highlights of the game...
Mechanical Bull = Christopher tried to draw this clue out. We got as far as the bull, but we had no idea what he was trying to say. So he used a wild and switched to acting. He got up and started writhing around the room like he was trying to get the "wedgie of his life" out. After much laughter, we got the correct answer.

Spam = Leslie, who always seems to keep us entertained with her random and disconnected Tweener clues, said it is smaller than meat and bigger than weird. *side note - I would consider this a violation since weird is not a noun, but I have since stopped fighting that battle and now allow Leslie her modified rule*

The last card was finished with about two minutes to spare. Overall we had a really nice time in playing this game. It is always a favorite because we work together and it allows for silliness. I have always been concerned with the limited amount of cards (we have by now gone through them three or four times at least), but I recently saw a post on this site about using Apples to Apples cards as substitutes. I think next time we will try that. I will post another session report that discusses the success (or lack there of) when the game next hits the table!

Thread: Re: Tweeners?

rossum — 2007-12-05T08:38:32+00:00

We play that you can give several clues. I imagine that if it hit the table more frequently and as we got better, we'd up the ante and reduce the number of clues you could give.

This also fits with the other categories- you can keep giving clues until they guess it or you pass.

Thread: Converting Skandale! to party-games like Cranium Hoopla?

hobitti — 2007-09-26T20:20:29+00:00

Skandale contains everything you need to play variant version of Cranium Hoopla. You just need to add a ticking timer. Timer could be set for 20-30 minutes and wouldn't be stopped. Skandale! has a wheel of fortune that has four colours and a hand symbol. I think this could be used to determine what type of clue one can give. Hand could represent any kind of clue, without mentioning the key-word. Skandale! has also cards with pictures and celebrity names. Would this variant work as fine as Cranium Hoopla?

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kilroy_locke — 2007-09-26T04:36:18+00:00

Game components

Thread: Re: Like Party Games? You Need to Play This One

grinspy — 2007-09-11T18:00:01+00:00

As a suggestion, we love Hoopla and ran into the same problem you did with regards to cards (namely, knowing them too well). We now use cards from our Apples to Apples Party Box with great success.

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Andre_g54 — 2007-09-06T08:06:54+00:00

2004 Hoopla by CRABIUM Inc.

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kilroy_locke — 2007-08-15T04:19:30+00:00

The "Hall of Fame" grows...

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kilroy_locke — 2007-08-15T04:18:57+00:00

Timer, play deck, and first cards in teh "Hall of Fame"...

Thread: Re: Would Cranium Booster Box 1 help Hoopla?

Grimstax — 2007-06-26T15:30:52+00:00

I found this thread while looking around BGG about Hoopla. My friends and I pull out red Apples to Apples cards to play Hoopla with. An almost endless supply (and some are really tough to do)...

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ArtEmiSa64 — 2007-03-19T22:29:26+00:00

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ArtEmiSa64 — 2007-03-19T22:28:51+00:00

Thread: Like Party Games? You Need to Play This One

Mr_Smallberries — 2007-03-07T06:46:45+00:00

Introduction
Cranium. For myself, a word that brings to mind Toys R Us, Starbucks, and the human skull. When I first started paying attention to games again I was drawn to this highly successful franchise like a moth to a flame because, well, I didn't know much really. My personal universe of games was some bizarre combination of everything Games Workshop ever did in the '80s, all video games on all platforms anywhere ever, and anything I might see at the Fred Meyer, the Wallmart, or whatever megalithic American shop of everhold I might visit (I know a thing or two about roleplaying games from the '70s as well).

As time has passed and my knowledge of tabletop goodness has increased, I've pretty much steered clear of the Cranium franchise. Their games are still kind of fun with the right crowd, and there are far worse major manufacturer titles to be played, but overall...eh. Yet there is one game in the series that I would highly recommend to anyone with a love for party games. This, my dear friends, is that game. Read on to find out why.

Gameplay
The first thing you'll notice about Hoopla is that it's a cooperative party game. That's right, everyone plays against the board, in this case a fifteen minute timer. If you wanted to sound like a nut job, you might call it the Arkham Horror of party games. There is no separatism or division in this party because you're all in it together. Feel the love!

Gameplay can be explained thusly. Each player is dealt a hand of four cards and eight cards are put face down into a play pile. Each card has on it a picture of a Who, a What, or a Where. Your starting hand, by way of example, might include "the prom", a "tailgate party", Campbell's Soup, and The Grateful Dead--the pictures on the cards are really great and totally evoke the spirit of whatever they are meant to portray. When it is your turn you will roll the die included in the game, start the timer, choose a card that you will try to get everyone to guess, indicate whether it is a who, what, or where, then start in.

The die has five different colors on it, each representing an activity you will take on to express the card. The summary of the cards is as follows:

--A Blue roll is a Cloodle, wherein you will do your best to express the card via a drawing.

--A Yellow roll is a Tongue-Tied, which will have you using alliteration to get others to guess the card. For example, I might try to express The Grateful Dead by saying, "Garcia, Guitar, Gone, Groupies" etc.

--A Green roll is a Soundstage, which will have you acting out the contents of the card like a lunatic without using any actual words. Sounds and gestures are just fine.

--A Red roll is a Tweener, which is a bigger-than / smaller-than exercise. For example, to express Campbell's Soup, I might say, "It's bigger than a spoon, and smaller than Andy Warhol."

--A Purple is a wild card, meaning it's the player's choice which activity they would like to try to use to express their card.

As soon as someone guesses the card, you stop the timer, display the card next to the draw pile, revel in your small victory, and get ready to guess for the next player. If nobody guesses you have the option to either take a penalty, which adds an additional card to your hand and to the play pile, or you can use one of three wild tokens to switch activities in the middle of your round. Hilarity, you best believe she's ensuing! If you and your buds manage to get rid of all the cards before the timer runs out, you win. Celebrate!

Conclusion 7.5/10
If you enjoy party games you really owe it to yourself to give this one a look. I have had a number of especially good times playing this with my friends, and have had it asked for by name on many occasions. The fact that it's co-op is super groovy, and you know what? It's actually pretty darned challenging too. If I have one major complaint it's that this game desperately needs some expansion cards, because I've seen them all at this point, and that doesn't much make me much want to play anymore because I have too big of an advantage.

I'm not saying I'm going to pick Hoopla over a lot of other games in my collection, but with the right crowd it is an absolute hoot. If you like getting together with friends and having a laugh, especially if your friends don't really game much, try it out. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Thread: Re: Tweeners?

jentinma — 2007-02-01T17:34:59+00:00

We've always played taht you only get one. Otherwise the category is just too easy.

Thread: Re: Tweeners?

puffinslayer — 2007-02-01T17:33:43+00:00

We've always played that you can list off as many tweeners as you can think of.

With that kind of leeway you'd think it'd be easy, but people tend to lock up around 3 or 4.

Thread: Tweeners?

cornjob — 2007-02-01T17:21:42+00:00

When giving the clue for a Tweener, does the person give just ONE set of "bigger than a..., smaller than a....." ? They give it once and then just sit back and let people guess? Or can they give multiple sets of bigger/larger comparisons?

We played that you can only do it once, but then the clue-giver really doesn't get to give any further guidance. The rules seemed ambiguous.

Thread: First play -Ambush game night

Jpwoo — 2007-01-29T02:09:59+00:00

"Who was that on the phone?"

"It was R she is having a game night"

"It's like 11 at night."

"Yup, you wanna go?"

"Are there going to be girls there?"

"Yes... But my guess is that all the girls there are going to be taken."

"Well... It's still a game night."

That is how Mike and I ended up going over to R's house to play us some Cranium Hoopla. First things first. There were three cute girls there, but unfortunately there were also three boyfriends. Curses!

I have never played Hoopla. I am a fan of the original Cranium though. I like the hybrid nature of the game. Cranium has some flaws but I think Hoopla conquers them pretty handily.

Cranium has a roll and move mechanism. Hoopla has a card depletion victory condition.

Cranium has moments when you aren't doing anything. In hoopla everyone plays in every round.

Cranium is competitive, this is a minor point I know, but party games are better in my opinion when the pressure is off. Hoopla is coop against the clock!

All three very nice touches.

Mike and I joined the game late, the three couples dealt us in. We were a little confused as we played without knowing the goal of the game for about 10 minutes. The game makes a lot more sense when you understand you are playing against the clock.

The word Tweener was determined to be bad, though in what context we aren't sure.

"He showed me his tweener!"
"You lazy Tweener"
"You are all Tweeners!"
"Don't make me get out the tweener"

We were doing pretty well, lots of laughing and joking, and I was in a room of mostly strangers I had met a couple of times, it was a very successful game in that respect.

We got stuck at the second to last card when someone didn't know the person on the card. All he saw was a gymnast. As this was everyones first play we were unaware of the ability to pass on a card. So the bell rang. N didn't like this so he went into the rules and found the passing on the card rule. We reset our clock, and took the penalty cards and coasted into a victory. Well it wasn't too much of a victory as we reset the clock, I call it a .5 victory.

This game has all the most fun bits of Cranium without some of the lamer ones. Like trivia and spelling. I would consider buying this one. I do worry a little bit that you could run through the cards pretty quick, but as I don't play party games all that much I can imagine that would take me a while.

Thread: Re: Would Cranium Booster Box 1 help Hoopla?

wyldeoak — 2006-12-04T03:08:52+00:00

I just notice this thread, and they recommend using the cards I suggested for Hoopla and liked it.

Maybe worth it.

The thread is: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/33805

Thread: Re: Would Cranium Booster Box 1 help Hoopla?

wyldeoak — 2006-12-04T03:06:45+00:00

It's kind of iffy for using regular Cranium cards. I gave a quick look at the Cranium cards (I don't have the Booster set). Cranium has four different types of questions (not just different ways to give clues as in Hoopla). Maybe 2 of the the 4 types would work -- Creative Cat (items using drawing or molding clay to give clues) or Star Performer (items using acting without words to give clues). These have single words that are the targets. Just a guess looking at them, they would be harder than the targets in Hoopla.

So if you're desparate, you could use them; but the regular Cranium cards are not ideal for Hoopla.

Thread: Would Cranium Booster Box 1 help Hoopla?

Yxven — 2006-12-04T02:19:16+00:00

I don't have the original cranium. Are the cards for the original the same idea as in hoopla?

Or does anyone know where to get cards that'd work well enough for hoopla?

Thread: Re: Convert Cranium to Hoopla

drewchap — 2006-03-05T20:15:43+00:00

It seems like you could also use the red cards from Apples to Apples if you have a copy of that game.

Some (like "my love life") would be very challenging!

Thread: Video review

snicholson — 2006-01-01T12:55:43+00:00

I did a video explanation and review of Hoopla on my "Board Games with Scott" vlog.

You can watch the review at
http://www.boardgameswithscott.com/?p=6

My grades:
With the rules as written: B+
With a tweak (penalized players may give away one of the penalty cards): A-

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JonBen — 2005-12-08T18:48:55+00:00

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JonBen — 2005-12-08T18:48:55+00:00

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JonBen — 2005-12-08T18:48:55+00:00

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JonBen — 2005-12-08T18:48:54+00:00

Thread: Fun cooperative play.

jwandke — 2005-08-19T03:47:08+00:00

My wife and I just played Cranium's Hoopla for the first and second time.

Reading the very brief rules, and reflecting for a moment, I figured we'd have an easy time working together to identify all sixteen cards within our 15 minutes. We have many shared experiences, think fairly similarly, and both play "party-thinking/trivia" games pretty well.

During the first game, we ran into a little difficulty with two aspects of the play. The first was in the comparative category ("It's bigger than a ____, but smaller than a _____"), my wife thought you could use any two comparisons, but I thought you had to use "bigger" and "smaller." We turned off the timer, talked about it, and decided to go with "bigger and smaller"

The other issue was my fault for not explaining the single-word-clue category. Wife thought the answer had to also start with the same letter as the letter all the clues were starting with. That might actually be a pretty good rule to try to use sometime, but it threw us both for a loop this time.

We took the penalty, of two extra cards and kept playing.

We didn't really run into any other problems, and we did finish going through our cards with a few minutes to spare.

My wife is really smart, and can shout out things like "black belt" while I'm holding my head, trying to think of a second clue to give her.

We both liked the game and had fun playing it. Twice is definitely enough for one sitting. I'd like to try it again with more players. I think the variety of minds (as well as more cards to have to get through) might add to the challenge.

One other cool thing about this game is that it's cooperative. A race against the clock, all players either win or lose together.

Thread: Re:Convert Cranium to Hoopla

mfaulk80 — 2005-04-27T06:44:13+00:00

chadm (#79130),

We love this game, but after playing it as much as we have, we've gone through the cards too many times. We tried a couple things to make it more challenging. At first, we just played without stopping the timer. That didn't help. We could still beat it in about 7 minutes. Using Cranium cards, however, has made it much more interesting/difficult. We removed the blue and green(except the songs) cards, shuffle them, and use them in place of the regular Hoopla cards. Its fun and a much better use of the cards than actually playing Cranium.

Thread: Convert Cranium to Hoopla

chadm — 2005-01-21T20:06:59+00:00

I looks to me like it would be easy to convert a Cranium game into a very Hoopla-like game.

Anyone have suggestions?

Thread: User Review

StormKnight — 2005-01-04T21:33:07+00:00

Hoopla is a game of deep tactics and many subtle…oh heck, no its not. It’s a party game, pure and simple – but a lot of fun!
The gameplay is quite simple. Each player gets dealt four cards, and another pile on 8 cards is set face down. On your turn, you try to get the other players to guess one of the cards in your hand. If they guess right, you put that card in a “completed” pile and draw a new one.
The cards have a photograph of the item being described, which is nice to add a bit of visual effect to the game – and handy if you don’t quite know what the word is!

How do you get them to guess? Well, you roll a die with five different colors on it. Each color corresponds to a different activity. The different activities are:
Word Worm – you get to give single word clues. But, every clue must start with the SAME letter.
Cluedools – you get to draw for clues – same sort of rules as pictionary!
Sound Stage – charades, but you can add sound effects (but no words).
Tweeners – you get to give a single clue in the form of ‘Its bigger than a “______” but smaller than a “______”’. For example, the example clue they give on the box is “Its bigger than a gladiator but smaller than Rome”, with the answer being the coliseum.
The fifth color is wild, and lets you pick the activity you want.

So, if everyone tries to guess your word, how do you win? Well, it’s a cooperative game. You have a timer which starts at 15 minutes. After you roll, you start the timer and try to go fast, stopping the timer when they get it. (Its got a push start/stop button so you can quickly tap it when the clue is guessed). The object of the game is to get through all the cards in the 15 minutes. If the other players can’t seem to guess the card, you can give up and discard it, but you take a card to replace it and a “penalty card” is added to the pile of cards.

The game is a quite enjoyable. The variety of activities means you will rarely be doing the same thing twice in a row, and provides a bit of choice in the game, as some cards are easier to guess with certain activities than others. For example, it could be quite a challenge to act out “Nashville” with a soundstage activity, but much easier with word clues.
It seems to work well with four players – you’ve got enough time to guess all the cards, but success is not assured. I’m not sure how well it would scale as you add more players if you leave the number of cards unchanged – since each player gets 4 cards, it seems like you could quickly have more cards than you would really have time to get through, even with more people guessing. I think it might be good to cap the total number of cards in the game around 24-30 or so.
We also found this a good game for when you have a few people who want to play, but some who don’t. The people who don’t can easily chime in with guesses even if they aren’t giving clues. Since its all cooperative there won’t be any issue with them helping a certain team.

The supply of cards is not huge, but I don’t really see that being a problem unless you play the games many times in a row with the same people.
Overall, I think its one of the best party games I’ve played and highly recommend it!

Thread: Session Report

snoozefest — 2005-01-04T16:03:22+00:00

So, we got to play this again, first a quick 3er game (half game, really - used half the cards), then a full-out 6er game.

The fast game was tough. I dealt 3 of us 2 cards, and had a drawpile of 4. We did OK, but with only 2 cards in hand it was sometimes difficult to find a card to match the game-type you had rolled. We ended up running out of time (7.5 minutes) with about 2 cards still in hand.

Next time, we had the whole group (6) playing. With 5 guessers, we moved along pretty quickly. People were guessing the right answers to some things much faster than Mary or I: more guessers makes each card easier to solve. Even with more cards to solve, we managed to beat the timer this time! Finally, a win! Unfortunately, we had cheated: we didn't start the timer until after the person playing had taken the time to look at their cards and make a plan. That was a pretty big cheat - part of the time pressure comes from having the timer ticking while you're thinking (according to the brief rules, you roll, then start the timer, then look at your cards and choose one).

Fun game, faster than Cranium. I have yet to beat even the basic game playing by the rules! We'll likely try again, though. Not sure how the limited card supply will affect things, but an expansion would probably not be a bad idea.

Thread: Session Report

snoozefest — 2005-01-01T16:26:48+00:00

Actually, this is a report for 5 games - 3 today, and 2 2 days ago.

We just recently got the game. I kinda sorta enjoy Cranium. This was on sale, and I didn't really want to get it. But Mary convince me, so we bought this (and Cranium Turbo - I'd hated my first game of Cranium and we'd sold it off; then, I found I liked it the next few times we played!).

See my review for detailed rules. Very simple game. Well, simple rules. We have yet to win. Now, all our games have been 2-player, and we've come awfully close - in the last game, we were down to 1 or 2 cards. But we are just not on the same wavelength when it comes to Tweener clues, and both of us find it pretty tough most of the time. Re: Tweener - "bigger than a wheel and smaller than a German bus". What kind of clue is that?? I did not manage to solve that one. The answer ?

.

.

.

.

.

Volkswagen beetle. Sorry, but that just didn't work for me. Maybe "bigger than a bug and smaller than a german car" or something. But not the clue that I got. I also got "bigger than a stone and smaller than the space shuttle"; didn't solve that one, either (moon rock).

Re: Tongue-Tied. It's difficult coming up with a bunch of alliterating clues on short notice! I did have a nice clue, although she didn't get it (neither of us is at all into sports, but you've gotta admit "famous football figurine" is not a bad clue for Heisman Trophy!

Anyway, we're close to giving up on the 2-er version of this. We need more people guessing, to make up for our weaknesses. Of course that adds more cards, but I think it will be easier to beat the timer that way. Hopefully we'll play some more games today.

Happy New Year!!

Thread: User Review

snoozefest — 2004-12-30T19:31:23+00:00

We just got this (and also Cranium Turbo) at one of those after-holiday game store sales. Gave it a whirl right away (2-player). The game plays with 2+ people.

Components
D10 - Oversized, with colored faces ... what can you say? It rolls well and it doesn't look like the colors will come off easily.
Cards - Very nice, actually: easy to handle, easy to read, well-illustrated. There are 3 types (WHO, WHAT and WHERE), which are all mixed together in the deck.
Box - A nice formed-plastic insert holds everything in place.
Timer - Mechanical ... no battery needed! It is a bit loud, but shouldn't really be much of a problem. Also, it ticks quietly for a while after you stop it (just ignore that).
Rulebook - Folded laminated cardstock, well-written and easy to follow.
Paper and Pencil - Included. Fits nicely in box. Works just like you'd expect a paperpad and pencil to work!

Rules
Setup
Cards - Deal each player 4 cards, and put 8 cards face-down in a Play Pile. Set the rest of the cards aside, in a Draw Pile. Leave room for the "trophy" cards (successfully solved) cards.
Timer - Set the timer to 15 minutes.
Note: you can vary the number of cards dealt, and can decrease the time allowed if everyone agrees.
Pencil and Paper - Everyone will share these, since only the active player will (may) be using it on any given turn.
Starting Player - random start (actually, I think the rules suggest choosing whoever has the next birthday).

Play
Very simple:
1. Roll the d10. The color tells you what type of event
way. There are 2 sets of the 5 colors representing 4 games and a wild (choose one of the 4 games). The games are:
Cloodle (blue) - drawing a.k.a. pictionary
Soundstage (lime) - charades with sounds
Tongue-Tied (yellow) - alliteration (e.g., major musician Memphis = Elvis)
Tweener (red) - "It's bigger than _____ (e.g., bracelet) but smaller than _____ (e.g., jail)" = "handcuffs"
Wild (purple) - pick any of the other games
2. Start the timer
3. Pick one of the cards in your hand, and annouce the type (who, what, or where). Then, start giving your clue(s).
4. Stop the timer when either someone guesses your card, or you decide that no one can solve it.
If solved, Hurray! Place the card in the "trophy" area and draw a replacement from your Play Pile (if cards available).
If you give up, discard your card and draw TWO new cards from the Draw Pile: one goes in your hand, the other is added to the Play Pile as a penalty!
5. Pass the die to the left (clockwise) and repeat until all cards have been solved (you all win) or the timer runs out (you all lose).

Comments
In summary, I think this is basically Cranium, with a few diferences:
-faster (15-minutes plus a few minutes of die-rolling etc.)
-harder. I've played only some 2-player games. Adding more people should make it easier to solve each puzzle, but of course you also add 4 more puzzles to solve for each person added to the game. The time limit makes it even more difficult.
-less variety in types of games (only 4, although 2 of them are new: tweener and tongue-tied)
-you play against the timer, not each other
If you like Cranium but think it drags on too long, or if you just don't like competing against other people, you will probably like this game. There is less variety, but it is fast-paced and fun. It is also somewhat harder, because of the time-pressure. Finally, it has one more advantage: it is definitely playable with as few as 2 people, if you're up for a challenge!

As in Cranium, there are a variety of games. So even if you are terrible at some (charades, for me), there are other options. In this case, with the addition of the wild color, you should be able to avoid your weaknesses more easily. Looking at the 2 new games: Tongue-tied can be quite challenging! The rules say that you start the timer, THEN choose your card. THEN, you get to think of a bunch of clues that start with the same letter. Sometimes the clues come easily, but other times it can be very difficult! Tweener can also be tough, if everyone is not on the same wavelength as you. With practice, though, I think Tweener will become easier. Of course, the difficulty for specific games will vary with your group.

This was a fun game, despite my low expectations. It is good with 2, but even more entertaining with a larger group. Even with larger groups, it is still quite challenging - we won as a 6-player group, but only by cheating: we didn't gave the active player time to pick a card and figure out a clue before starting the timer!

I look forward to playing this more, and to hopefully beating it fair and square! I also hope that Cranium, Inc. puts out some expansions for this - you will run through the cards fairly quickly. You will always have different combinations of cards in hand, of course, but if you play repeatedly with the same group then you will come to know how to give appropriate clues for the included cards.

Thread: Re:User Review

snoozefest — 2004-12-30T18:24:10+00:00

Admiral Fisher (#68441),

I just played this, and was about to do a review (hadn't noticed yours up when I last looked). Well, maybe I'll do one anyway!

As for your review ... nice job! I mostly agree with you, although I think this is not very different from Cranium. The changes:
-faster (15-minute timer, plus a few minutes of die-rolling etc.)
-less variety of games (4: drawing, charades w/ sounds, and the new tweener and tongue-tied)
-play against the timer, not each other

Thread: Re:User Review

gamemark — 2004-12-26T16:25:41+00:00

I dislike Cranium with a white-hot intensity (it's too dang long for what it is and the difficulty of the questions vary wildly)... but I really enjoyed our two playings of Hoopla last night.

My wife esp. liked that we played as a team against the game clock.

Thread: Re:User Review

Admiral Fisher — 2004-12-01T21:11:43+00:00

Thanks Ken,

It should read 36 cards were in play at the start, in the last para.

Thread: Re:User Review

Rubric — 2004-12-01T20:49:25+00:00

Admiral Fisher (#68441),

Great review. I'm not a big fan of basic Cranium, but Hoopla sounds great. I like the idea that you can choose which card to use for the different clue-giving methods.

Thread: User Review

Admiral Fisher — 2004-12-01T18:09:25+00:00

Cranium Hoopla

Being one of the minority of Cranium fans on this site, I was really looking forward to playing this game. I’d heard a lot about it and most of that was good. Unfortunately, the game is not out in the UK yet, so I had to order it from the USA. In fact, I had to order the US edition, which can sometimes gives problems, as I will explain later.

Last night, I played the game with 6 other people and we enjoyed it very much. I must say though, that it was not quite what I was expecting and is really quite different from Cranium itself.

Five out of the seven players had played Cranium before, but none of us had played Hoopla.

The Rules:
These are really well written and very short. The only thing that I’d say is that it was not obvious until you open the card deck that each card can be used in any category. When reading the rules, we first thought that there were cards belonging to certain categories of question and that you had to play them only within that category – like Cranium. This is not a problem though, because we were all delighted to find that the cards could be used in any category. It makes for a real twist and for good decision making.

Components
The cards are of excellent quality, and some of the pictures are really amusing – the Prom picture shows two odd looking folks, for instance – the geeky boy has a Tuxedo and a pair of red baseball shoes to match his date. The box is sturdy, a perfect size and attractive. The die and timer are good, although we did find that you shouldn’t put your ear close up to the timer as it ticks very quietly for a few seconds after you stop it. Listening from a distance makes it much clearer whether its ticking or not. The rules are attractively done, though I would have liked to see a second card showing a summing up of what the different colours on the die represent.

Object of the Game
This is one of the factors in the game that I think makes Hoopla so interesting. Unlike in almost any other party game, EVERYONE plays TOGETHER to beat the clock. However many players you have, you are aiming to help each other out and answer the questions as quickly as possible. The game suggests starting with 4 cards per player plus a draw pile of eight and setting the clock to 15 minutes. It suggests that you can vary this after experience. I agree. At first I thought that maybe it would be better if the makers suggested a number of cards per player/draw pile for different amounts of players, but having played the game, I really think leaving it open ended is the best way. So, to win, the players together have to answer all of the cards they hold in their hands and those in the draw pile before the clock finishes ticking. And that can be quite a challenge!

Play
However many players there are, play proceeds clockwise. On their turn, players must roll a ten sided die. The result of this roll determines what they have to do on their turn. They must pick one of the cards n their hand, say whether that card represents a who, where or what and act according to their die roll. On the die: two sides are blue, which represents a Cloodle; two are red, which represents a Tongue-Tied; two are green, for a Soundstage; two are yellow, for a Tweener; two are purple, which means that you can choose any category that you feel is best. A Cloodle is drawing a picture; a Tongue Tied is giving a clue by using words to sum up the card – but those words must all begin with the same letter; a Soundstage is acting out a clue with no words allowed – only actions and sounds; a Tweener is giving a cleverly concocted clue along the lines of “it’s bigger than a ----- but smaller than a “. This clue should give subtle or not so subtle hints about what’s written on the card.

According to your throw, you may select any card from your hand that seems appropriate. When you are ready to start your clues, you start the clock and you can only stop it when the card is answered correctly or to pass. However, if you pass, then not only must you draw another card and end your turn, but you also need to add an extra card to the draw pile as a penalty. If the card is answered correctly then it is added to “the Hall of Fame” (a row of correctly answered cards in the middle of the table) and the player draws a card from the Draw Pile if any are left available – if they’re not, then the game is getting closer to being won!

If you finish the cards in your hand then you can only help answer other player’s cards from then on in.

I will give examples of these categories in play later.

Luck
There is luck involved in the throwing of the ten-sided die and being dealt easier cards, but basically this is not a major factor in the game. If you deem a difficult card to be really only be playable by using one category then you have a 4 in 10 chance of rolling a colour that you need for it. A tactically minded player will start by assessing which are his most difficult cards and playing those first when he rolls the colour needed or a purple. This means that later you don’t get stuck holding a card that you desperately need to roll a certain colour for. As for the cards themselves, most are medium to hard in terms of difficulty and some are really very taxing indeed.

Since this is a game about challenge and working together as a team, then the cards are very well married to the theme and it matters very little who draws the hardest ones.

Skill
Thinking of which letter to use on a Tongue Tied can be hard. I used W for Amsterdam, for instance – Windmill, Waterways…that was enough for everyone to get the answer. If I’d started with C – Canal, I may have got stuck and so may my team-mates. In this respect Tongue Tied uses the same side of the brain that is used in the game Scattegories (which is another game I enjoy very much). Tweeners require great thought, too. This clue was given out for Tom Cruise when a player HAD to give a Tweener Clue for it – “He’s bigger than an Mission Impossible but smaller than Nicole Kidman.” Naturally enough, given the ingenuity of the clue, we got that one easily.

In addition, using the US edition brought its own problems. Rose Bowl? Well, half of us (the men) knew what it was. However, a woman had the card and had to Cloodle (draw it). She drew a rose then a bowl. We got it. I wonder how US players would get on with Wembley Stadium if they used a future UK edition. It does make you think laterally. We had (and have) absolutely no idea who Gloria Steinem is and had to ditch that one at the start…we allowed that one and only that one as a nod to our Englishness. Many cards such as Baggage Claim and Telemarketeer provided us with much to think about, though we got them.

Fun
The game is great fun and was thoroughly enjoyed by all of us. I would strongly suggest though that if younger players are present or if there are players which do not like to think too hard then you play something easier. This game is challenging as well as enjoyable. Some of the cards are very hard or obscure and it’s not always easy to think how you can represent them in one or two of the categories you might be faced with.
If you like a challenge to go with your fun also appreciate the idea of a team game where everyone wins or loses, then this is for you. It’s didn’t make us laugh as much as Cranium or get as silly, but it was just as much fun in its own way – and certainly different from the normal party fayre.

Other Examples of Play
We had great fun with Pottery Barn. To English ears this may as well be a Chinese phrase. None of us had a clue what it was, but the woman who had it waited until she could take a Cloodle and drew it in two parts. It took us over a minute to get it, but we managed. I can imagine the fun US players would have with future English cards such as National Trust, The Crafty Cockney, Giant’s Causeway or Pasties. Would they know what they were? Would it matter to the ingenious? Keen players could mix in a US and UK edition for greater fun!

Summing Up

This game has much to recommend it:
It’s truly challenging, unlike 95% of other party games
It is a team game
You have to use your ingenuity several times in the course of a game
You get to do several things in the course of the game (most party games require you to do one at variable levels)
It’s well made and attractive
It’s not expensive
You can vary the challenge by setting the number of cards in play or the timer to a shorter time

The only down sides that I can think of are:
Some players may find it too hard
You could go through the cards after about 8-12 plays – you could use them again as they may come up in different categories, but an extra set will be welcome at some point. I guess this can be a problem with many such games, though.

It certainly does not follow that if you don’t like Cranium you won’t like this. The two games have some similarities but are very different overall. I love Cranium and have tried several times to argue logically that it is a far better game than it is given credit for on BGG, but the usual criticisms of it are that it is “too easy” or “dull.” In no way can these two accusations be levelled at Hoopla.

Our First Game
We narrowly failed to beat the clock. There were 16 cards in play at the start and two penalty cards were added. By the end we were left with 2 cards and it took us a further minute to get them right.

Thread: Re:Mole Variant!

dedbob — 2004-10-24T23:46:22+00:00

keystewy7 (#28866),

Could you please explain the setup a little more in detail here?

First, when you set the timer to 3 minutes, is that for each question, or for the whole "game"? How did you decide on 3 minutes?

Also, who gets to decide when to pass on a card, the person who's turn it is, or the person trying to guess? Or either?

Do you just play with each person getting a hand of 4 Hoopla cards and do away with the center pile of cards?

Finally, what happens scoring-wise if nobody guesses who the mole is? Obviously the mole gets the losing cards, but does he also get the the winning cards as well, or does nobody get the winning cards?

Thanks in advance, just got this game for my girlfriend, and after a few regular plays I can't wait to try out this interesting variation!

Thread: Session Report

keystewy7 — 2004-03-02T12:31:13+00:00

Mole Hoopla has become a staple in our game nights. As Chealsea, Justin, and I sat around the table, we draw our roles cards. I was NO mole. I had a 50/50 chance I'd pick the mole at the end of the game, so I decided to screw the other player over by leading them onto me.

First clue: Barbie.
I had to draw it so I drew a poorly drawn stick figure with a price tag. Then I started pointing FURIOUSLY at it acting like it was SOO obvious. I stopped the timer. Oh well.

The game continued and somehow the MOLE collected some massive pile of cards for him/herself. I had to save myself, so I got some right when others chose me.

Finally, the timer rang. We grabbed a pen and paper and began eying each other, studying each other. I went for the suspicous Chealsea, who played a little-too-dumb during some clues. However, both Justin and Chealsea chose me. I guess I'm a pretty convincing actor. I flipped up my role card, proudly boasting how I fooled them (or rather just one of them). And now Chealsea flipped over her card, showing she was NO mole either! It was JUSTIN! JUSTIN WON ALL THE CARDS! CURSES!

Until next time...

Thread: Mole Variant!

keystewy7 — 2004-02-25T04:33:50+00:00

This variation of Hoopla was inspired by the TV show Mole, where one player sabotages the game for his own benefit.

Seeing how this is a game where everyone works together as a team, I thought this would be a great game to include a MOLE in. Basically, game play is as normal with some exceptions.

-Set the timer to 3 minutes.
-Grab some playing cards and the Ace of Spades. Deal them out. The player with the Ace of Spades is The MOLE!

Now, once everyone has their playing card and Hoopla cards, play begins. However, when it is you're turn, you CHOOSE who you want to guess your word. Remember the MOLE is in the game to sabotage the game and put cards in the LOSING pile (more on that later). Once you are done with you're turn, play passes clockwise.

At the end of the game, players write who they think the MOLE is. They reveal their guesses and then the MOLE reveals himself!

If one player correctly identifies the MOLE, he gets ALL of the WINNING pile. If more than one player picks the MOLE, they must split it. This is why it would be wise to decieve others into thinking YOU'RE the MOLE. If you can get others to pick you, you'll be taking the WHOLE POT!

The MOLE takes whatever is in the LOSING pile. Unless all players correctly pick the MOLE, in which case they split ALL of the CARDS, winning AND losing.

Play several games, keeping track of you're score and discover who amongst you is the ULTIMATE MOLE!