Overview

Apples to Apples is a party card game of hilarious comparisons. Each round, a rotating judge plays a green apple card (an adjective/characteristic), and all other players submit a red apple card (a noun — person, place, thing, or event) from their hand that they think best matches. The judge picks the best match, and the winning player keeps the green card. First to collect enough green cards wins.

Components

• 749 Red Apple Cards (each featuring a person, place, thing, or event)
• 249 Green Apple Cards (each featuring a characteristic/adjective)
• 3 blank green apple cards and 7 blank red apple cards (for customization)
• 2 deluxe card trays
• Quick play rules

Setup

1. Open all red apple card packs and thoroughly mix them. Distribute evenly in the four deep wells of the card trays.
2. Open all green apple card packs and thoroughly mix them. Distribute evenly in the two shallow wells of the card trays.
3. Place one card tray on the table.
4. Choose a player to be the first judge.
5. The judge deals 7 red apple cards face down to each player (including themselves). Players may look at their own cards.

Turn Structure

Each round follows these steps:

1. The judge picks a green apple card from the top of the stack, reads the word aloud, and places it face up on the table.
2. All other players quickly choose 1 red apple card from their hand that they think is best described by the green card, and place it face down on the table.
3. The judge mixes the submitted red apple cards (so identities are hidden), turns each over, reads them aloud, then selects the one they think best matches the green card.
4. The player who submitted the winning red card is awarded the green apple card (kept face up for scoring).
5. The judge collects all played red apple cards and discards them into the box bottom.
6. The card tray and role of judge pass to the next player on the left. The new judge deals enough red apple cards to bring each player’s hand back to 7.
7. Repeat until a player has earned enough green apple cards to win.

Actions

• Submit a card: Choose 1 red apple card from your hand that best matches the green apple card and place it face down.
• Judge: Read all submitted red cards aloud and choose the winner.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

The number of green apple cards needed to win depends on the number of players:

Players	Green Cards to Win
4	8
5	7
6	6
7	5
8-10	4

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Quick Pick Option (5+ players): The last red apple card placed on the table is not judged and is returned to that player’s hand. This encourages faster play — “if you snooze, you lose!”
• The judge does NOT submit a red card during a round they are judging.
• Green apple cards won by players are kept visible on the table for score tracking.
• Players hold red cards in hand so they can see titles but other players cannot.

Player Reference

Phase	Action
1. Green card	Judge draws and reads aloud
2. Red cards	All others submit face down
3. Judging	Judge shuffles, reads, picks winner
4. Scoring	Winner keeps green card
5. Cleanup	Discard red cards; pass judge role left
6. Deal	New judge deals red cards back to 7 per player