Festive mini games - Day 19 "Categories"

This year I am sharing 24 mini games over advent, where the rules can be explained on the back of a single business card. Today's game is called "Categories". Lovely little word game that keeps people thinking. 

Day 19 "Categories"

Players: 2-8 players
Equipment: Pens, Paper and Timer

Concise rules: 
Everyone copies down 10 categories (examples below but you can make your own). Generate a random letter by having a player sing the alphabet in their head, say stop to pick the letter. Everyone then has 3 minutes to list answers that fit the categories and start with the random letter. Score no points if your answer is the same as another players and 2 points if your answer is an alliteration. 

Example categories: Animal, City, Vehicle, Celebrity, Drink, First name, Book, Colour, Clothing, Toy


Notes:
Playing the commercial version of this game as a child was one of my first introductions to party games. It was only as an adult I learnt that the game was much older and had been played for decades as a party game. The commercial game is famous for having a special letter dice but I was taught the random word generation method by a teacher in a school. It is such a simple way to generate random letters. You can get very creative with the categories you choose and whilst coming up with them on the spot is always possible, if you plan on playing this over Christmas I suggest bringing some ideas with you. There are loads of example lists online and websites designed to make them for you. 

But if you want to be extra mischievous (verging on inflammatory) you can make a list that includes personal categories such as:

1. Things players are wearing
2. Song titles you would sing in karaoke
3. Ex partners of players
4. Bad habits of players
5. Places players have been on holiday
6. Nicknames for players
7. Stuff players have put in their mouth 
8. Laws broken by players
9. Secrets in the group
10. Things you would rather do then play this game

The jpg below shows the print file used, the print company requires the sections to be embossed in gold to be pure black. 









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