One of the leading trends in games over the past decade—possibly even longer than that—has been the party game in which players submit an answer to a prompt, and then each round, a different player decides on which answer is the best match. One of the first games to utilize this method of play was Apples to Apples, which over the years has inspired a number of spin-offs, each with its own unique twist on the formula. Now here comes Rotten Apples, from No Kidding Pty Ltd., the contributions of which include an extensive set of cards that adults can combine to create, shall we say, grown-up phrases.
The brown prompt cards include partially incomplete statements, such as, “My guilty pleasure? (Blank),” and, “(Blank): Best when a little bit sweaty,” etc. The judge, or Apple Picker, decides between two potential prompts, and then each player chooses from among the green answer cards in his or her hand, throwing down the response that he or she thinks is the most logical, funny, or absurd.
The green answer cards run the gamut from double entendre (“Being on top”) to pop culture-ish (“Partying with Charlie Sheen”), to nouns that leave little to the imagination (“Clothing that leaves little to the imagination”). Obviously, there’s plenty of opportunity to get raunchy, but at the same time, every player brings his or her own criteria to the judge’s role. So, depending on the crowd you’re playing with, the matches that receive the best responses might be, for example, the most absurd ones. During my demo, there was a very positive response to someone who successfully put together, “The Eskimos may have fifty words for ‘snow,’ but they don’t have one for (Blank),” and “Badly-botched botox.”
Similar to the urgame, Apples to Apples, it can be extra fun playing with a group of folks you already know pretty well. During one of my turns as judge, I threw down the prompt, “Everyone thinks I’m all about (Blank), and for the most part they’re right,” to which someone responded, “Making it harder than it needs to be.” Sure, there’s potential double entendre there, but the reason I awarded it the round was that it was a purposeful dig at my personality, by someone who knew exactly where to plant their spade. While I didn’t have a chance to play Rotten Apples with strangers, the sense of humor is really no more ribald than the examples listed above. Potential players can use that as a gauge as to whether they might start sweating profusely, suffer heart palpitations, or in other words, lose their (Blank).
The bottom line: The presence of adult themes does earn Rotten Apples its 17 and up age recommendation, but it’s also a versatile party game that promotes moments of levity, with a formula that will be instantly accessible to many game enthusiasts. So despite the title, you might have a sweet time.
