Home » Misc » Word games for a group

Word games for a group


16 Fun Word Games For Adults to Play

Updated: December 14, 2022

You found our list of the best word games for adults.

Word games are fun activities that test vocabulary, spelling, and language skills. Examples include Hangman, Skribbl, and Crosswords. These games aim to ensure that teammates have fun, interact and unwind while improving communication skills.

These challenges are similar to vocabulary games, letter games, interactive activities for students, and quick games for the office.

This list includes:

  • word games for groups
  • spelling word games for adults
  • simple word games
  • writing games for adults

Here we go!

List of fun word games for adults

From I Spy to Words Within a Word to Scattergories, here is our list of fun word games and activities.

1. Words Within a Word

Words Within a Word is one of the best word games for groups because it encourages teammates to brainstorm and share ideas.

To play:

  1. Share pieces of paper and pencils with teammates.
  2. The teammates will choose a host for the game.
  3. The host will select 15 to 20 long words.
  4. The host will share the words one at a time with the players.
  5. The players have 30 to 60 seconds to find as many words as possible within the given word and write them on paper. For example, the word “Explanation” has the words “Planet,” “plane,” “tin,” and “pin.”
  6. The player with the most words within the allocated time wins the round.
  7. The game will continue this way until the players have used up all the words.

This game is a fun way for teammates to test their language skills and develop their spelling skills. You can also organize this activity online by encouraging teammates to use the chat box. This activity can serve as an icebreaker activity for online meetings or a fun game during team get-togethers.

2. Sparkles

Sparkles is a fun word game that improves teammates’ spelling skills. In this activity, the players will sit in a circle. The first player will say a word out loud, then the second player will spell out the first letter of the word while the third player spells out the second letter. The game will continue until the last letter of the word is spelled out. The next player will yell “sparkles” and get out of the game.

The players will then begin spelling another word, and whosoever yells “sparkles” at the end of the word is out of the game. This game broadens teammates’ vocabulary and ensures that teammates collaborate. Whichever player also spells out the wrong letter is out of the game. To make this game as exciting as possible, challenge the players with difficult words that may be difficult to spell.

3. Common Quality

Common Quality is one of the best verbal games for teammates because it teaches players to connect specific descriptions to words. In this activity, the first player will say a word and a characteristic that the word has. For example, apples are green. The next player will then say a word with the same attribute or characteristic. For instance, vegetables are also green and healthy.

The next players will then use the next attribute to describe another word. The game will continue in this fashion until each player has several turns.

4. Hangman

Hangman is a fun and exciting game where teammates solve word puzzles to escape the hangman’s noose.

To play:

  1. Split the teammates into small groups of four to six.
  2. Choose a player to create words.
  3. The wordmaster writes down dashes on a board to represent each letter of a word.
  4. The teammates will need to guess the word by guessing the letters.
  5. The wordmaster will write each correct letter as it appears within the word.
  6. If a player guesses incorrectly, then the wordmaster draws a part of the hangman’s noose
  7. The game will continue in this fashion until players guess the word or the wordmaster completes the hangman.

This game is one of the best spelling word games for adults because it is easy to play and exciting. You can also play this game on any video conferencing platform using the whiteboard feature.

5. I Spy

I Spy is a classic word game that boosts teammates’ vocabulary and improves language. In this game, a player will identify an item and give hints for teammates to guess. For example, players will say, “I spy with my little eye something beginning with H.” Then, the teammates will take turns guessing the word.

Players have 60 seconds to get the answer right, or another player will take a turn. This activity is simple to organize, fun, and easy to play. You can also organize this activity via video call for teammates. I Spy counts as a word game because it encourages participants to associate descriptive words with nouns.

6. Scattergories

Scattergories is one of the most simple word games for adults. This game expands players’ vocabulary and is a fun way for teammates to engage and interact.

To play:

  1. Choose 12 categories. For example, fruits, names, and animals.
  2. The players will randomly choose a letter, and each teammate has 60 seconds to fill in words starting with the given letter in each category. For example, if the teammates choose the letter “S,” they may fill in the given categories with “Strawberries,” “Sonia’, and “Snake.”
  3. Each teammate who fills each category within the allocated time gets three points.
  4. Players do not get any points for an answer if another player also comes up with the same response.
  5. At the end of the game, the player with the highest point wins.
  6. Teammates can also play this game online on any video conferencing platform or applications like Slack or Discord.

Here is a collection of team building Scattergories lists.

7. Crosswords

Crosswords is a simple and entertaining game where teammates match letters in a grid to make words. Teammates can play this game individually or in teams for free online.

The teammates can set a timer for 15 to 20 minutes, and each team must find all the words in the grid within the allocated time. The first team to cross all the words wins the game. To play this activity online, you can use a fillable crossword website or share a puzzle onscreen during a conference call and turn on the annotation feature so that participants can fill in letters.

This game is an exciting way for teammates to unwind, get to know each other, and develop friendships.

Here is a free online crossword game.

8. My Story

My story is one of the most interactive games for adults. This game allows teammates to build stories or create novel ideas from scratch.

To play:

  1. Split the teammates into groups.
  2. Each group will get a set of words. For example, “Miami,” “wealth,” “sadness,” and “future.”
  3. Each team member must write a short two-sentence story with one of the words.
  4. The group members will then combine stories and ensure that it flows.
  5. The best story wins.

This game is an easy way for teammates to show their creativity, collaborate and share ideas. To make this game even more exciting, the teammates can make their stories as funny and outrageous as possible.

9. Random Word Game

Random Word Game is a fun and easy game that challenges teammates’ knowledge. In this game, players must come up with words starting with the last letter of a teammate’s word.

To play:

  1. The players will sit in a circle.
  2. The first player will choose any category. For example, fruits.
  3. The first player must name any word within the selected category. For example, “banana.”
  4. The next player must then call any other fruit beginning with the last word of the given word. For example, “apple.”
  5. The game will continue in this fashion until all the teammates get several turns.
  6. The teammates have only 30 seconds to come up with words.
  7. Any player who cannot come up with a word within the allocated time is out of the game.

This game teaches teammates to think and brainstorm under pressure and helps test teammates’ knowledge on a variety of topics and categories.

For inspiration, here is a random word generator.

10. Rhyming Word Game

Rhyming Word Game is a fun activity that promotes learning and encourages teammates to interact with each other. In this activity, the first player will say a word, and the other teammates will take turns saying words that rhyme.

If the teammates run out of rhymes, the next player will come up with a new word, and other players will find matching rhymes. The game will continue in this fashion for several rounds. This game is a fun way to test teammates’ knowledge and challenge players to learn new words.

Pro tip: To make the game extra funny and challenging, teammates might purposely use words that are difficult to rhyme.

11. The Alliteration Game

The Alliteration Game is a fun and engaging game that requires teammates to create complete sentences, all beginning with a chosen letter.

To play:

  1. The teammates will sit in a circle.
  2. The players will play in alphabetical order. For example, the first player will choose the letter “A,” the second player the letter “B,” and the third player the letter “C.”
  3. Each player will create a full sentence using alliterations with their given letter. For example, Allison Ate All the Angel’s Apples
  4. The game will continue in the fashion until each player has had a turn.
  5. The players must switch positions to play a new round.
  6. Players who can’t use their given letter can skip to the next one.
  7. Each player can only skip twice.

This game is a great way to spark conversations among teammates and encourage employees to interact with each other. This is one of the best activities for team building or an icebreaker activity for online meetings.

12. Scrabble

Scrabble is a classic word board game where teammates get words for creating new words. This activity is an easy way to encourage team building and foster team bonding.

To play:

  1. Get a Scrabble board with all of its components.
  2. Get a dictionary in case teammates need to confirm words.
  3. The players will choose an order in which to play.
  4. Shake the bag of letters to mix up the letters, then each player will pick a letter.
  5. The players will continue in this fashion until each player has drawn seven letters.
  6. Next, each player will arrange their letters on a letter.
  7. The first player will create a word on the board horizontally or vertically.
  8. Each letter has score points. The player will accumulate points for each complete word and note them down.
  9. Players will draw new tiles for each tile used up during a turn. For example, if a player uses up five tiles for a word, then can only draw five more tiles from the bag at the end of their turn.
  10. Players can create new words from other teammates’ words on the board.
  11. The game will continue in this fashion until the board is full.

The teammates can refer to the dictionary if they have any confusion about a teammate’s word. This activity is a fun way for teammates to develop their spelling skills and learn the meaning of words. In addition, since players must make words around the letters already on the board, this activity encourages employees to build upon teammates’ ideas instead of creating solo.

13. Four Pictures One Word

Four Pictures One Word is an exciting online game that challenges teammates to brainstorm and pay attention to detail. In this game, the players will get four pictures that can be described with one word. Then, the players must guess the word right within a given time.

Participants can play individually or in teams. Teammates have 30 to 60 seconds to guess the word before the game passes it on to the next player or team. This activity broadens teammates’ vocabulary and helps improve spelling skills.

Here is a free Four Pictures One Word website.

14. Skribbl

Skribbl is a fun game that encourages players to cooperate and work together to solve word puzzles.

To play:

  1. Access the Skribbl website.
  2. Choose between three given words to draw.
  3. Split the teammates into groups.
  4. Each group will choose a player to draw.
  5. The player will draw the given word using the tools available on the screen.
  6. The teammates must guess the word the player is drawing within 60 to 80 seconds.
  7. The game will continue in this manner until each group has had several turns.
  8. The group with the highest points wins the game.

This game teaches teammates to collaborate and follow instructions from colleagues or superiors. This activity is also the perfect opportunity for teammates to engage and get to know each other.

Here is the Skribbl website.

15. The Word Spell

The Word Spell is a fun activity that teammates can use to develop their spelling skills. For this game, teammates will need a dictionary, a sheet of paper, and a pencil or pen.

To play:

  1. The teammates will choose a host to oversee the game.
  2. The teammates will choose an order in which to play.
  3. The host will randomly select a word in the dictionary and read out its definition without saying what the word is.
  4. The first player will guess the word and spell it.
  5. The host may offer clues through synonyms or by telling the player how many letters the word has.
  6. The game will continue in this fashion until each player has had several turns.

This activity challenges teammates to learn and helps broaden their vocabulary. This activity is a fun icebreaker for work and is a great way to ensure team bonding and interaction. You can also play this game online by typing the word’s definition and sharing it with attendees, and players must guess and send the word via the comment box. The first player to get the answer right wins the round.

16. Comic Story Telling

Comic Story Telling is one of the best writing games for adults because it allows folks to show off their storytelling skills and have fun. In this activity, teammates will need a notepad and pens.

To play:

  1. Sit in a circle.
  2. The first player will write a line of a funny story and pass the notepad to the next player.
  3. The next player will continue the story with another funny line.
  4. The game will continue in this fashion until the players find a satisfying and funny end to the story.

This activity will cause loud bouts of laughter, which will help teammates unwind, interact and bond with each other. This activity is also an excellent opportunity for teammates to share fun ideas and work together.

Conclusion

Word games help test teammates’ verbal, language, and spelling skills which may be necessary at work. These games also allow teammates to discuss, interact and get to know each other. Most of these activities are very easy and require little to no guidance.

For more resources, check out communication games, guessing games, and question games.

FAQ: Word games

Here are some frequently asked questions about fun word games.

What are some fun word games for adults in English?

Some fun word games for adults in English include The Alliteration Game, Random Word Game, and The Word Spell.

How do you play word games as an adult?

To play word games as an adult, choose fun verbal games that test and challenge your spelling, vocabulary, and language skills. Choose a group of friends or teammates to play with and ensure that you have a fair point system to select winners easily. It is also essential to have plenty of paper and pens handy to play these games. You can play these games in person or online using the screen sharing feature, whiteboard feature or have responses sent via the chat box on your video conferencing software.

12 Fun Word Games for Adults Worth the Loudness

You may have played word games in school. They’re great for learning new vocabulary. Awesome word games for adults can be a blast now that you’re a grown-up too. Beyond the variety of word games you can play online and on mobile, you can also enjoy a great range of in-person word games. From casual get-togethers to company ice-breakers, group word games for adults will get everyone talking.

Party Word Games for Adults

One of the best things about party word games for adults is that they can be easily adapted for small groups and larger gatherings alike.

True Story 

Can you maintain a lie through an intense session of questioning? True Story is a great spoken word game for parties. Tell a story, true or not, and answer questions from other players. At the end, they have to guess whether you’re telling the truth or the story is a lie. Did you really scale Mount Everest?

Anagram-a-rama

If you’re already playing games like Wordscapes, you’ll excel at this party variant… except there’s no cheating allowed. Break out a pad of paper and give everyone a sheet. Start with a random word (ideally at least six or seven letters long) and set the timer. Players try to rearrange the letters to form as many new words (at least three letters long) as they can. The player with the most words wins. 

Sticker Shock

This game will require some sticky labels. Everyone sticks a label on their forehead with a mystery word on it. The goal is to get everyone to say their mystery word before the party ends. Alternatively, if you get someone to say their mystery word, you take their label. The person who collects the most labels wins.

sticker shock game

Word Association Games

Language is all about connections. Some of the best free word games for adults lean into this idea of word association. Better still, you usually don’t need anything but your creativity and a vast vocabulary.

Word Chains

Perhaps you’ve played some word chain games on your smartphone already. Some of these are word association games that adults can play in pairs or small groups too. Each player adds a word to the previous word to form a two-word phrase. For example, “dance club” could become “dance club soda.” The next player can then follow with “dance club soda pop,” and so on. If a player forgets a word or can’t think of a word to add to the chain, they’re out. Keep the chain going as long as possible!

Bang, Clap, Snap

Start by getting everyone to sit in a circle. Establish a four-beat rhythm by banging your lap (or table), clapping your hands, snapping with your left hand and then snapping with your right hand. Once you’ve got the rhythm going, say the line, “Give me a word to describe…” and name something. Each player in turn must then provide a suitable adjective within one bang, clap, snap cycle. For example, you may be asked to describe a dog. Suitable adjectives might include furry, companion and playful. 

Unique Connections

The word association game for adults is best enjoyed if everyone has a whiteboard to write on. But, you can make do with pads of paper too. Each player gets a turn coming up with a “seed” word. For each seed word, every player writes down a word related to it. If you write down a word that no one else did, you get a point. Players can also challenge one another if they think the word their opponent writes down is not reasonably related to the “seed” word. That player must then defend their choice.

Board Games for Word Nerds

Tried-and-true board games are a great option for adults who want to play some familiar word games. There are even some great travel edition Scrabble games you can take on the go. But, what other word-centric board games might you want to play?

Bananagrams

It’s like a fast-paced version of Scrabble without the board or any points. With Bananagrams, each player starts with 11 to 21 letter tiles, face down. When the game begins, they must build a personal crossword with these letters. They can keep rearranging the letters to make them work. Once one player is out of tiles, they call out, “Peel!” and everyone must draw one tile from the remaining pile. Play continues until there are no tiles left in the middle and the winner has used all their tiles.

Quickwits

How quickly can you think on your toes? Quickwits is a fast-paced social card game for adults. When you get two cards with matching symbols, players race to shout out an item or title that matches the category on their opponent’s card. This YouTube video provides a great overview of how to play Quickwits, including the specialty cards. The game features some risque topics and adult themes, so that’s why it’s meant for ages 17 and up. Depending on your level of comfort, you may not want to play with grandma either. 

Words With Friends Board Game

At this point, some adults may be more familiar with Words With Friends than they are with the original Scrabble game. There are differences in board layout, letter values, and tile distribution, as well as playable words. If you’d prefer to play in real life and not just on your device, grab a Words With Friends board game to play with your friends. 

Word Guessing Games for Adults

You can be as obscure or as commonplace as you’d like with word guessing games for adults. If you’re among a particularly intellectual crowd, choose esoteric terms for a greater challenge. For these free word games for adults, all you need is your imagination and wits.

Secret Celebrity

In one version of this game, the selected player hosts a press conference as a celebrity, but they don’t know who they are pretending to be. Other players ask questions, like at a press conference, until the selected player can guess who they’re supposed to be. In a word game variant, the selected player can be an object, a place or any other word or phrase.

secret celebrity game

Copycat Charades

Unlike regular charades, two people are up to play at the same time. The first player looks at the clue and goes behind everyone else. The second player stands in front of everyone, like in regular charades, but they don’t know what the clue is. The first player acts it out while the second player tries to copy them. This is much harder, because the second player doesn’t know what word or phrase they’re trying to convey. 

Packing for Vacation

The first player starts the game by saying, “I’m packing for vacation and bringing (blank), but I’m not bringing (blank).” Subsequent players make the same statement, but with different objects. The first player tells them whether they’re correct or not. The secret is that the first player decided on a specific word rule. For example, the items you bring must have two vowels in a row. In this case, valid answers may include headphones and toenails, but not apples or pajamas. 

Play Online or On the Go

You may not always be able to get together with friends, colleagues and loved ones to play word games in person. That’s OK. There are lots of fun multiplayer word games you can play online from the comfort of your web browser. Alternatively, if you’re looking for mobile games to play on the go, WordFinder's list of multiplayer word games for Android and iOS is just what you need. You’ve always got an opportunity to play word games with friends! 

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.

Word games • Arzamas

You have Javascript disabled. Please change your browser settings.

Children's room ArzamasMaterials

Materials

Arzamas for classes with schoolchildren! A selection of materials for teachers and parents

Everything you can do in an online lesson or just for fun

Cartoons are festival winners. Part 2

Tales, parables, experiments and absurdity

Guide to Yasnaya Polyana

Leo Tolstoy's favorite bench, greenhouse, stable and other places of the museum-estate of the writer worth seeing with children Migrants: how to fight for their rights with the help of music

Hip-hop, carnival, talking drums and other non-obvious ways

Old records: fairy tales of the peoples of the world

We listen and analyze Japanese, Italian, Scandinavian and Russian fairy tales

Video: ISS commander asks a scientist about space

Lecture at an altitude of 400 kilometers

How to make a movie

Horror film, comedy and melodrama at home

The most unusual animation techniques from sunflowers, cartoons and VR spices

Play the world's percussion instruments

Learn how the gong, marimba and drum work and build your own orchestra

How to put on a show

Shadow theatre, reading and other home theater options for children

Soviet puzzles

Solve children's puzzles of the 1920s-70s

22 cartoons for the little ones

What to watch if you don't have six

From "Wild Dog Dingo" to 904 "Timur and his team" 9003 What do you need 9003 to know about the main Soviet books for children and teenagers

A guide to children's poetry of the 20th century

From Agnia Barto to Mikhail Yasnov: children's poems in Russian

10 books by artists

Pages made of tracing paper - Milanese fog, and binding between reality and fantasy

How to choose a modern children's book

"Like Pippi, only about love": explaining new books through old ones

Word games

"Hat", "telegrams", "MPS" and other old and new games

Games from classic books

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

Plasticine animation: the Russian school

From Plasticine Crow to Plasticine Sausage

Cartoons - winners of festivals

Brave Mom, My Strange Grandpa, A Very Lonely Rooster and others

Non-fiction for children

How a whale’s heart beats, what’s inside a rocket and who plays the didgeridoo — 60 books about the world around

Guide to foreign popular music

200 artists, 20 genres and 1000 songs that will help you understand the music of the 1950s-2000s

Cartoons based on poems

Poems by Chukovsky, Kharms, Gippius and Yasnov in Russian animation

Home games

Shadow theater, crafts and paper dolls from children's books and magazines of the 19th–20th centuries

Books for the smallest

Modern literature from 0 to 5: read, look at, study

Puppet animation: Russian school 9004

Crow in Love, Devil No. 13, Lyolya and Minka and other old and new cartoons

Smart coloring books

Museums and libraries offer to paint their collections

Reprints and reprints of children's books

Favorite fairy tales, stories and magazines of the last century, which you can buy again

What you can hear in classical music

Steps on ice, the voice of the cuckoo and the sounds of the night forest in the great compositions of the 18th-20th centuries

Soviet educational cartoons

Archimedes , dinosaurs, Antarctica and space — popular science cartoons in the USSR

Logic puzzles

Solve the argument of the wise men, make a bird out of a shirt and count the kittens correctly

Contemporary children's stories

The best short stories about grandmothers, cats, spies and knights

How Russian lullabies work

We explain why a spinning top is scary and why you shouldn't lie down on the edge. Bonus: 5 lullabies by Naadya

Musical fairy tales

How Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Prokofiev work with the plots of children's fairy tales

Armenian School of Animation

The most rebellious cartoons of the Soviet Union

The Dina Goder Cartoon Collection

The Program Director of the Big Cartoon Festival advises what to watch with your child

Cartoons about art

How to tell children about Picasso, Pollock and Tatlin using animation

40 fire and who has a sieve in his nose: riddles from "Chizh", "Hedgehog" and books by Marshak and Chukovsky

Yard games

"Traffic light", "Shtander", "Kolechko" and other games for a large company

Poems that are interesting to learn by heart

What to choose if you were asked to learn a poem about mother, New Year or autumn

Old audio performances for children

Ole Lukoye, Gray Sheika, Cinderella and other interesting Soviet Recordings

Cartoons with classical music

How animation works with the music of Tchaikovsky, Verdi and Glass

How children’s rhymes work

“Ene, bene, slave, kvanter, manter, toad”: what does it all mean

"Hat", "telegrams", "MPS" and other games that require almost nothing but company and a desire to have a good time

Author Lev Gankin

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

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.

Lectures for children on this topic:

Course of lectures for children about the languages ​​of the world

How many languages ​​in the world, how do they differ and how are they similar to each other

Course of lectures for children about strange and new words of the Russian language

Why do linguists study jargon, parasitic words and speech errors

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

Tags

Children
Game
Entire recipes and rituals that evoke love (and vice versa)

© Arzamas 2023. All rights reserved

7 word games suitable for children of any age

When there is no energy left for active games that require careful preparation, word games come to the rescue. We've put together a selection of seven cool games that all you need to do is be in the company of more than two people and be in a good mood! You can also play them via video link.

1. "Guess the word!"

Number of players: from 2 people

Very simple and funny game. Headphones are put on one player, in which music plays loudly so that he does not hear anything. His task is to guess the word by the lips when another player says it. If several people are involved, then you can explain the word in turn or split into pairs.

2. "I will never..."

Number of players: from 2 people

Today this game has many variations. We offer the most common version. Participants take turns to name some action that they have never done. For example, player A says, "I've never been late for class." Everyone who was late for them bends one finger. The game continues until one of the participants has all their fingers bent. According to the main version of the game, the person who was the first to bend all the fingers lost, but lived the most eventful life!

By the way, you can also play in English if you want a different level of difficulty.

3. "Thematic words"

Number of players: from 2 people

The rules of the game are extremely simple. You and other participants need to come up with a topic on which you will name the words. For example, "school". Then all participants in a circle should name nouns that relate to the main topic. If one of the participants thinks for more than five seconds or repeats an already spoken word, he is eliminated. The last one left wins. When the circle is over, you can start a new one on a different topic until one of the participants wins, for example, three times.

4. "P"

Number of players: from 3 people

First, all players need to agree on which words will be used throughout the game: only nouns, or names, verbs and phrases can be used. Then one player guesses a word in the ear of the other. He must explain it to another participant in the game, using only words that begin with the letter "p" to describe it. For example: “Please look, think, the postman brings mail . ..” The task of all players is to name the hidden word. When it is named, the explainer comes up with a new one for the guesser.

If this version of the game is already fed up, we suggest guessing not only a word, but also a letter with which the player needs to explain the word.

By the way, the explainer also needs to express agreement or disagreement with the train of thought of the players who guess, only in words beginning with the chosen letter. For example, "right" and "think better."

5. “I take with me on a hike…”

Number of players: from 3 people

At the beginning of the game, you need to choose a leader. This person must come up with a principle by which he will take others with him on a campaign. For example, those who name objects with a specific letter, or those whose words consist of five letters.

Next, the players take turns saying the phrase "I'm taking with me on a hike ..." and naming the item. If he fits the conceived principle, then the leader answers: "Yes, and you are going on a hike with me. " If the word does not fit: "No, you are not going camping with me."

The task of all players is to guess the principle by which the leader selects people. If one of the participants guesses, he should quietly express his guess in the ear of the presenter or write on the phone. The game continues until everyone has guessed the principle.

6. Alibi

Number of players: from 4 people

At the beginning of the game, you need to choose two people who will play the role of criminals. They must isolate themselves from the rest in another room and think through to the smallest detail what they did together on the day they robbed the bank: what the weather was like, what they were wearing, who they met on the street, the whole sequence of actions. The main goal of criminals is to come up with the perfect alibi.

While they are doing this, the other players turn into detectives. They need to come up with 10-15 questions that they will ask the criminals in order to bring them to clean water and solve the crime.

When both teams are ready, the first criminal enters the room and begins to tell what he did on the day of the crime, from morning to evening. It is important that the second criminal at this moment remains in another room and does not hear the speech of the first. When the first one finishes speaking, the detectives ask him prepared questions and memorize the answers. After that, the second criminal enters the room, tells his story and also answers questions.

The team of detectives wins the game if they find three inconsistencies in the criminals' story. For example, one said that they were traveling in the morning by bus, and the other by car. If no disagreement is found, then the team of criminals wins. The number of questions and inconsistencies may change at the request of the participants.

7. "Contact"

Number of players: from 4 people

At the beginning of the game, a leader is chosen. He thinks of a word - a noun in the singular. And calls the other participant the first letter. For example, "a".

Next, any player from the team who has come up with a word for this letter must begin to explain it to his teammates. It is necessary that they guess, but not the host. For example, Sasha says: "This is such a sweet large red fruit that everyone eats in the summer." If one of the players guessed what it was about, he should say: "There is a contact." After that, they together count aloud from one to five. If the word matches, the leader calls the next letter. For example, in". Players must now come up with words based on the beginning with "av". If the words of the players did not match or the leader managed to name the word while two players counted to five, then the participants continue to play with one letter.

Explain with an example. The host announces that his word begins with the letter "a". Sasha comes up with any word and says: “Guys, this is such a public transport ...” Roma guesses what it is about and says: “There is a contact!” Together they count to five, and both say the word "bus" aloud.

Learn more