The Apples to Apples Game: Rules, Variations and Editions

What the Apples to Apples game is

Apples to Apples is a matching game with an opinion in the middle. There are two kinds of cards. Green cards have a describing word. Red cards name a person, place, thing or event. Each round, one player is the judge and turns over a green card. Everyone else plays the red card from their hand that they think fits it best. The judge picks one. That player wins the green card.

So if the green card says something like "smooth," you might play a jar of peanut butter, a jazz singer or a freshly paved road. The judge decides which is smoothest, and the judge's reasons are the judge's business.

That's why the game works for a big group. There's no right answer to memorize and no score sheet to learn. You just have to know the person in the judge's seat, or try to.

The box facts, from the Party Game listing:

• Players: 4 to 8
• Ages: 12+
• Play time: the listing doesn't say
• Competitive, though it rarely feels that way
• Base game, not an expansion

Mattel's instruction sheet for this 12+, 4-to-8-player party game lists Red Apple cards, Green Apple cards with two describing words each, and a few blank cards you can write on to make your own.

How Apples to Apples plays

The rules below are in my own words, from Mattel's instruction sheet for the Apples to Apples party game for ages 12+ and 4 to 8 players (item BGG15). That age and player count match the Party Game listing in our data. Junior and Party in a Box follow the same idea, with differences I'll note further down.

Setup

1. Shuffle the red cards and the green cards, and keep them in separate face-down decks.
2. Pick the first judge.
3. The judge deals 5 red cards face down to every player, including the judge.
4. Everyone can look at their own hand.

A round, start to finish

1. The judge turns over a green card. In this edition each green card has two words. The judge picks one of them and reads it out loud.
2. Everyone else plays one red card, face down. Pick the card from your hand that you think the word describes best.
3. The judge shuffles the played cards so nobody knows whose is whose, then flips and reads each one.
4. Make your case. Players can explain why their card is the perfect fit. Mattel's sheet calls this table talk and treats it as part of the game, not a side effect.
5. The judge picks a winner. That player takes the green card and keeps it face up in front of them as a point.
6. Clean up. Played red cards go to a discard pile.
7. Pass the judge seat to the left. The new judge deals red cards until everyone is back to 5, flips a new green card, and the next round starts.

How you win

In this edition, the first player to collect 4 green cards wins.

Two tips straight from the sheet

Mattel's sheet says it's fine to play a red card that doesn't really fit. Judges often pick the funniest or most interesting answer instead of the most accurate one.

It also says red cards that start with "My" are read from the judge's point of view. If someone plays a card about "my" family or "my" cooking, it's the judge's family or cooking being described. This is the rule that causes the most laughing and the most careful silence, sometimes in the same round.

The variations in the box

The 12+ sheet lists three ways to change it up once you know the basic game:

• Quick Pick. With 5 or more players, the last red card put down each round isn't judged. It goes back to that player's hand. Speed now matters.
• Crab Apples. Play and judge for the card that is the least like the green word, or its opposite.
• 2 for 1 Apples. Play a red card that fits both words on the green card at once.

Crab Apples is the one I'd try second. It flips the game inside out, and players who were careful in round one get creative fast.

The judge is the whole game

The judge rule is worth a minute, because it's why people either love this game or don't.

The judge can pick for any reason. Accuracy, humor, a memory, a grudge. A good player watches who's judging and plays to them. The same card that wins with one judge loses with the next.

Marisol played once and judged every card by the plain dictionary meaning of the word. "If the card says smooth, I pick the smoothest thing on the table. That isn't strict. That's what the word means." Nobody could argue. Several people tried.

The judge also rotates every round, so everyone gets the seat. That's a fair way to spread out the power. It also means you'll be judged by the person you out-argued two rounds ago.

Apples to Apples editions on Amazon US right now

Our data for this page lists 3 Apples to Apples editions on Amazon US as of October 2026, all from Mattel. The table above shows what each listing states. Where a listing leaves a field out, the table shows a dash.

Apples to Apples Party Game

The listing says 4 to 8 players and ages 12+. It isn't an expansion. This is the edition the rules above come from, as far as the age and player count show. It's the one to buy for a teen or adult group.

Apples to Apples Junior

The listing names the edition Junior and says 4 to 8 players and ages 9+. It isn't an expansion.

Mattel's Junior instruction sheet (item N1387) says ages 9 and up and 4 to 10 players, with 432 red cards and 144 green cards. That printing may not be the same as the box on the listing, which says 4 to 8, so go by the box you get. The sheet's round works the same way: the judge flips a green card, everyone plays a red card face down, the judge shuffles, reads them all and picks one. In the Junior sheet each green card has a single word.

The listing doesn't say how the Junior card words differ from the Party Game, and I won't guess. What the listings do show is the age: 9+ for Junior, 12+ for the Party Game.

Apples to Apples Party in a Box

Party in a Box is the edition name on the third listing. It doesn't state players or age in our data, and it isn't marked as an expansion.

Mattel's Snack Pack instruction sheet refers to the Party Box and says up to 10 people can play it. The same sheet says Snack Packs, which are smaller decks, can be played on their own or mixed into the Party Box for more combinations. None of the listings in our data right now is a Snack Pack.

For an older version of the rules, Mattel also hosts an instruction sheet for Apples to Apples Family, for 4 to 6 players, ages 8 and up, that scores with apple tokens drawn from a sack instead of green cards. That edition isn't listed in our data, but the sheet shows how much the scoring has changed between boxes. Read the sheet in your box before game night.

Which Apples to Apples fits your group

My one opinion for this page: the age on the box works in both directions. The Party Game is 12+, and Junior is 9+. A 9-year-old with the 12+ deck may hit card titles they don't know. A table of adults with the 9+ deck will still laugh, but the cards may feel gentle. Match the box to your youngest regular player, and you'll be close.

Quick matches, from the listings:

• Teens and adults, 4 to 8 people: the Party Game, 12+
• A group with kids aged 9 to 11: Apples to Apples Junior, 9+
• A bigger crowd: Party in a Box, since Mattel's Snack Pack sheet says the Party Box takes up to 10 (check the listing)
• Fewer than 4 people: another game entirely

House rules some groups use

These are house rules, not Mattel's. Agree on them before you deal.

• Play to a different number of green cards. Fewer for a short game, more for a long one. Mattel's own sheets use different targets in different editions, so there's no wrong choice.
• The judge has to give one sentence of reasons. It slows things down a little and makes the judging half the fun.
• Retire a card after it wins twice. Some cards win every time they show up. Taking them out keeps the deck fresh.

Who should skip Apples to Apples

Skip it if you usually play with 2 or 3 people. Every edition on our list that states a count starts at 4, and the round falls flat with only two cards to judge.

Skip it if your group wants a game with a clear right answer. The judge's taste decides everything, and that drives some players up the wall. If that's your group, a trivia game or a word game with a dictionary is a better fit.

Skip it for now if your youngest player is under 9. Junior says 9+, and the Party Game says 12+. Nothing on this page lists an age below 9.

If you like Apples to Apples, look at these

Pages chosen by what they share with Apples to Apples: a judge or group vote, cards, and a table of 4 or more.

• Party games: the wider shelf of games for big groups
• Taboo: another word party game for a bigger table
• Balderdash: another party game page, with its editions and box facts
• Telestrations: a party game page for groups that like to draw
• Cards Against Humanity and What Do You Meme: judge-style party games for adult tables, check the age on each listing

See the Mattel brand page for the rest of its games.

Play the card the judge would play. Then argue for it anyway.