From James in Paris, TN
"When I got the confirmation e-mail that the custom Cranium proposal card was on its way from you fellas, I called my friend Van. Van always plays Cranium with us, and I knew he would help me out. I asked him to start dropping hints to Samantha that he wanted to play that Sunday afternoon. I had overlooked the fact that I had requested the custom card to be sent to my parents' house instead of my college address, so I had to pretend I needed to go home for 'no good reason,' and I took Samantha with me that weekend to pick up the card.

"So we finally got back later that Sunday afternoon than planned, but Van was a good sport about it and still played with us that night. Samantha and I were cooking dinner for the four us who were going to play, so while she was focused on the meatloaf, I snuck Van the card and devised a plan. Samantha and I were to play on the same team, and I would kick Van under the table when I was ready to ask her. So when we rolled a yellow towards the end of the first game, I gave Van a nudge and distracted Samantha with some love-filled eye gazing while Van dropped the card he had drawn and then replaced with the custom card he had in his lap.

"When Sam figured out the Blankout puzzle, she said it very loudly: 'Samantha will you marry me?!' and I told her that was the question. She smiled the widest smile I think I have ever seen, and she softly said, 'Yes.' Van almost got a little weepy. Sam carried that card around showing everyone for a week (before losing it, so thanks for sending two copies), and there were people at school coming up to me who I had never met congratulating the two of us, and girls I didn't even know telling me how romantic and thoughtful it was. I proposed on Sunday, February 4, and we are happily engaged. Thanks again for making our lives just a little more special."

From Dustyn and Kelli in Shepherdstown, WV
"Kelli (my fiancée) and I are both undergrads at Shepherd College. She is a BioChem major and I am Pre-Med.

"One day while I was walking downstairs and through the lobby of our dorm building, a bunch of my friends invited me to come over and play a game of Cranium with them. The girl I partnered up with was Kelli. Something happened and we just hit it off. It seemed like we'd known each other for years. The next day we had our first date.

"Things between us took off and a few months later I proposed. I wanted to do it in a way befitting how we met, so I got with a couple of friends and arranged for us to play another game of Cranium. During the game I had my friend draw a card where I had to act out something in the style of charades. I'd started miming out 'will you marry me' to her ... though that was rather difficult. But she got the second and fourth words so I decided to give her a little help. I got down on one knee and brought out the engagement ring for the third word. Needless to say she was a bit overjoyed.

"We haven't set a date yet for our wedding but we hope it'll be soon. We're just trying to fit planning a wedding into our busy class schedules. Thank you and your company so much for bringing us this game. Without it I don't know if either of us would be as happy as we are now. Thank you so much from both of us."

From Scott in Machesney Park, IL
"I wanted to include Kelly's family with my proposal because I knew she was close to them. Her brother and sister-in-law were in town for the Thanksgiving weekend, so I thought this was the perfect opportunity. Already having asked Kelly's father for her hand in marriage, I planned on using the board game Cranium to help me out.

"Kelly, her mom, and I were on a team. I plotted to use the Star Performer card to act out an action, which would be 'proposal.' I had the ring hidden in a plastic baggie underneath the Cranium Clay. I began to act out the card with only her brother, father, and sister-in-law knowing. Her mother started shouting out all the right things ('marriage, propose, wedding') without actually realizing I was proposing. As I lifted up the clay to reveal the ring, Kelly responded to the infamous question with, 'Are you kidding me?' Not exactly the words a guy wants to hear, but once the reality set in that this was 'it,' she said 'Yes!' and tears were flying around the room. The game was ended, and Kelly and I were the winners."

From Jaclyn and Chris in Cherry Hill, NJ
"Chris and I met in high school. I was a sophomore and he was a senior when we started dating. We have been together ever since - eight and a half years. Chris was feeling the pressure to propose recently because we have been together so long and people kept asking us, 'When are you going to get married?' 'Where's the ring?'

"After this past New Year's, we had our friends over to my house, and Chris brought over Cranium, which he got for a Christmas present. We played the game as a group the first time, and I always kicked butt on the word scramblers and fill-in-the blank categories. So Chris had an idea for the proposal: to have a card made up with the fill-in-the blank category to ask me to marry him. All of the friends that we played the game with the first time were in on the plan. The secret remained safe for three months between all of them until the 'Big Day' - April 12, 2003. That night, Chris told me to come over because we were all going to hang out for the night.

"I arrived and we started to play Cranium. At one point, my girlfriend Lisa had to ask me a personal question, so we left the room. Chris ran and got the special card and placed it in the deck. When Lisa and I returned, we sat down and Chris sat next to me. We started playing the game again, and it was my turn for my team. I rolled the die and got a yellow card. Chris pulled out the card and began reading the fill-in-the-blank directions. At this point, everyone was getting their cameras ready to take pictures at the right time. I began yelling at Chris to put the card down because I knew how to play it. He read the hint out loud 'Question of the Day' and put the card down. Within a few seconds, I answered 'Will you marry me?' without any idea that the card was for me. I looked up, and my friends were looking at me waiting for my reaction.

"All I said was, 'I got the answer, guys.' Chris then called my name to get me to look at him.

"I turned around, and he was on his knee with the ring in his hand. He said, 'How about it, honey?'

"I could not believe it was happening, and then I said, 'Yes!' and began crying and screaming for 15 minutes. I was so happy, and then Chris proceeded to tell me the whole story of how it came to happen. That's when I found out about the secret with my friends and, of course, the special Cranium card."

From Rich in Seattle, WA
"'How did he pop the question?' everyone always asks. 'Was it romantic?'

"Knowing that this was a one-time shot, I decided that I had to make this a very special and memorable event. I knew Susan would suspect something if we went to a nice restaurant or went away for the weekend. Nope . couldn't risk being too predictable.

"I also knew that among the most important things in Susan's life are her friends and family, and that I should include them in the plans. Then it dawned on me! Why don't I ask at New Year's during a game of Cranium? I'd bought the new Turbo Cranium game, and included in it was a Star Performer card that required one of the players to act out three related items on the list: Marriage Proposal, Bridal Shower, and Honeymoon. That was it! I would act out 'proposal,' and either she would guess it or somebody else would, and then I would segue into the real deal.

"I had to have accomplices, though. Moreover, I had to ensure that there was a New Year's Eve party, and that as many of Susan's friends were in attendance as possible. I roped our friends Dale and Michael into the deal one day, and Peter the next night. Peter was selected to be the player that would read and show me the activity card, which would require a sleight of hand.

"On New Year's Eve, I slipped Peter the card he was supposed to read. After dinner, I set up the board. Peter and Lynne were situated to my right, where they would read the card when our team landed on the correct space. That was the worst part! I knew that eventually we would land on a Star Performer space, but not when. We played for a while, and finally, we landed on Star Performer . but then Susan insisted that it was her turn to act and mine to guess. Uh-oh.

"Thankfully, Peter chimed in with 'Susan, Rich really would be better at acting this time.' Susan blessedly backed down and went along with it.

"I acted out my first charade, bridal shower. But then time was running out, and even though I'd gotten down on my knee and started to pantomime a proposal, the buzzer went off. I said, 'I think I can do that better. Let me try again, the right way.' Then I started in with my speech: 'Susan, you've enriched my life in so many ways . you've made me deliriously happy .'

"'What are you doing? Get up! You're done . the timer's run out,' Susan exclaimed.

"'I'm so not done,' I said in reply.

"'Yes you are . get up!' she insisted.

"'Susan, I want to spend the rest of my life with you . to have children, travel the world, grow old with you . will you marry me?'

"'Well, of course I will, silly .' she said, still thinking it was all a game.

"Then I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out a tiny little ring box, and it finally hit Susan that this was the real deal. I asked her again to be my wife. As she said yes, I slipped the ring onto her finger."