Cranium Cadoo Lunchbox Tin Edition

by Cranium

Product Features

• Cranium Cadoo is packed with fun - eight activity types and 300 cards guaranteed to get kids thinking, creating, giggling and grinning
• Cranium Cadoo Lunchbox Tin Edition includes a game board, secret decoder mask, tup of Cranium Clay, 300 outrageous cards, 40 colorful tokens, a six-sided Cadoo die, timer, and a drawing pad and pencil, all in a colorful tin lunchbox!
• Recommended for ages 7 and up

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000096QML
• Item model number: 103010001.100E
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #133,068 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Cranium Cadoo lunchbox tin is a way for kids to take the fun of Cadoo, the outrageously fun game designed especially for kids, with them wherever they go! With a variety of hilarious activities, Cranium Cadoo gets kids thinking, creating, giggling, and grinning as they try to get four tokens in a row to win! Whether you love to act, puzzle, sketch, sculpt, or even crack codes, Cadoo has something for you! Cranium Cadoo has received multiple prestigious awards in the United States, Canada, and the U.K., including the 2002 Game of the Year award from the Toy Industry Association and the Platinum Best Toy Award from the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio.

Product Description

Cranium Cadoo delivers outrageous fun with a variety of activities that give everyone a chance to shine! Kids work together and on their own to act, sculpt, draw, and solve puzzles, using the secret decoder mask to reveal secret words and hidden answers. And the first player to get four in a row wins! Whether they're sculpting a chocolate-chip cookie out of Cranium Clay or racing around the house to find something they can balance on their elbow, kids will be thinking, creating, and laughing out loud with Cadoo. They may even discover talents they didn't know they had. Simple setup and easy instructions make Cadoo the perfect game for any occasion--birthday parties, after school, holidays, rainy days, any day!

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Big Hit at our house, July 26, 2004

By 

K. D. Shafer - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Cranium Cadoo Lunchbox Tin Edition (Toy)

I bought this game for my son (now 11) two years ago on a Christmas shopping whim. Basically I was down to the end of my shopping, but it looked cool I was tired of shopping so I threw it in the cart. This past year we needed the booster box because we play it so often. It's fun for kids and grownups to play together. We include my younger son (5,a non reader) by playing with teams. Although there is an element of chance, you don't know what kind of task you will be given to perform all the time, I like this game because it incorporates different learning skills and learning styles so there is more then one way to be successful. You are working againest the timer so you need to think quickly and creatively using a variety of materials: clay, charades, and drawing in addition to answering questions and of course the special glasses are part of the fun.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A huge hit at my house!, October 9, 2005

By 

Lorel Shea (New England) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

= Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Cranium Cadoo Lunchbox Tin Edition (Toy)

This game is fun for kids who are fluent readers and for adults too! The playdough like material can dry out, but otherwise the game is very hardy and ours has seen a lot of use! The younger kids tend to choose the group activities when they have the option, just because it's more fun that way. The older kids do as many solo activites as possible, in order to gain strategic advantage on the board. We've worn out the original deck and have started on a booster pack (sold separately) as we've played this so many times! Cranium Cadoo is truly a fun game for the whole family, not just the little ones!

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, November 7, 2006

By 

Janet Boyer "Author, Blogger, Radio Host" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cranium Cadoo Lunchbox Tin Edition (Toy)

After being disappointed with the Cranium game Whoonu, I thought I'd take a chance on this reputable company by buying two more games--one of which is Cadoo.

Here is the premise:

There is a colorful game board with 16 purple circles in the middle. These work as a grid for a Connect Four-like "win". Players roll a dice that has three printed options: Solo, Combo, or You Choose. All cards have a "secret" word or answer on the card, which can be read with the Decoder Glasses.

There is a green Combo box filled with cards and an orange Solo box filled with cards. The Solo cards feature solo-solved quizzes or activities. For example, the Ace Observer cards may have you guessing what's wrong with a particular picture, the Code Cracker may have solving a Rebus puzzle, Fast Find may have you racing to retrieve a particular object (such as something that sticks on your forehead when you press it on), or a Double Meanie, which has you thinking of a word that means both things (for example, something on a gift wrapped package and something you use to shoot an arrow.) If the person successfully solves the puzzle or accomplishes the objective, they put one of their colored tokens on the circle they choose.

However, the Combo cards require participation from other players. For example, a Cameo card has a player acting out the secret word while other players guess. Sculpturades has a player sculpting the secret word from the purple clay. Cloodle has a player draw the secret word (no letters or numbers allowed) while other players guess what it is--and so on. Whomever guesses correctly gets to COMBINE their colored token with the person who drew the card (but the person who drew the card and performed the action gets to PICK which circle for the "double" token.)

Whoever gets four tokens in a row wins. The catch is that the LAST token--the winning token--MUST be a Solo card done successfully (I guess this is to encourae non-competitive play).

Sounds like a great game for all ages, right? Well, in theory, it is. But in actual game play--it's a bit boring for adults and challenging for young kids. Why?

Well, the age recommendation (which influenced my purchase) was 7 years and up. However, my son has difficulty reading some of the questions and doesn't know what some of the secret words are. Also, some of the Solo quizzes feature multiple choice questions that a 7 year old may not even be familiar with, let alone difficult (for children) Rebus puzzles! For example, one Solo Minimax is "Pick the earliest holiday". While that *may* be a challenge for adults, it would likely be difficult for small children (especially since the choices are Labor Day, Independence Day, and Memorial Day!)

Because the answer must be read with a Decoder Mask, if a child can't read the word (or doesn't understand what is is), another player must help the child. This means that the person helping can't participate in the game (fairly) for a Combo Card.

The questions and activities aren't challenging enough for adults, and too difficult for young children. This has made for a frustrating, unenjoyable game for me, my 8 year old son, and my husband.

Cranium would have been better off making two sets of cards for both the Solo and Combo decks: one for small children, and another for adults (like Trivial Pursuit Disney Edition does).

Cadoo is a well-made, colorful, and sturdy game. Unfortunately, it fails to deliver fun for my family. (I just asked my 8 year old "Do you like this game?" He shook his head "NO".) In fact, I plan on listing it here on Amazon for re-sale if I can.