Funny word games to play

Fun Spoken Word Games You Can Play Anywhere

Playing word games with friends and family can be a lot of fun, but you may not always have access to a chalkboard, a giant pad of paper, or a series of flashcards. That doesn’t mean that games are off the table. Well, at least figuratively, because there are all sorts of fun spoken word games you can literally play anywhere, including off the table. 

Whether you’re self-isolating at home or you’re taking a road trip across the country, verbal games can be both entertaining and educational! Go ahead and play in pairs or small groups.

I Spy (With My Little Eye)

While tradition dictates that “I Spy” is played on long car journeys, it’s actually better to play when you’re going to be in one physical place for the duration of the game. You wouldn’t want to lose sight of the object that you spy, right?

Young girl playing game I Spy (With My Little Eye)

The basic rules are that one player is designated as the spy, choosing an object or item clearly within view. For example, let’s say the spy chooses a flower. Then, they’d say, “I spy with my little eye something beginning with F.” The other player or players then try to guess the object. They might ask yes-or-no questions for more information. “Is it blue?”

Other variations include:

• I spy with my little eye something that is blue. (color)

• I spy with my little eye something that rhymes with floor. (rhyming words)

• I spy with my little eye something that is fast. (other characteristic)

20 Questions

In many ways, 20 Questions is very similar to I Spy. The main difference between these conversation games is that you don’t need to actually see the chosen object with 20 Questions. And, as the name clearly indicates, the “guesser” is limited to a total of 20 yes-or-no questions to figure out what the target object is. 

Some variations of the game include the final guess as part of the 20 question limit, whereas others say the final guess is in addition to the 20 questions. That’s up to you to decide. 

Charades

Prefer spoken word games that are a little more active? Charades may be more your jam. For this game, you’ll need at least two teams of two players each. One person goes up with a clue and must act out the word, phrase or title without making a single sound. The other player or players on their team then try to guess the word, phrase or title.

Funny how such a popular verbal game involves complete silence from one of the players, right? If you need inspiration coming up with charades clues, YourDictionary has an extensive charades words list for kids to get you started. 

True Story

How good are you at telling a lie and sticking with it? One player describes, in a single sentence, an experience that they’ve had. This experience might be a true story or it might be made up. The other player or players then have the opportunity to ask follow-up questions, and the storyteller has to respond accordingly. 

You can decide on either a time limit (like five minutes) or a set number of questions (like 10 questions). After that, they have to guess whether or not it is a true story.

Similar conversation games can be less personal but equally entertaining. 

• Look up an obscure fact on your phone (or one that you already know) instead of telling a story. This can be a common myth or misconception too. The other players ask questions and then they guess whether it’s fact or fiction. 

• You can also do the same with an obscure word and its definition. Is “emordnilap” a real word? Or did you just make it up? 

Sparkle

Want to add a dash of education into the mix? If you’ve got younger children who are learning how to spell (or adults who aren’t very good at spelling), then Sparkle is one of the best spelling word games you can play! It’s best enjoyed with a group of at least about six players, topping out at a typical classroom at around 30 students.

1. Players sit around in a circle. 

2. The person in charge chooses a word and calls it out.  

3. The first person starts spelling it, saying only the first letter. 

4. The next person says the second letter and so on. 

5. The player who says the last letter turns to the next player and says, “Sparkle!” That player is now “out.” 

6. The game continues with a new word with the next player after that. 

7. If anyone suggests a wrong letter along the way, they’re also “out.”

Can your friends spell oxyphenbutazone correctly? 

Random Word Game

Many popular vocabulary games, like Boggle and Words With Friends, require a game board or game pieces. But, you can also enjoy verbal games like the Random Word Game to challenge your knowledge and dig deep into your vocabulary. It’s easiest if you sit in a circle to remember whose turn it is.

The first player chooses a word and defines the category. For example, they might say, “The category is wild animals. The first word is tiger.” The second player must then come up with a wild animal that starts with the last letter of “tiger,” like R for “raccoon. ” The third player must then name a wild animal that starts with the last letter of “raccoon,” like N for “newt.” and so on.

Another variation, called the Alphabet Game, involves naming items in the category in alphabetical order. For example, if the category is countries: 

• The first player might say, “Argentina.” 

• The second player can then say, “Brazil.” 

• The third player can say, “Canada,” and so on.

Just hope that you don’t get stuck with harder letters like Q and X! 

Common Quality

This verbal game can be enjoyed in pairs or in small groups. The first player starts by naming an object and a quality or characteristic about it. The second player must then name a different object that has the same quality, plus a quality that this new object has. Play goes back and forth (or around, with multiple players). 

For example:

• Player 1: Daffodils are yellow.

• Player 2: Bumblebees are also yellow. And they’re fuzzy.

• Player 1: Teddy bears are also fuzzy. And they’re loved by children.

• Player 2: Candy is also loved by children. And they’re sweet.

• And so on...

For an added challenge, you might choose to restrict the objects to a certain category, like “plants” or “household objects.”

Fun With Words With Friends

Board games and mobile games can be a lot of fun. And it helps when you’ve got a clever word-finding cheat tool to help with top scores too. But, even if all you’ve got is your voice, your imagination, and a friend or three, you can still have a terrific time with conversational games and verbal games. And that’s the word. I have spoken. 

Michael Kwan is a professional writer and editor with over 14 years of experience. Fueled by caffeine and WiFi, he's no stranger to word games and dad jokes.

8 Fun Verbal & Conversation-Based Games

 While there is so much darkness that COVID-19 has shrouded us in, one common silver lining is that it has brought families together, connected friends that were lost over time and distance, and redefined the way we entertain ourselves and bond with each other. So it's important to remember, there are a lot of fun games that don't need a board or any cards or game pieces. All you need is a little enthusiasm, some imagination, and as much company as you can get, wherever in the world they might be! 

These verbal games are designed for fun with friends, family, and kids. In fact, they can be quite the learning activity, and you can play them absolutely anywhere; while on walks, during car rides, and even when visiting places. From classic childhood games to insightful and interesting challenges, these conversation games will make any date, dinner, and zoom call unforgettably fun!

1. What’s Better? 

This game is really easy, a lot of fun, and a great way to have fun with kids. It’s a fast-paced game, so players need to be ready and quick. You start by picking a general category, like books, sports, TV shows, food, or even places and superheroes. 

The game is played with a lightning round of questions asking about a player's preference for two things that fall under the selected category. Each round is played with two people, where one asks the questions and the other answers. Every subsequent question should contain the previous questions preferred item. 

Ex: 

Q: “What’s better, cheese or candy?” 

A: “Candy”

Q: “What’s better, candy or ice cream?” 

A: “Ice cream”

Q: “What’s better, ice cream or cookies?” 

The faster the questions are asked and answered, the more fun the game begins. The questioner has to keep thinking of new possibilities and the answerer has to be listening attentively. You can end each round when an answer or question is delivered too slow. 

Picking the topic can also be a fun activity with a group, giving everyone an opportunity to submit their candidates and debate them. “What’s Better” is a fun and simple way to gain insight into different people's preferences, young and old alike. 

2. Fact or Fiction 

“Fact or Fiction” is the funnest way to expand your mind while also testing your knowledge and the knowledge of everyone playing with you. Like “What’s Better”, it can be played between two people or more. 

Every player needs to look up myths and legends as well as actual facts related to a particular topic. Each player can choose their topic or a common one can be given to everyone. It can be anything from major events, important monuments, or different cultures to ancient history, the French Revolution, or the animal kingdom. Each turn, a player says either a fact or a myth, and other players must guess which it is. 

Topic: Animal Kingdom

Player 1: Fact or Fiction? Grizzly bears can run as fast as horses. 

Player 2: Fact or Fiction? Flamingos are pink because they eat shrimp 

Player 3: Fact or Fiction? Bulls hate the color red

The game will end when you run out of facts or myths. It can also be played in multiple rounds with a single person stating all the possible legends or facts under a particular category, and other players guessing for each round.  

“Fact or Fiction” is a wonderful way to learn new things and even spark new interests in different subjects, making it a great game for kids. You can award points to the player that gets the most number of correct guesses and select a grand prize winner at the end of the game. 

3. Odd One Out 

You can adjust the difficulty level of this game, depending on whether you're playing it with young kids, teenagers, or adults. The premise of the game is simple. On each turn the player lists 2 related things and 1 unrelated, and the other player(s) must guess which thing is the odd one out. 

Easy: Cat, Dog, Book

A: Book - Cats and dogs are living things while a book is a non-living thing.

Medium: Train, Car, Boat

A: Boat - Train and car are vehicles of land while a boat is a water vehicle.

Hard: Frog, Cow, Human

A: Frog - Cows and humans are mammals while frogs are amphibians.  

Extra Hard: (53, 68, 79)

A: 68 - 53 and 79 are prime numbers while 68 is not.

Much like “Fact or Fiction”, this game can be played with a single person presenting the three items and each player guessing on their turn, or with each player presenting 3 items on their respective turns. 

The subject matter of the 3 items listed each turn can be changed every turn to make the game extra challenging. Points can be awarded for each correct guess of the odd one out, with a final winner being declared at the end of the game. 

4. Name, Place, Animal, Thing

(By Nicole Waleczek, Wikimedia Commons)

This game harkens back to a day when cross country road trips weren’t equipped with in-vehicle entertainment systems to watch “Finding Nemo” on, so it was either “Name, Place, Animal, Thing”, or 3000 rounds of “I Spy”. It’s a fun way to get kids thinking and gets more challenging as the game continues. 

The game is played in multiple rounds (but never quite as many as “I Spy”) and can be played with multiple people. Each round, a letter of the alphabet is randomly selected. As soon as the selected alphabet is announced, all players have a certain amount of time to list a person's name, a real place, an animal, and an inanimate object all of which must begin with the selected letter. 

Selected letter: G 

Name: Gary

Place: Geneva

Animal: Gecko

Thing: Gazebo

It’s the choice of the players whether to keep a letter as a possible selection for a later round after it's been used. Removing letters can come with its own challenges (like being stuck with letters that don’t lend themselves to easy answers). However, keeping them has the added difficulty of requiring multiple words for the same letter (which could leave you searching for an animal beginning with ‘G’ for the 5th time).

Another way to manage difficulty levels with this game is to increase or decrease the time within which players must find a word under each category for each alphabet every round. Points can be awarded either on the basis of total number of words each person managed to come up within all the rounds, or the number of completed rounds (where all 4 categories have been filled). 

5. I Went To The Market 

Here’s a game that will not only test your memory but also help you update your grocery list! Quite possibly literally. The game requires players to name a new item purchased at a grocery store or market, after remembering and listing out all items previously named by preceding players. 

This game can be played with two or more people. It begins with the first player saying “I went to the market and bought…” and listing an item. The following player must then repeat the sentence, including the item listed by the first player, and add another item to the purchased list. The third player would then have to repeat the sentence and the first two players’ items from memory before adding a third item. 

Player 1: I went to the market and bought a loaf of bread.

Player 2: I went to the market and bought a loaf of bread and bananas.

Player 3: I went to the market and bought a loaf of bread and bananas and a candy bar.

Player 4: I went to the market and bought a loaf of bread and bananas and a candy bar and shoe polish.

The purpose of “I Went To The Market” is to challenge not only our ability to remember previous details but also to think quickly, coming up with a new item each round. The items must be items one would be likely to find in a market. In case you want to make it a little tougher, you can replace the market with the Zoo, and list solely animals. 

The round ends when a player either forgets previous items or is unable to list a new one. The player with the least number of losses at the end of all the rounds can be declared the winner. 

6. Word Tennis 

As the name would suggest, this game of back and forth focuses on verbal volleying and quick thinking. It can be played with 2 to 4 players. There are two versions of this game that can be played. The first is called “Sound Tennis” and the second is called “Rhyming Tennis”. 

In the first version, either a sound or letter is decided randomly or by the players jointly. The letter “P” might be selected or the sound “Sh”. Each player must then say a word starting with the selected sound or letter in rapid succession. 

Selected Sound: Sh

Player 1: Sheep

Player 2: Shock

Player 3: Ship

In the second version, a similar concept is applied to rhyming words. It begins by first selecting a rhyming family, denoting the final letters of the words, like “at”, “ay” or “ess”. Then each player lists out words from that family in a quickfire round. 

Rhyming Family: Ay 

Player 1: Stay

Player 2: Fray

Player 3: May

No words can be repeated during the round. The round ends when a player runs out of words to add to the chain. The player with the least number of losses or the highest number of wins at the end of the game is the final winner. 

7. Just a Minute 

This game is where all great conversation and public speaking skills begin. It can be played with 2 people or even with large groups and is a super fun way to get to know new people. 

The rules of this game are very simple. Every turn, a player is given a topic, either independently or jointly selected by the other players. The player whose turn it is must then speak on that topic for just a minute. Sounds easy enough right? Wrong! 

The challenge is to select relatively obscure or unknown topics, or topics that wouldn’t lend themselves to 60 full seconds of talking, to the average person at least. These topics could range from subjects like math or astronomy to more specific topics like the Bermuda Triangle. 

The key to achieving maximum enjoyment in this game is to know as little about the topic at hand and talk about it for a minute as if you know it very well. The results are often funny, clever, and creative. You can even turn your Toastmasters minute into a story or an adventure. At the end of the game, everyone's a winner! 

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Word games • Arzamas

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Author Lev Gankin

Primer “A. B. C. Trim, alphabet enchanté. Illustrations by Bertal. France, 1861

Oral games

Associations

Game for a big company. The host briefly leaves the room, during which time the rest decide which of those present they will guess (this may be the host himself). Upon returning, the player asks the others questions - what flower do you associate this person with, what vehicle, what part of the body, what kitchen utensils, etc. - in order to understand who is hidden. Questions can be very different - this is not limited by anything other than the imagination of the players. Since associations are an individual matter and an exact match may not happen here, it is customary to give the guesser two or three attempts. If the company is small, you can expand the circle of mutual acquaintances who are not present at that moment in the room, although the classic version of "associations" is still a hermetic game.

Game of P

A game for a company of four people, an interesting variation on the "hat" theme (see below), but does not require any special accessories. One player guesses a word to another, which he must explain to the others, but he can only use words starting with the letter "p" (any, except for the same root). That is, the word "house" will have to be explained, for example, as follows: "I built - I live." If you couldn’t guess right away, you can throw up additional associations: “building, premises, space, the simplest concept ...” And at the end add, for example, “Perignon” - by association with Dom Perignon champagne. If the guessers are close to winning, then the facilitator will need comments like “about”, “approximately”, “almost right” - or, in the opposite situation: “bad, wait!”. Usually, after the word is guessed, the explainer comes up with a new word and whispers it into the ear of the guesser - he becomes the next leader.

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Primer "A. B. C. Trim, alphabet enchanté. Illustrations by Bertal. France, 1861

Say the Same Thing

An upbeat and fast-paced game for two, named after a video clip by the inventive rock band OK Go, from which many people learned about it (the musicians even developed a mobile application that helps to play it from a distance, although it is currently unavailable). The meaning of the game is that on the count of one-two-three each of the players pronounces a randomly chosen word. Further, the goal of the players is, with the help of successive associations, to come to a common denominator: for the next time, two or three, both pronounce a word that is somehow connected with the previous two, and so on until the desired coincidence occurs. Suppose the first player said the word "house" and the second player said the word "sausage"; in theory, they can coincide very soon, if on the second move after one-two-three both say "store". But if one says “shop”, and the other says “refrigerator” (why not a sausage house?), then the game can drag on, especially since it’s impossible to repeat - neither the store nor the refrigerator will fit, and you will have to think, say, before "refrigerator" or "IKEI". If the original words are far from each other (for example, "curb" and "weightlessness"), then the gameplay becomes completely unpredictable.

Characters

A game for the company (the ideal number of players is from four to ten), which requires from the participants not only good imagination, but also, preferably, a little bit of acting skills. As usual, one of the players briefly leaves the room, and while he is gone, the rest come up with a word, the number of letters in which matches the number of participants remaining in the room. Next, the letters are distributed among the players, and a character is invented for each of them (therefore, words that contain "b", "s" or "b" do not fit). Until the word is guessed, the players behave in accordance with the chosen character - the leader's task is to understand exactly what characters his partners portray and restore the hidden word. Imagine, for example, that a company consists of seven people. One leaves, the rest come up with a six-letter word "old man" and distribute roles among themselves: the first, say, will be with indoor, the second - t erpel, the third - a secondary, the fourth - p asylum, the fifth - and mane and sixth - to ovary. The returning player is greeted by a cacophony of voices - the company "lives" their roles until they are unraveled, and the host asks the players questions that help reveal their image. The only condition is that as soon as the presenter pronounces the correct character - for example, guesses the insidious one - he must admit that his incognito has been revealed and announce the number of his letter (in the word "old man" - the sixth).

Recognize the song

A game for a company of four to five people. The host leaves, and the remaining players choose a well-known song and distribute its words among themselves - each word. For example, the song “Let there always be sun” is guessed: one player gets the word “let”, the second - “always”, the third - “will be”, the fourth - “sun”. The host returns and begins to ask questions - the most varied and unexpected: "What is your favorite city?", "Where does the Volga flow?", "What to do and who is to blame?". The task of the respondents is to use their own word in the answer and try to do it in such a way that it does not stand out too much; you need to answer quickly and not very extensively, but not necessarily truthfully. Answers to questions in this case can be, for example, “It’s hard for me to choose one city, but let today it will be Rio de Janeiro" or "Volga - into the Caspian, but this does not happen always , every third year it flows into the Black". The presenter must catch which word is superfluous in the answer and guess the song. They often play with lines from poetry rather than from songs.

Tip

A game for four people divided into pairs (in principle, there can be three or four pairs). The mechanics is extremely simple: the first player from the first pair whispers a word (a common noun in the singular) into the ear of the first player from the second pair, then they must take turns calling their associations with this word (in the same form - common nouns; cognate words cannot be used ). After each association, the teammate of the player who voiced it calls out his word, trying to guess if it was originally guessed - and so on, until the problem is solved by someone; at the same time, all associations already sounded in the game can be used in the future, adding one new one at each move. For example, suppose there are players A and B on one team, and C and D on the other. Player A whispers the word "old man" into player C's ear. Player C says aloud to his partner D: "age". If D immediately answers "old man", then the pair of C and D scores a point, but if he says, for example, "youth", then the move goes to player A, who, using the word "age" suggested by C (but discarding the irrelevant to the case "youth" from D), says to his partner B: "age, man." Now B will probably guess the old man - and his team with A will already earn a point. But if he says "teenager" (thinking that it is about the age when boys turn into men), then C, to whom the move suddenly returned, will say " age, man, eightieth birthday”, and here, probably, “old man” will be guessed. In one of the variants of the game, it is also allowed to "shout": this means that, having suddenly guessed what was meant, the player can shout out the option not on his turn. If he guessed right, his team will get a point, but if he rushed to conclusions, the team will lose a point. They usually play up to five points.

IPU

Game for a big company. Here we are forced to warn readers that, having seen this text in full, you will never be able to drive again - the game is one-time.

Spoiler →

First, the player who gets to drive leaves the room. When he returns, he must find out what MPS means - all that is known in advance is that the bearer of this mysterious abbreviation is present in the room right now. To find out the correct answer, the driver can ask other players questions, the answers to which should be formulated as “yes” or “no”: “Does he have blond hair?”, “Does he have blue eyes?”, “Is this a man?”, “He in jeans?", "Does he have a beard?"; moreover, each question is asked to a specific player, and not to all at once. Most likely, it will quickly become clear that there is simply no person in the room who meets all the criteria; Accordingly, the question arises, according to what principle the players give answers. "Opening" this principle will help answer the main question - what is MPS. The Ministry of Railways is not the Ministry of Communications at all, but m oh p equal s seated (that is, each player always describes the person sitting to his right). Another option is COP, to then about answered n last (that is, everyone talks about who answered the previous question).

Contact

A simple game that can be played with a group of three or more people. One thinks of a word (noun, common noun, singular) and calls its first letter aloud, the task of the others is to guess the word, remembering other words with this letter, asking questions about them and checking if the presenter guessed. The facilitator's task is not to reveal the next letters in the word to the players for as long as possible. For example, a word with the letter "d" is guessed. One of the players asks the question: “Is this by chance not the place where we live?” This is where the fun begins: the host must figure out as quickly as possible what the player means and say “No, this is not“ house ”” (well, or, if it was a“ house ”, honestly admit it). But in parallel, other players also think the same thing, and if they understand what “house” means before the leader, then they say: “contact” or “there is contact”, and start counting up to ten in chorus (while the count is going on, the presenter still has a chance to escape and guess what it is about!), and then they call the word. If at least two matched, that is, at the expense of ten they said “house” in chorus, the presenter must reveal the next letter, and the new guesser version will already begin with the now known letters “d” + the next one. If it was not possible to beat the host on this question, then the guessers offer a new option. Of course, it makes sense to complicate the definitions, and not ask everything directly - so the question about "home" would sound better like "Is this not where the sun rises?" (with a reference to the famous song "House of the Rising Sun" by The Animals). Usually, the one who eventually gets to the searched word (names it or asks a question leading to victory) becomes the next leader.

Writing games

Encyclopedia

Not the fastest, but extremely exciting game for a company of four people - you will need pens, paper and some kind of encyclopedic dictionary (preferably not limited thematically - that is, TSB is better than a conditional "biological encyclopedia"). The host finds a word in the encyclopedia that is unknown to anyone present (here it remains to rely on their honesty - but cheating in this game is uninteresting and unproductive). The task of each of the players is to write an encyclopedic definition of this word, inventing its meaning from the head and, if possible, disguising the text as a real small encyclopedic article. The presenter, meanwhile, carefully rewrites the real definition from the encyclopedia. After that, the “articles” are shuffled and read out by the presenter in random order, including the real one, and the players vote for which option seems most convincing to them. In the end, the votes are counted and points are distributed. Any player receives a point for correctly guessing the real definition and one more point for each vote given by other participants to his own version. After that, the sheets are distributed back and a new word is played out - there should be about 6-10 of them in total. You can also play this game in teams: come up with imaginary definitions collectively. The game "poems" is arranged in a similar way - but instead of a compound word, the host selects two lines from some little-known poem in advance and invites the participants to add quatrains.

Game from Inglourious Basterds

A game for a company of any size that many knew before the Quentin Tarantino film, but it does not have a single name. Each player invents a role for his neighbor (usually it is some famous person), writes it on a piece of paper and sticks the piece of paper on his neighbor's forehead: accordingly, everyone sees what role someone has, but does not know who they are. The task of the participants is, with the help of leading questions, the answers to which are formulated as “yes” or “no” (“Am I a historical figure?”, “Am I a cultural figure?”, “Am I a famous athlete?”), to find out who exactly they are. In this form, however, the game exhausts itself rather quickly, so you can come up with completely different themes and instead of famous people play, for example, in professions (including exotic ones - "carousel", "taxidermist"), in film and literary heroes (you can mix them with real celebrities, but it’s better to agree on this in advance), food (one player will be risotto, and the other, say, green cabbage soup) and even just items.

Bulls and cows

A game for two: one participant thinks of a word, and it is agreed in advance how many letters should be in it (usually 4-5). The task of the second is to guess this word by naming other four- or five-letter words; if some letters of the named word are in the hidden one, they are called cows, and if they have the same place inside the word, then these are bulls. Let's imagine that the word "eccentric" is conceived. If the guesser says “dot”, then he receives an answer from the second player: “three cows” (that is, the letters “h”, “k” and “a”, which are in both “eccentric” and “dot”, but in different places). If he then says "head of head", he will no longer get three cows, but two cows and one bull - since the letter "a" in both "eccentric" and "head" is in the fourth position. As a result, sooner or later, it is possible to guess the word, and the players can change places: now the first one will guess the word and count the bulls and cows, and the second one will name his options and track the extent to which they coincide with the one guessed. You can also complicate the process by simultaneously guessing your own word and guessing the opponent's word.

Intellect

Writing game for the company (but you can also play together), consisting of three rounds, each for five minutes. In the first, players randomly type thirteen letters (for example, blindly poking a book page with their finger) and then form words from them, and only long ones - from five letters. In the second round, you need to choose a syllable and remember as many words as possible that begin with it, you can use single-root ones (for example, if the syllable "house" is selected, then the words "house", "domra", "domain", "domain", "brownie", "housewife", etc.). Finally, in the third round, the syllable is taken again, but now you need to remember not ordinary words, but the names of famous people of the past and present in which it appears, and not necessarily at the beginning - that is, both Karamzin and McCartney will fit the syllable "kar" , and, for example, Hamilcar. An important detail: since this round provokes the most disputes and scams, game participants can ask each other to prove that this person is really a celebrity, and here you need to remember at least the profession and country. Typical dialogue: "What, you don't know Hamilcar? But this is a Carthaginian commander!” After each round, points are counted: if a particular word is the same for all players, it is simply crossed out, in other cases, players are awarded as many points for it as the opponents could not remember it. In the first round, you can still add points for especially long words. Based on the results of the rounds, it is necessary to determine who took the first, second, third and other places, and add up these places at the end of the game. The goal is to get the smallest number at the output (for example, if you were the winners of all three rounds, then you will get the number 3 - 1 + 1 + 1, and you are the champion; less cannot be purely mathematical).

Primer "A. B. C. Trim, alphabet enchanté. Illustrations by Bertal. France, 1861

Frame

A game for any number of people, which was invented by one of the creators of the Kaissa chess program and the author of the anagram search program Alexander Bitman. First, the players choose several consonants - this will be the frame, the skeleton of the word. Then the time is recorded (two or three minutes), and the players begin to “stretch” vowels (as well as “й”, “ь”, “ъ”) onto the frame to make existing words. Consonants can be used in any order, but only once, and vowels can be added in any number. For example, players choose the letters "t", "m", "n" - then the words "fog", "cloak", "mantle", "coin", "darkness", "ataman", "dumbness" and other. The winner is the one who can come up with more words (as usual, these should be common nouns in the singular). The game can be played even with one letter, for example, "l". The words “silt”, “lay”, “yula”, “aloe”, “spruce” are formed around it, and if we agree that the letter can be doubled, “alley” and “lily”. If the standard "framework" is mastered, then the task may be to compose a whole phrase with one consonant: a textbook example from the book by Evgeny Gik - "Bobby, kill the boy and beat the woman at the baobab."

Chain of words

Game for any number of players. Many people know it under the name "How to make an elephant out of a fly", and it was invented by the writer and mathematician Lewis Carroll, the author of "Alice". The “chain” is based on metagram words, that is, words that differ by only one letter. The task of the players is to turn one word into another with the least number of intermediate links. For example, let's make a "goat" from a "fox": FOX - LINDE - PAW - KAPA - KARA - KORA - GOAT. It is interesting to give tasks with a plot: so that the “day” turns into “night”, the “river” becomes the “sea”. The well-known chain, where the "elephant" grows out of the "fly", is obtained in 16 moves: FLY - MURA - TURA - TARA - KARA - KARE - CAFE - KAFR - MURDER - KAYUK - HOOK - URIK - LESSON - TERM - DRAIN - STON - ELEPHANT (example of Evgeny Gik). For training, you can compete in the search for metagrams for any word. For example, the word "tone" gives "sleep", "background", "current", "tom", "tan" and so on - whoever scores more options wins.

Hat

A game for a company of four people, requiring simple equipment: pens, paper and a “hat” (an ordinary plastic bag will do). Sheets of paper need to be torn into small pieces and distributed to the players, the number of pieces depends on how many people are playing: the larger the company, the less for each. Players write words on pieces of paper (one for each piece of paper) and throw them into the "hat". There are also options here - you can play just with words (noun, common noun, singular), or you can play with famous people or literary characters. Then the participants are divided into teams - two or more people each; the task of each - in 20 seconds (or 30, or a minute - the timing can be set at your own choice) to explain to your teammates the largest number of words arbitrarily pulled out of the "hat", without using the same root. If the driver could not explain a word, it returns to the hat and will be played by the other team. At the end of the game, the words guessed by different representatives of the same team are summed up, their number is counted, and the team that has more pieces of paper is awarded the victory. A popular version of the game: everything is the same, but in the first round the players explain the words (or describe the characters) orally, in the second round they show in pantomime, in the third round they explain the same words in one word. And recently a board game has appeared, where you need not only to explain and show, but also to draw.

Telegrams

Game for any number of players. The players choose a word, for each letter of which they will need to come up with a part of the telegram - the first letter will be the beginning of the first word, the second - the second, and so on. For example, the word "fork" is selected. Then the following message can become a telegram: “The camel is healed. I'm flying a crocodile. Aibolit". Another round of the game is the addition of genres. Each player gets the task to write not one, but several telegrams from the same word - business, congratulatory, romantic (the types of messages are agreed in advance). Telegrams are read aloud, the next word is chosen.

even more different games for one or a company

Home games

Shadow theater, crafts and paper dolls from children's books and magazines of the XIX-XX centuries Ring and other games

Games from classic books

What do the heroes of the works of Nabokov, Lindgren and Milne play

A children's course on where games, jokes, horror stories and memes come from and why we need them

Children's room

Special project

Children's room Arzamas

Sources

• Balandin B. B. Big book of intellectual games and entertaining questions for smart people and smart girls.

  M., 2008.

• Bocharova A. G., Goreva T. M., Okun V. Ya. 500 wonderful children's games.

  M., 1999.

• Geek E. Ya. Entertaining mathematical games.

  M., 1987.

• Fedin S. N. The best games with words.

  M., 2001.

• Firsova L. M. Games and entertainment. Book 1.

  M., 1989.

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Word games for the road

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What games to take with you on the road so that they do not take up space in your backpack? Of course verbal!

We have put together a list of fun games for you that will help keep your child entertained in transport while you get to the forest, for example, or other natural attractions.

Word games for kids

Similar to city games, but the theme is simpler, for example, nature.

First, the size of the jar and the initial letter of the words are assigned. And then the players take turns calling objects or living creatures with the selected letter that can be placed in this jar. You can't repeat. Whoever can't come up with a word is out.

I will take on the road with me

The players take turns naming the items they take on the road, starting with the phrase "I will take with me on the road" and repeating all the items in order that were named from the beginning .

For example:

- I take a thermos with me on the road

- I take a thermos and a flashlight with me on the road

- I take a thermos, a flashlight and a cap with me on the road ...

My new car

The host thinks of a number and everyone together counts the oncoming cars. The car that falls on the hidden number is considered the new leader's car. Especially funny if it turns out to be some kind of garbage truck.

Racing raindrops

When it's raining, choose a drop for yourself on the window and watch which drop comes down first.

Car Rainbow

Make a rainbow of cars passing by. First we look for red, then orange, etc.

Guess the driver

Try to guess who is driving the car in front. Discuss the details of appearance: age, gender, hair color and length, the presence of glasses and a headdress. And when overtaking, check who was closer to the truth and wave cheerfully to the driver.

Word games for older children

Cities

The well-known geographical game. Players name cities that start with the last letter of the previous city. No repeats.

Contact available

The host thinks of a word and pronounces the first letter. The task of the guessers is to gradually guess the word by letter, and the task of the presenter is to prevent them. How does this happen? After the first letter is named, the smartest player thinks of any word for this letter and asks a leading question to the others, trying to establish contact with one of the guessers.

The game continues until someone says the correct word.

The guesser becomes the leader.

For example. The host made up the word “Bonfire” and calls the first letter “K”. One of the players immediately reacts: “Is it by any chance not so fluffy?” (Cat) If someone else understands what is meant, he replies: “There is a contact”, and both begin to count to 10. During this time, the host may intervene: “No, this is not a cat.” Then the contact breaks and the guessers try to establish a new contact by inventing another word for the letter “K”. If the host did not have time to break contact, then the players at the expense of “10” must match and simultaneously pronounce the word “cat”. If they match, then the presenter reveals to them the next letter of his word - “Ko”. If the players did not match, for example, one said “Cat”, and the other “Bush”, then the contact is reset, the leader does not reveal the next letter.

I will take with me on a hike

The facilitator comes up with a rule according to which he will take objects with him on a hike and gives one correct example. Players try to guess this rule by naming words in turn. If the word matches the rule, then the leader takes this item with him on a hike, and the players have an idea what kind of rule it is. If the word does not fit, they do not take him on a hike. The one who guesses the rule wins.

A rule may be related to the initial letter or syllable, the shape of the object, color, quality, etc.

Ex.

Moderator: I will take binoculars with me on the hike

Will you take a sandwich with you on the hike?

No

What about water?

Perhaps

A magnifying glass?

Yes

In this example, the facilitator wants to take everything that contains glass with him on a hike.

Playing P

The host thinks of a word or someone whispers a word in his ear. His task is to explain the hidden word, using words (except for those with the same root as the hidden one) only with the letter “P”.

He can also give a reaction to the answers to orient the guessers:

+ almost correct

+/- approximately

- bad, wait

The one who guessed the word becomes the leader.

For example, the word “nature” can be explained as follows: a beautiful expanse of ferns…

If it was not possible to guess right away, then the presenter suggests further: aspen mushrooms, snowdrops, peacocks…

Say the same thing

On the account 1-2-3 each player says any word they have in mind. This is the original information. The further goal is to come to a common denominator - that is, to name the same word at the same time, without saying a word. That is, the next move will be as follows: on 1-2-3, name another word that, according to some principle, is connected with the previous spoken words. And so on until the players match.

For example:

move 1:

Player 1: Dandelion

Player 2: backpack

move 2:

Player 1: Walk

Player 2: Goyage

Stow 3:

Player 2: Forest

Say it differently

The host thinks of a word (or someone else whispers it in his ear) and tries to explain it in other words, without using the same root. You can mark the time - a minute, or you can play without taking into account the time. The one who guesses the word becomes the leader. You can also try to explain as many simple words as possible in a minute. It's already up to you.

Danetka

The moderator makes a word. The rest of the players ask leading questions that can only be answered with “yes” or “no”.

The one who guesses the word guesses the next one and leads.

For example, the host thought of the word “Tent”

Is it edible?

No

Can this be used at home?

No rather than yes

Can this be useful on a hike?

Yes

and so on, until someone the most ingenious and courageous pronounces the hidden word:

Is this a tent by any chance?

Yes

Words backwards

The leader pronounces the word, and the others try to pronounce this word in reverse at speed, as if it were read from right to left. Whoever pronounces it correctly first wins.

For example, the host thought of the word “Echidna”, the one who first said “Andihe” will win.

Think of a word for a syllable…

This is no longer just a word game, but more difficult. The host comes up with a syllable or a combination of two or three letters and pronounces it. All players take turns calling words containing this letter combination. Only common nouns in the singular are counted, without repetitions. Shootout game.

For example, a combination of letters “str” is guessed, players take turns calling: monster, aster, swift, etc.

A fairy tale with the letter…

The leader guesses any letter of the alphabet, except for ъ, ы, ь, й, ё. The rest of the players try to come up with a short story using as many words as possible for the hidden letter. Then everyone shares their stories. A simple and very fun game, and what is valuable - no losers.

Learn more

• 
  Work by homer
• 
  Simple sentences for 1st graders
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  My first grader
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  Learning abc with sounds
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  Bed stories children
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  Short picture stories for toddlers
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  Listen and learn music
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  Learning how to read videos
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  Kids counting to 10
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  What age should kids know colors
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  Activities for kids numbers