Cranium Dark
Cranium Dark Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Get Ready to Play
- Remove the clay, timer, and pads of paper from the box.
- Find a pen.
- Divide the Action and Cranium cards into two piles and shuffle each pile.
- Put the two piles facedown.
- Check that you have friends around you, or this may get difficult.
Contents
- 340 Cranium cards
- 60 Action cards
- 2 pads of paper
- Cranium Clay
- Timer
How to Win
Do as each Action card says and sculpt, act, draw, or describe your way to ultimate glory. The first player to collect seven cards becomes legend.
How to Play
- Argue amongst yourselves. The winner goes first.
- Take an Action card and show everyone what it says.
- Then take a Cranium card and keep it a secret.
- Without saying any of the words, you must get the other players to guess what's on your Cranium card by expressing it in the style of your Action card.
- Interpret the Action card as you wish, but you are not allowed to speak if you see the no-speaking icon (a face with its mouth shut).
- When you're ready to rumble, get someone to start the timer.
- You have 60 seconds to succeed! GO!
- Once someone correctly guesses the answer, the cards become points and go to the winners. You and the player who guessed correctly each keep a card. (See the "Scoring" section for details.)
- Now it's the next player's turn. Play continues left. Reload and repeat!
Example
So you've drawn this Action card: As a motivational speaker. Followed by this Cranium card: Milk a cow.
Hmmm...so now you need to act like a motivational speaker while you try to get your teammate to guess the phrase "Milk a cow."
Scoring
After each turn, cards = points!
- If another player correctly guesses the Cranium card, you keep the Action card and that player gets the Cranium card. Each card counts as one point, so both players earn a point.
- However, if the timer runs out and nobody has guessed the Cranium card correctly, both cards are discarded and you'll live in unfathomable shame until you redeem yourself.
Note: If more than one player shouts out the correct answer at the same time, just pick your favorite and give it to them.
Winning
Naturally, while taking part is awesome, it's the winning that counts. Being the first player to collect seven cards makes you epic... and the WINNER!
Alternate Way to Play: Teams
Like ganging up on each other? Play in teams! (4 players minimum.)
How to Play in Teams
- Gracefully divide into two teams.
- Follow the rules from solo play on how to use the Action and Cranium cards and start the timer.
- WARNING: in this game, the opposing team can also guess the answer!
- If YOUR TEAM correctly guesses the Cranium card first, you keep both the Action card and the Cranium card. Each card counts as one point, so your team just earned two points.
- If THE OTHER TEAM correctly guesses the Cranium card first, they keep the Cranium card, stealing one point, but your team keeps the Action card for one point.
- If the timer runs out and nobody has guessed the Cranium card correctly, both cards are discarded and everyone can stare awkwardly at each other until the next turn starts.
- Now it's the next team's turn. Reload and repeat!
Winning in Teams
The first team to collect ten cards wins and never, ever lets the other players forget. Welcome to paradise.
Editor's note: the solo rules in this guide say seven cards wins, while the team variant says ten cards wins. Both are transcribed as printed; the guide does not reconcile them.