Simple word games -- no accessories required
May 20, 2013 5:28 AM Subscribe
Occasionally my partner and I will find ourselves with an hour to kill and nothing to do (e.g., we show up too early for a movie). I'm looking for word games that we can play that don't require access to the Internet, paper/pen, more than two people, a game board, or anything other than ourselves.
The only one I know of is the movie title game, where one player names a movie title and the other names another movie that starts with the last letter of that title, and so on. I guess we could do the same game with songs, cities, etc. There's also "I Spy." What other simple word games could we play?
The only one I know of is the movie title game, where one player names a movie title and the other names another movie that starts with the last letter of that title, and so on. I guess we could do the same game with songs, cities, etc. There's also "I Spy." What other simple word games could we play?
There's a word game we used to play as a group, can't remember if it is one that goes a bit weaker when you only have 2 people. Equipment: paper and pen, but you can try it verbally as its not that complicated.
You start with three lives.
First person writes a letter down. Next person adds a letter. Repeat.
You lose a life if:
1: You spell a complete word.
2: When challenged after adding a letter on your go you can't name a word which starts with the letters written down.
3: You challenge someone and they name a word which starts with the letters on the sheet.
Some examples:
Example 1
Player 1: N
Player 2: NO
P2 loses a life
Example 2
P1: T
P2: TR
P1:TRU
P2: TRUC
P1: TRUCU
P2: challenge!
P1: Um...
P1 loses a life
Example 3
P1: T
P2: TR
P1:TRU
P2: TRUC
P1: TRUCU
P2: challenge!
P1: Truculent!
P2 loses a life
We used to play with a 'bike', ie first to lose 3 lives gets an extra life. Up to you.
posted by biffa at 5:47 AM on May 20, 2013 [10 favorites]
You start with three lives.
First person writes a letter down. Next person adds a letter. Repeat.
You lose a life if:
1: You spell a complete word.
2: When challenged after adding a letter on your go you can't name a word which starts with the letters written down.
3: You challenge someone and they name a word which starts with the letters on the sheet.
Some examples:
Example 1
Player 1: N
Player 2: NO
P2 loses a life
Example 2
P1: T
P2: TR
P1:TRU
P2: TRUC
P1: TRUCU
P2: challenge!
P1: Um...
P1 loses a life
Example 3
P1: T
P2: TR
P1:TRU
P2: TRUC
P1: TRUCU
P2: challenge!
P1: Truculent!
P2 loses a life
We used to play with a 'bike', ie first to lose 3 lives gets an extra life. Up to you.
posted by biffa at 5:47 AM on May 20, 2013 [10 favorites]
There was recently a game released on iOS by the members of the band OKGo that they say is based on a game they play amongst themselves on tour called "Say the Same Thing".
Essentially two people both say a word at the same time. If you say the same thing, you win. If you don't, you both say another thing that's between the first two words (again at the same time). Repeat until you say the same thing. Then when you do, hug (that's part of the rules).
Pretty simple. Here's a video.
posted by brentajones at 5:50 AM on May 20, 2013 [21 favorites]
Essentially two people both say a word at the same time. If you say the same thing, you win. If you don't, you both say another thing that's between the first two words (again at the same time). Repeat until you say the same thing. Then when you do, hug (that's part of the rules).
Pretty simple. Here's a video.
posted by brentajones at 5:50 AM on May 20, 2013 [21 favorites]
Any type of "kid's car game" works - alphabet games like "A my name is Alice" or the Preacher's Cat, or guessing games like 20 questions or I spy, or really annoying things like the question conversation.
posted by aimedwander at 5:54 AM on May 20, 2013
posted by aimedwander at 5:54 AM on May 20, 2013
Uh, should have elaborated a little with the "twister" game. For giving clues, you also combine the "idea" the twister invokes. So for "It Happened One Night of the Living Dead," you might give a clue like "A runaway rich girl and a reporter run into zombies." Half the fun is laughing at the ridiculous clues.
posted by Rykey at 5:56 AM on May 20, 2013
posted by Rykey at 5:56 AM on May 20, 2013
When I'm trying to fall asleep, I play a mental game I call Four-Letter Words. You start with any word with four letters, and then you replace one letter, to form a new word. You should do it as quickly as you can think of it. The letter you replace can come from anywhere in the word. You keep going as long as you can, replacing letters to form new words... and I suppose with 2 players, whoever gets stumped first is the loser.
Just in case it wasn't clear, I'll give you an example. Word... work... fork... form... firm... farm... harm... warm... warp... harp... carp... card... cord... and back to word!
posted by Ursula Hitler at 6:00 AM on May 20, 2013 [7 favorites]
Just in case it wasn't clear, I'll give you an example. Word... work... fork... form... firm... farm... harm... warm... warp... harp... carp... card... cord... and back to word!
posted by Ursula Hitler at 6:00 AM on May 20, 2013 [7 favorites]
I sometimes play a mental version of Boggle with anything in print nearby. I.e., how many words can you form using the letters in a sentence, phrase, or (long) word?
So "PRESERVATIVES" might get you listing "SERVE" "TREE" "PEEVE" "VIPER" etc.
You can score based on number of words created, longest words created, or just be impressed with one another's best contributions.
posted by juliplease at 6:07 AM on May 20, 2013
So "PRESERVATIVES" might get you listing "SERVE" "TREE" "PEEVE" "VIPER" etc.
You can score based on number of words created, longest words created, or just be impressed with one another's best contributions.
posted by juliplease at 6:07 AM on May 20, 2013
One person chooses a letter, the other person chooses a category (animals, food, things that are noisy). Then you go back and forth naming members of the category that start with that letter until somebody can't.
Fish, Frog, Flea, Ferret, Flamingo, Flying squirrel...
posted by svenx at 6:07 AM on May 20, 2013
Fish, Frog, Flea, Ferret, Flamingo, Flying squirrel...
posted by svenx at 6:07 AM on May 20, 2013
My dad and I would play one called Botticelli (not sure why). You think of a person, real or imaginary, and tell the other player their initials and whether they're real or imaginary. Then the other player asks yes/no questions to try to work out who they are. It's kind of like 20 questions but with people.
posted by Athanassiel at 6:08 AM on May 20, 2013 [6 favorites]
posted by Athanassiel at 6:08 AM on May 20, 2013 [6 favorites]
My family plays "hink pink".
P1: Hink pink- a chubby rodent.
P2: Fat rat!
P1: Hinky pinky- a wet amphibian.
P2: Soggy froggy!
P1: Hinkedy pinkedy- water frozen in the shape of a vehicle.
P2: Bicycle icicle!
There is also hinkedyot pinkedyot for the very ambitious.
The game is just to think of descriptive rhyming words with with the same number of syllables each (# syllables indicated by berbal variation of hink pink), and come up with a clue so the other player can guess. Despite the fact that I listed examples progressively there is no structure or escalation to the game, nor is there a scoring system. I'm sure you could create one of you wanted - for example, having to match the number of syllables used previously when thinking up the next rhyme. The challenge here is not only to guess the rhyme; coming up with them is challenging when usin more than 2 syllables.
posted by Cygnet at 6:09 AM on May 20, 2013 [10 favorites]
P1: Hink pink- a chubby rodent.
P2: Fat rat!
P1: Hinky pinky- a wet amphibian.
P2: Soggy froggy!
P1: Hinkedy pinkedy- water frozen in the shape of a vehicle.
P2: Bicycle icicle!
There is also hinkedyot pinkedyot for the very ambitious.
The game is just to think of descriptive rhyming words with with the same number of syllables each (# syllables indicated by berbal variation of hink pink), and come up with a clue so the other player can guess. Despite the fact that I listed examples progressively there is no structure or escalation to the game, nor is there a scoring system. I'm sure you could create one of you wanted - for example, having to match the number of syllables used previously when thinking up the next rhyme. The challenge here is not only to guess the rhyme; coming up with them is challenging when usin more than 2 syllables.
posted by Cygnet at 6:09 AM on May 20, 2013 [10 favorites]
We love to play the movie title game with our kids in the car, but we've never tried movie titles! We do foods, animals, girls'/boy's names, etc.
We also like Categories, where you pick a word, say SHARP, and then a category, say animals, and the other person has to come up with the names of animals that begin with the letters in SHARP (Squirrel, Hog, Antelope, Raccoon, Pig). Will Shortz sometimes does this one on his Sunday Puzzle on NPR.
We play a lot of 20 Questions, although we generally don't count the questions. They have to be yes-no questions, like Is it a man? Is it someone I've met in person? etc.
We also used to try to name all 50 states in alphabetical order, but we can do it by heart now, so we are working on all 50 state capitals in alphabetical order instead!
posted by wisekaren at 6:19 AM on May 20, 2013
We also like Categories, where you pick a word, say SHARP, and then a category, say animals, and the other person has to come up with the names of animals that begin with the letters in SHARP (Squirrel, Hog, Antelope, Raccoon, Pig). Will Shortz sometimes does this one on his Sunday Puzzle on NPR.
We play a lot of 20 Questions, although we generally don't count the questions. They have to be yes-no questions, like Is it a man? Is it someone I've met in person? etc.
We also used to try to name all 50 states in alphabetical order, but we can do it by heart now, so we are working on all 50 state capitals in alphabetical order instead!
posted by wisekaren at 6:19 AM on May 20, 2013
I play the before/after game - player one chooses a word. Player two guesses a word, and player one says whether the guess is before or after the word they chose.
Repeat until player two guesses the word. So it would look like this. My word will be "globe."
Player two: monkey.
Player one: before.
Player two: gap.
Player one: after.
Player two: joke.
Player one: before.
Player two: happy.
Player one: before.
Player two: genome.
Player one: after.
Player two: gin.
Player one: after.
And so on.
posted by punchtothehead at 6:27 AM on May 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
Repeat until player two guesses the word. So it would look like this. My word will be "globe."
Player two: monkey.
Player one: before.
Player two: gap.
Player one: after.
Player two: joke.
Player one: before.
Player two: happy.
Player one: before.
Player two: genome.
Player one: after.
Player two: gin.
Player one: after.
And so on.
posted by punchtothehead at 6:27 AM on May 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
The game biffa describes is like the one I know as Ghost. (In Ghost, every time you lose you get a letter of the word "ghost" and when you have them all, you're a ghost and you're out. If anyone else still in the game talks to you, they become a ghost.) I've never played it with pencil and paper, just verbally.
But Ghost doesn't work with 2 people. The person who goes first can always win if they put a little thought into it.
posted by Redstart at 6:28 AM on May 20, 2013 [3 favorites]
But Ghost doesn't work with 2 people. The person who goes first can always win if they put a little thought into it.
posted by Redstart at 6:28 AM on May 20, 2013 [3 favorites]
Nine letter word game! Start with a random nine letter word (REACTIONS). Take the first and last letters of the word (RS). Next person has to find another nine letter word that contains those two letters, in that order, adjacent to each other somewhere in the word (ARSONISTS). Repeat. You can be as liberal or strict as you like in terms of what counts as a legitimate nine letter word - I accept hyphenated words (PEG-LEGGED) and things that are unusual formulations of words (UNOPENERS), but it's open to interpretation and making your case for a word can also be entertaining.
posted by marginaliana at 6:48 AM on May 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by marginaliana at 6:48 AM on May 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
Just to piggy-back off of what Ursula Hitler wrote, there's a card game version of that called "Word Trek," and it also uses the rule that you can scramble the letters in a word to make an anagram instead of replacing a letter. It's a great way to kill time.
posted by alphanerd at 6:52 AM on May 20, 2013
posted by alphanerd at 6:52 AM on May 20, 2013
I've often played a more specific Twenty Questions-type game called Botticelli.
posted by theatro at 6:56 AM on May 20, 2013
posted by theatro at 6:56 AM on May 20, 2013
But Ghost doesn't work with 2 people.
It works a lot better if you're allowed to add letters at the beginning as well as the end.
posted by Obscure Reference at 7:11 AM on May 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
It works a lot better if you're allowed to add letters at the beginning as well as the end.
posted by Obscure Reference at 7:11 AM on May 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
In such situations I play the Animal/Vegetable/Mineral? version of Twenty Questions. If we want a challenging round, we use random objects that don't fit neatly in those categories: anything that doesn't have vegetable matter in it becomes mineral (a shopping cart, a rollercoaster, etc), and anything remotely made out of plants becomes vegetable (eg. a reed basket, a wooden spoon, pea soup, paper products, etc). Provide no warning that the object is not a typical vegetable or mineral. Sometimes we also play with people in the animal category, but for maximum amusement this has to be rare enough to go unnoticed by the guesser for a few rounds.
posted by snorkmaiden at 7:42 AM on May 20, 2013
posted by snorkmaiden at 7:42 AM on May 20, 2013
"Going to Tahiti" is a verbal game about recognizing patterns. You're going to Tahiti and you can only take 2 things in your luggage. The initial player decides on a "rule" for what to take: only things that start with the letter b, for instance, or the first object is green while the second object is a fruit. So Player 1 says, "I'm going to Tahiti and I'm taking a frog and a banana" (green/fruit). The next player tries to figure out what the rule or categories are by guessing what to take, so Player 2 might say, "I'm going to Tahiti and taking a monkey and an apple." If the statement fits the rule, Player 1 responds, "Yes, you may go to Tahiti." If it does not (as in this case), Player 1 says, "I'm sorry, you may not go to Tahiti."
Either way, next Player 1 offers another example of what s/he is taking to Tahiti that fits the rule. Then Player 2 tries again. Keep going back and forth until Player 2 can guess what the "rule" might be, although they can only guess once they have made several "correct" guesses.
The pattern can be anything at all - it can be as hard or as easy as you like. In addition, the game can be played with more than 2 people.
posted by Lately Gone at 8:00 AM on May 20, 2013 [3 favorites]
Either way, next Player 1 offers another example of what s/he is taking to Tahiti that fits the rule. Then Player 2 tries again. Keep going back and forth until Player 2 can guess what the "rule" might be, although they can only guess once they have made several "correct" guesses.
The pattern can be anything at all - it can be as hard or as easy as you like. In addition, the game can be played with more than 2 people.
posted by Lately Gone at 8:00 AM on May 20, 2013 [3 favorites]
I've played a movie game similar to yours. Player one says the name of a movie, then player two says and actor in that movie, then player one says some other movie that actor was in, and so on. It's like mental IMDB.
posted by Weeping_angel at 8:15 AM on May 20, 2013
posted by Weeping_angel at 8:15 AM on May 20, 2013
I think Lately's "Going to Tahiti" is more widely known as "Going on a Picnic".
posted by DarlingBri at 8:16 AM on May 20, 2013
posted by DarlingBri at 8:16 AM on May 20, 2013
Thirding Botticelli. It's an amazing game. We play it on road trips and some games can go on for days.
There are various "house rules" for it, so look up some variations and pick one you like. We use the rules: must be all real people; yes/no questions only; if the answerer makes a wrong guess, but it meets all the criteria established in answers to previous questions, they score a free yes/no question to the puzzlemaster: ("male or female? Are they in the arts? Living or dead?" etc.)
posted by Miko at 8:49 AM on May 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
There are various "house rules" for it, so look up some variations and pick one you like. We use the rules: must be all real people; yes/no questions only; if the answerer makes a wrong guess, but it meets all the criteria established in answers to previous questions, they score a free yes/no question to the puzzlemaster: ("male or female? Are they in the arts? Living or dead?" etc.)
posted by Miko at 8:49 AM on May 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
We turn the letter component of car license plates into acronyms. The only rule is that you can't reuse words. Plate number NPS-388 could be "nasty paleontologist society", "Norwegian pressed shrimp", "never plead stupidity", etc. Loser is the one who can't think of anything. Then you move onto the next car.
posted by awenner at 10:37 AM on May 20, 2013
posted by awenner at 10:37 AM on May 20, 2013
not really a word game, but Lateral Thinking is fun and has actually helped me to think smarter, if that makes sense. you guys could each learn a few questions and take turns being the asker/answerer.
posted by carlypennylane at 12:08 PM on May 20, 2013
posted by carlypennylane at 12:08 PM on May 20, 2013
A variation on Rykey's game - try to create as long a string of movie (or book, or whatever) titles. Like "Kitten with a Whip It happened one Night of the living Dead calm..." It's not a competitive game, more of a cooperative one.
posted by mskyle at 1:13 PM on May 20, 2013
posted by mskyle at 1:13 PM on May 20, 2013
There's also this one:
Player A chooses a band/singer. It's to A's advantage to be fairly familiar with this band's song titles. Player B then asks a series of questions about Player A, who must answer only with song titles from that band. When A is stumped, B gets a turn. You can be as rigid or as silly as you want to, depending on what you agree to beforehand.
Example:
A: The Beatles.
B: What was your first romance like?
A: "I Should Have Known Better."
B: Tell me about your childhood.
A: "Help!"
B: Somebody cuts in front of you in line. What do you do?
A: "Let It Be."
B: What's the best career advice you've ever gotten?
A: Ummmm...
B: Stumped! My turn. The Bee Gees...
posted by Rykey at 2:52 PM on May 20, 2013
Player A chooses a band/singer. It's to A's advantage to be fairly familiar with this band's song titles. Player B then asks a series of questions about Player A, who must answer only with song titles from that band. When A is stumped, B gets a turn. You can be as rigid or as silly as you want to, depending on what you agree to beforehand.
Example:
A: The Beatles.
B: What was your first romance like?
A: "I Should Have Known Better."
B: Tell me about your childhood.
A: "Help!"
B: Somebody cuts in front of you in line. What do you do?
A: "Let It Be."
B: What's the best career advice you've ever gotten?
A: Ummmm...
B: Stumped! My turn. The Bee Gees...
posted by Rykey at 2:52 PM on May 20, 2013
A variation on awenner's game - try to think of the longest word you can that contains the three letters of a car's license plate, in order.
Example: XAT
Exact would be good, excavation would be better, exclamatory would be even better.
posted by forza at 3:33 PM on May 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
Example: XAT
Exact would be good, excavation would be better, exclamatory would be even better.
posted by forza at 3:33 PM on May 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
In my family, the license plate game is scored oppositely from how forza does it — shorter words get more points. (Because when everybody in the family is a bookworm with a fondness for polysyllables, most found it easy to come up with some sesquipedalian word that incorporated a set three letters in order. Coming up with a shorter word was deemed more challenging.)
posted by Lexica at 8:21 PM on May 20, 2013
posted by Lexica at 8:21 PM on May 20, 2013
My friends and I play a game of places around the globe - sometimes limiting it to countries or cities only. The first person says a place (Azerbaijan), the next player says a place beginning with the last letter of the previous place (Nigeria), and on (Algiers), and on (Sudan). There is no repeating allowed! You could do this for animals or names or whatever category you like. Pro tip: if you go with locations, study up on a few places starting with X (China has a lot).
Other times we just shout out things we see. Hilarity ensues. Electricity!!!
posted by youngergirl44 at 10:04 PM on May 20, 2013
Other times we just shout out things we see. Hilarity ensues. Electricity!!!
posted by youngergirl44 at 10:04 PM on May 20, 2013
Movie Actor Movie Actor!
Player 1 names a movie.
Player 2 names an actor from that movie.
Player 1 then names a different movie starring that same actor.
Player 2 then names a different actor in that movie.
Etc.
Example:
P1: Last of the Mohicans!
P2: Daniel Day Lewis!
P1: Gangs of New York!
P2: Leonardo DiCaprio!
P1: Gatsby!
P2: Joel Edgerton!
Etc.
Caveat: With only 2 players, one person ends up naming all movies, the other all actors. This can be either a feature or a bug.
The exclamation points above are very necessary. The game is just that exciting.
posted by pecanpies at 6:11 AM on May 21, 2013
Player 1 names a movie.
Player 2 names an actor from that movie.
Player 1 then names a different movie starring that same actor.
Player 2 then names a different actor in that movie.
Etc.
Example:
P1: Last of the Mohicans!
P2: Daniel Day Lewis!
P1: Gangs of New York!
P2: Leonardo DiCaprio!
P1: Gatsby!
P2: Joel Edgerton!
Etc.
Caveat: With only 2 players, one person ends up naming all movies, the other all actors. This can be either a feature or a bug.
The exclamation points above are very necessary. The game is just that exciting.
posted by pecanpies at 6:11 AM on May 21, 2013
How about Say the Same Thing? There's an app, but you could just play it verbally!
posted by exceptinsects at 5:21 PM on June 4, 2013
posted by exceptinsects at 5:21 PM on June 4, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Rykey at 5:43 AM on May 20, 2013 [2 favorites]