We Found the games like Apples to Apples – But Better

Dixit has also been a crowd favorite, but for a newer game Pictures has become our game for a game that feels like Apples to Apples. We’ve played quite a few and have them highlighted here. That said, Apples to Apples is a gaming icon – there are many games like Apples to Apples, but to find one that is better, we need to see how they set the bar.

How we Chose are games

Almost everyone has played some iteration of Apples to Apples. What do you do when you want a game like Apples to Apples, but still want to have a new experience. I outline some criteria below. If you want to go right to the games though click the button.

When asked what are games like Apples to Apples? I’m looking for games that match these criteria.

Uses Creative Interpretation

So far as I can remember, Apples to Apples (A2A) was one of the first games to strip away the objective and replace it with subjective. Instead of the roll of the die, play of a card, or other mechanic, it would be up to the players own creative interpretation that would determine the final score. Depending on who you were playing the game with, the interpretation could be quite literal to perhaps a bit more artistic.

Contains Voting/Judgement Component

Aplles to Apples , and the games that I will list below rely on the players to determine how the points will be awarded. Using the human element is one of (if not the most important) key points of the game. The fun is in joint experience at looking at the crazy combinations and hearing the weird reasons people picked certain cart combinations. But if I’m being honest, this game, and games like Apples to Apples isn’t about points, it really is about a great experience.

Induces Laughable Moments

What made and makes Apples to Apples so great are all the laughable moments it creates. There is a certain amount of absurdity that can be created when you take seemingly completely opposite topics and combine them into a hysterical response. Only intensified by how players will then attempt to justify how their absurd combination makes total sense, and should been voted on as winner. As we all know, in A2A, humor goes along ways and often scores the points!

Simplicity In Nature

A2A plays effortlessly. If you aren’t the judge you have but only one choice to make. Match one card from your hand to the topic card. I looked for games that are equally as simple. Games that only had one or two actions per round per player. The goal was to find games that are easy to teach and quick to play based on their simplicity.

Finding these games wasn’t easy. Apples to Apples has a rich history and a high bar to cross. Apples to Apples was released in 1999. According to their own game box via Mattel Games, it has sold over 15 million copies. Apples to Apples was chosen by Mensa International in 1999 as a “Mensa Select” prizewinner, an award given to five games each year. It was also named “Party Game of the Year” in the December 1999 issue of Games magazine and received the National Parenting Center’s seal of approval in May 1999. In short – it has had a pretty good run, and sits in millions of peoples game closets.

Dixit

I always feel like I’m a refined art connoisseur when I play Dixit. Dixit uses many of the concepts that Apples to Apples uses, with a few notable differences. The first one stands out immediately when you open the box or look at the art on the cards. Instead of using words and text like Apples to Apples, Dixit uses beautiful albeit somewhat abstract pieces of art. You submit these picture cards for judgment instead of the familiar word cards as with Apples to Apples. In addition, in lieu of having a “green deck” to select the topic to be matched – the active player gives a somewhat vague clue instead as the topic to be matched. As the clue giver, you must be careful not to be too obvious, lest you will receive no points if everyone selects your picture matching the clue you gave.

• Creative Interpretation – Each round the “active” player will select look at their hand containing various cards of abstract pictures – and give a simple clue describing what it represents. A careful clue must be given as if it is too obvious – it may result in no points awarded to the clue giver. After the clue is presented – each other player must interpret that clue and decide what picture they will use from their hand. They then submit their picture card face down for consideration and hoping other players vote for their card instead of the active player.
• Contains Voting/Judgement Component – Once all the cards have been submitted, the cards are revealed, including the active player, and voting commences. Points are awarded to those players whose submitted picture receives the most votes, as well as correctly selecting the active player’s card.
• Induces Laughable Moments – Trying to match your cards to another person’s clue can be a bit challenging and humorous. Only to be exceeded in humor by listening to others explain how their picture was obviously the right choice.
• Simplistic in Nature – There is nothing inherently complicated about the game or how it is played. The real challenge comes when you are trying to either come up with a good, but not too good, clue to give. That challenge is closely followed by trying to find a picture that seems to match the clue presented.

There have been a handful of expansions of Dixit since it’s initial release. This is a game like Apples to Apples because everyone is submitting in their best attempt and parring a concept or topic.

Ransom Notes

Explore a fun game where you make silly sentences! You’ll tackle crazy situations, like admitting you blocked someone’s toilet at a party, using only word magnets. Even if you’re great with words, you’ll be challenged to create hilariously bad phrases. With tons of word magnets to use, every round brings fresh, super creative, and really funny moments.

Players take turns crafting responses to different situations using their word magnets. A judge picks the best one each round. The game continues until a set number of rounds, and the player with the most points wins!

• Creative Interpretation – Its fun having the a bunch of random word fragments to select from. Who knows, maybe some will end up on your refrigerator afterwards.
• Contains Voting/Judgement Component -It reminds a bit like the game Telestrations – just a bad telephone message. One person reads aloud the “notes” players pick the best
• Induces Laughable Moments – Check out the video above- you just never know what you are going to get. Some might be NSFW – but we’ll leave that up to you.
• Simplistic in Nature – Extremely straightforward – 5 minute rule explanation.

Pictures

Pictures is the newest game on this list. Arriving in 2019 and winning the coveted 2020 Spiel des Jahres Winner. I feel safe in saying that this game is probably not like anything you’ve played before. I know I certainly hadn’t. I had the odd feeling of being in a kindergarten class while at the same time taking a very abstract art class. I laughed out loud trying to recreate a picture of a landscape using 9 colored cubes. I laughed even harder when people were able to identify it!

• Creative Interpretation – Of the games listed – the game embraces creative interpretation to a tee. You may in fact quite literally be using sticks and stones to illustrate a particular picture. Or two shoelaces to represent a flowing landscape. Hopefully, your teammates will see your creative side shine through with these pieces of art.
• Contains Voting/Judgement Component – I love the voting element here. Everyone is voting on everyone else’s interpretations at the same time. Some will astound you at how close they were able to capture the picture they were trying to recreate their limited resources.
• Induces Laughable Moments – Laughter is split 50/50. Half the time you are laughing at yourself trying to navigate how you will use these manipulative to try and recreate pictures. The other half is more cheers than laughter as you applaud the other players in how they seem to have done the impossible.
• Simplistic in Nature – Very easy! Really the game plays in two distinct phases. Phase 1, recreate your work of art using the medium before you. Phase 2 – try and match the other players’ creations to one of the pictures in the shared grid.

The voting or selectin element is the factor that makes this game a like Apples to Apples. The addition of the art replication is a nice addition the system.

Wits and Wagers

Wits and Wagers is a bit like a crowdsourced trivial pursuit. Everyone is supplying answers to a common question. I suppose at its core it is a trivia game, but how many trivia games do you know that you can win the game, but never really supply the correct answer. The gameplay is such that on each round a player will ask what seems to be an incredibly difficult question to answer. Not that it is hard in the way calculus is hard. Hard because the question always seems to be on a very random topic, and the answers aren’t readily known always. For instance, “how tall in feet the Eiffel Tower?” Then (without the use of technology) everyone will submit what amounts to be their best guess. Then, in “The Price Is Right” fashion – players will pick the answer they think is closest without going over the factual answer.

• Creative Interpretation – Ok, I know, a trivia game is going to have a fairly low creative element involved. That said, I do like how you really don’t need to know the right answer to have fun playing the game. Your left to your own intuition and gut feelings on what may be the right answer.
• Contains Voting/Judgement Component – After careful consideration of just how tall the Eiffel Tower is- everyone then would submit their most intuitive guess as to the right answer. This is where the beauty of the game shines through. You see – you may not have a clue how many teeth are in a crocodile’s mouth – but guess what don’t need to. Once you see the submitted answers, you can choose which one looks best. Its a great simple mechanic that doesn’t punish for ignorance and rewards comment sense.
• Induces Laughable Moments – I love when the answers are revealed and we can all revel at either how close we all seem to be to consensus, or laugh at the fact that its very clear that none of us have any clue as to what the actual answer may be. When the factual answer is revealed, even if you didn’t score points, you find yourself congratulating the other players who brilliantly picked the right one, or high-fiving the player who came closest to the actual answer. Just how did they know that the Eiffel Tower is 1,063 Feet?
• Simplistic in Nature – At its core, it is a question and answer game. Then you do your best to select what appears to be the correct answer. It holds many of the same mechanics that Apples to Apples has in that regard.

Wits and Wagers has a handful of other versions. The family version is great if you have younger gamers you want to play with.

Not Parent Approved

This has the distinct look and feel as the original Apples to Apples. It is very much the same game, just redirected in my opinion to 11 and 12 year old boys. That’s not to say others won’t enjoy the game – it just seems like based on the cards that’s who they were shooting for. Lots of boogers, burps, and fart alliteration within the game.

• Creative Interpretation – Much (and by much I mean exactly) like Apples to Apples players will be using their cards to find what they think will match the active player’s topic. Not so much match as “get picked”. Knowing the inside of a tween boy’s mind can be helpful here. Chances are if it makes them giggle – it’s the right card to play.
• Contains Voting/Judgement Component – See Above
• Induces Laughable Moments – I played this with my kids and their grandparents. It’s pretty funny when you get your grandparents to say funny words like booger and fart – so it had a lot of appeal in that respect. Not Parent Approved continues to be a lot of fun, and I really like the fact that it gets my kids off the electronics and on to a board game with the family. It is great at birthday parties and holidays and we mention the game on those lists as well.
• Simplistic in Nature -If you’ve been down the Apples to Apples rabbit hole, then this game will be just as easy to pick up.

Had their not been copyright issues, this could have been called Apples to Apples Teen. This game is like Apples to Apples in so many ways. To that end, if you are looking something almost exactly like Apples to Apples, this is probably the one – if you want variation – we still think Pictures or Dixit is better.

Spyfall

Spyfall is a bit different than others on the list. Instead of a word to clue match, or picture to picture representation, players will be delivering clever questions to one another – in an attempt to find the spy among them. But here’s the rub, everyone but the spy should know how to give somewhat of a response. Everyone but the Spy knows “where everyone is at”. The Spy on the other hand has to be cagy in their response, lest they may reveal their identity.

• Creative Interpretation – Players will be forming questions to ask each other, based on the current location. The Spy doesn’t know where they are and is trying to deduce, both based on the questions being asked as well as the response be given. So neither can the person dulling out the questions nor the responder be two obvious. If the Spy ever feels like they know the location and correctly declares – the jig is up.
• Contains Voting/Judgement Component – Most times after a clue, people will pass judgment by not making a guess. This will go for the spy as well. So there isn’t this constant matching of responses to cues as in the other games. Instead, it becomes an elaborate fact-finding mission where you are piecing together responses, body language, and inadvertent giggles trying to either capture the spy or discover the secret location.
• Induces Laughable Moments – Too many to count. As people pass questions around and people respond the game escalates as people will comment on individual responses as suspicious. You know the talk – “well that sounds like something a spy would say.” All the while trying to follow what will seem to be a completely disjointed conversation.
• Simplistic in Nature – There is nothing difficult in learning and teaching this game. It’s a question and answer game, and as soon as someone feels like they’ve either ascertained who the spy is, or in the case of the spy, determined the location – they may submit their claim.

Spyfall has been re-imagined since its original roll out.

Other Apples to Apples Releases

Of course if you’ve enjoyed Apples to Apples and you just want more of it – well there is plenty of that as well. No need to reinvent the wheel right. All of the expansions play just like the original, so I won’t spend a lot of time diving into the details as above. Let’s just take a brief look of what else is out there in the Apples to Apples universe.

Hopefully, you’ve found the next good game to bring to your gaming table. What other games do you know of that are like Apples To Apples. I am always looking for good games – please leave a comment below.