You know, I'm a pretty big gamer. Which is pretty redundant, considering I've spent so much time on Destructoid. But that's not to say i don't enjoy other types of games. Ok, I tried TCGs (pokemon), I've watched people play tabletop games, and I've thought about getting into MMOs, but the deal is, none of those interest me. However, I really dig interactive board games. Scattergories, Pictionary, *ahem* Partini (although I haven't had the, uh, pleasure, of playing the last one), and even Scene It, all are incredibly engrossing, especially with the right crowd of people. There' just something about games where people are yelling out answers, doing crazy stuff. I mean, these type of games can turn a sucky gathering of people into a real blast. There is one game that stands out above them all, however, and that's Apples to Apples.

For those who haven't played Apples to Apples, it's really simple. Anywhere between four to ten players (although more is doable with the expansion packs) get in a group and are dealt out red cards with a bunch of nouns on them, like "Mona Lisa" "meat pie" "Chicago" "blimp" etc. Then, for that round, the designated Judge places a green card on face up for everyone to see, and it says an adjective. This can say anything from "slimy" "ugly" "funny", and all the other players must pick from their hand a red noun that most exemplifies that adjective. So say "stupid" is the adjective, the other players might pass on nouns like "Paris Hilton" "Hamster" "banana" or "The GOP". The judge takes these cards, which are shuffled for anonymity, and picks the noun that best exemplifies "stupid" to him or herself. The winner of that round collects the green card, the judge is then changed, and rounds continue until somebody collects a certain number of cards. Apples to Apples is a blast. It's fast, hilarious, and it's easy to bring people in and out of the game. Plus, it takes one round to figure out the rules.



Now, I normally try to keep my game ideas to myself. Usually, if I'm patient, my dream games come to fruition in some form or another. However, I really must say that Apples to Apples really needs to come to Xbox Live Arcade. Especially since the new Avatars have come out, Apples to Apples could really do with a cheap digital counterpart. And why not? It's just as much of a game as Uno is, and Uno has done fine on Arcade. Besides, with Vision Cam and Avatars, this could be a really fun representation of the game. Also, cheap DLC could change things up nicely, and if Microsoft allowed the use of personalized cards, this game could be a hit on Live.



There are some problems that I can think of. First, this game is impossible to play offline. As somebody who has had his Xbox offline since August, where Uno is almost unplayable, Apples to Apples would be even more unbearable. It is impossible to have computers play this game, since it's all about changing definitions of words. Also, I don't think playing this with people you don't really know would be very fun. Anybody who has played Uno online with strangers can attest to this. However, if Microsoft charged this game cheaply, and if people knew each other while playing, I think Apples to Apples could very well be digital crack.