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Apples to Apples is a fast-paced party game published by Out Of The Box Publishing. It is designed for four to ten players. It was chosen by Mensa International in 1999 as a "Mensa Select", an award given to five games each year.

There are several versions of Apples to Apples including: Apples to Apples Junior (2001), Apples to Apples Junior 9+ (2002), and Apples to Apples: Bible Edition.

The judge must decide which of the submitted red apple cards best matches the concept named on the green apple card.

Each player is dealt seven "red apple" cards; on each is printed a noun or noun phrase (such as "Madonna", "lightning", "socks", etc.).

One player is appointed as the first "judge". The judge draws a "green apple" card on which is printed an adjective ("scary", "smelly", "patriotic", etc.), and places it face-up on the table. Each of the other players chooses one of their red apple cards 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 and decides which noun is the best match for the adjective. The player who submitted that red apple card wins the round, and takes the green apple card to signify the win.

The judge's decision is completely subjective; the official rules encourage the judge to pick the match that is "most creative, humorous or interesting". A particular judge might think it ironic if Helen Keller is played for visionary, and might give that player the point rather than the player who played Galileo. Cards that start with "My" such as "My 16th Birthday" are based on the judge's sixteenth birthday, rather than the birthday of the person who played the card.

All players then draw cards to bring their hands back up to seven, and the player to the judge's left becomes the judge for the next round. Other variations have the person who wins the round becoming the next judge.

The winner can be decided in two ways. In the official rules, the winner is the player who first wins a predetermined number of rounds. The more players, the lower the recommended total. Many people, rather than end the game, play until they feel like stopping, in which case, the person with the most green apples wins.

• Baked Apples: After each player plays one card, the judge lays them face up and, instead of announcing the winner, identifies the non-winning cards first, each time explaining why it was not selected. The role of judge passes on to the winner of each round.

• Apple Turnovers: The roles of red and green cards are reversed, with players using adjectives to describe the given noun.

• Crab Apples: The red apple cards are judged on how unlike they are to the green apple card. The card least like the green apple card wins.

• Big Apples: Two or more players boasting that the judge will pick their card can agree to each wager one of their green apple cards. If the judge selects one of their red apple cards, that player wins the green apple card and all of the wagered green apple cards. If the judge does not pick one of their red apple cards, the wagered cards are forfeited to the bottom of the card stack.

• Apple Potpourri: Each player selects a red apple card from his or her hand before the judge turns over the green apple card. After the red apple cards are played, the judge turns over a green apple card. As usual, the judge then selects the winning red apple card!

• 2 for 1 Apples: The judge turns over two green apple cards to start the round. Each player selects the red apple card from his or her hand that is best described by both green apple cards. After the judge selects a red apple card, both of the green apple cards are awarded to the winner.

• Apples Eye View: The Judge must pick a red apple card based upon the point of view of somebody, or something else (for example, a house cat, Rush Limbaugh, Bill Clinton, a spec of dust…anything). The player to the left of the Judge determines which point of view the Judge must use for that round.

• Apple Traders: To stir things up, on each turn, each player selects one red apple card from his or her hand to pass on to the player on his or her left. Players pass the cards after drawing their seventh card but before the judge selects a green apple card.

• Another variation penalizes the slowest player in a given round by requiring them to sit out of the next, so as to encourage quick and sharp decisions. This variation is considered a basic rule in online rulebooks.[1]

According to the official rules, lobbying for the appropriateness of certain matches is allowed and encouraged. For example one may say, "Don't you think Michael Jackson is rather frightening? Remember the baby incident..." One is not required to lobby for one's own apples; on the contrary it is both fun and sporting to praise interesting matches offered by other people. Lobbying is often used as practice in debate classes, as students try their best to outwit their opponents using debating strategies.

It can also be wise to play to the judge -- some judges are prone to look for the most technically correct match, whereas others tend to vote for the funniest or most creative association. Similarly, playing to a judge's biases is a similar strategy; for example, if the judge is a vegan, and the green apple card is disgusting, a player may have a better chance of winning by playing meat than mildew, because it relies on the judge's evaluation of the terms rather than the player's. Because of this, in a large group, a player who does not know some of the other players is at a disadvantage.

Additionally, a player holding few or no cards that seem likely to win a round may play a seemingly irrelevant card during a round, so as to draw a new card for the next - there is a chance that the judge may interpret the played card as creative or humorous, or that the other players' cards are even worse.

Although there is no such thing as a formal "trump card," some cards evoke stronger reactions than others -- for example, cards relating to sexuality, politics or other controversial topics (e.g., AIDS, Helen Keller, the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, and the JFK Assassination) can apply to a broader range of categories and thus have a better chance of winning.

The original boxed set contained:

• 108 green cards (green apples) each of which has an adjective such as frightening or fresh printed on one side.
• 324 red cards (red apples) each of which has a noun such as Eleanor Roosevelt or armed robbery printed on one side.
• A tray for holding the cards.

Four expansion sets were available adding 72 extra green apple cards and 216 extra red apple cards each. In 2002, Expansion Set 3 won the Origins Award for Best Card Game Expansion or Supplement of 2001.

As of 2005, the original set and its expansions have been retired and replaced by a "Party Box" with the combined contents of the basic set and its first two expansions, and "Party Box Expansion 1" set with the combined contents of the third and fourth expansions. and there is also a "Party Box Expansion 2." A junior edition is also available. There is also Bible, British Isles, German, and Yiddish versions available.

• Apples to Apples at BoardGameGeek
• Apples to Apples official website
• In episode 27 of The Dice Tower, a weekly podcast about board games, the game is reviewed.
• List of all the cards at [2]