About Apples to Apples

Apples to Apples is a party card game originally published by Out of the Box Publishing, and now published by Mattel. It is designed for four to ten players, though there are several editions available. The simplest way to describe Apples to Apples is that it is a game where you match nouns with adjectives – preferably in a humorous manner.

Each player is dealt seven "red apple" cards; on each is printed a noun or noun phrase. The judge (a chosen player) draws a "green apple" card on which is printed an adjective, and places it face-up on the table for everybody to see. Then each player (except the judge) chooses a card fro their hand that they think is the best match for the green apple card, and places it face-down. The judge shuffles the red apple cards, reads them (usually aloud), and decides which noun is the best match for the adjective. This decision is subjective; the official rules encourage the judge to pick the match that is "most creative, humorous, or interesting." Some might think, for example, that it is humorous if "mud" is played for "delicious," and might give that player the point.

The player who submitted the chosen red apple card wins the round, and takes the green apple card to signify the win. All players then draw red cards until they have seven again, and the role of "judge" may pass to another person (generally going to the next player in line). The winner is the first player to accumulate a pre-designated number of green apple cards (usually six); the more players, the lower the total.

Adapted from Wikipedia.