Local woman creates a winner: Jewish version of party game

Friday, April 20, 2007
Brenda Junkin
Plain Dealer Reporter

University Heights mother of four and full-time educator Alice Langholt has developed a Jewish edition of the fast-paced party-card game, Apples to Apples.

Originally designed as a tool for teaching her biblical drama class at Park Synagogue's Wolf Religious School in Pepper Pike, her edition has gone from the classroom to store shelves across the nation.

Langholt will be demonstrating her game, Apples to Apples: The Jewish Edition, at Barnes & Noble at Eton Chagrin Boulevard in Woodmere 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday.

Q: How did you come up with the idea for this game?
A: I was teaching a biblical course at the synagogue. We'd read Bible passages, then act them out. One of the students happened to bring in the original game Apples to Apples to school. It was so much fun that I thought that I would come up with my own version for the classroom. It soon became part of the curriculum. Not long after that, I received a grant to develop my curriculum. The game was part of that grant.

Q: Is this strictly an educational tool?
A: No, not at all. It's just a fun game. You could learn from it, but it's meant to be a fun party game.

Q: Is the game created for a particular age group?
A: There's three different game levels with expansion packs -- 12 and up game, 9 to junior and a kids' 7 and up game, each with adjectives and nouns geared toward the focus age group.

Q: Where did the original Apples to Apples come from?
A: Out of the Box designed and manufactured the original Apples to Apples. My game was manufactured by Jewish Educational Toys and licensed by Out of the Box.

Q: How long did it take to see your dream fulfilled?
A: About two years, from pitching the idea to having it produced and on the store shelves.

Q: How do you play the game?
A: There's 576 cards in this game. The green cards are adjectives [like] "clever," "luxurious" and "itchy." The red cards are nouns. To start the game, you pick one person as the judge; they get one green card. The rest of the players each get seven red cards. Say the green card the judge is holding says "delicious." The players look at their red-noun cards for the most delicious card they are holding. The judge decides which of the red cards the players show is truly the most delicious. The winner is awarded the green delicious card. The person with the most green cards at the end of the game wins.

Q: Did you write all the cards yourself?
A: Yes, I wrote the cards in the evenings when the kids were sleeping. Once the cards were ready, Ellen Winter -- in charge of game development at Out of the Box -- helped me with wording. Then I'd send the cards to Abe Blumberger [of] Jewish Educational Toys; he did the final editing. If he had any questions, he'd get back with me.

Q: Did you have any disagreements with Blumberger?
A: A few times, but he's negotiable. One battle was over whether Sammy Davis Jr. was Jewish. We went back and forth. In the end, Sammy stayed in the game.