I love games with words, but not all in my family have my enthusiasm. I have been on the lookout for games which combine words and fun. I’ve found quite a few choices to play. Scroll below to find a new word game to play with family and friends.
Last Letter Card Game
Last Letter is a deck of vibrant and colorful illustrated cards. To play, you must be the first to choose a word from the depicted scene from one of the cards in your hand. The word you choose must be a word that begins with the last letter of the word previously chosen.
For example, if the word fire was given, you need to find an image on one of the cards in your hand that begins with an ‘e’. All players play simultaneously. The first person to get rid of all their cards wins. With 61 different cards/scenes in the deck, and unlimited choices in words, every game is unique!
Trophies Card Game
Who doesn’t love winning, and receiving a trophy to boot? Well, get your game face on-it’s time to play Trophies!
To play trophies is simple. One person, the gamemaster, holds the stacked cards so all players can see the top card. The front has a letter, the back has a list of phrases to choose from. The gamemaster then reads a phrase.
Players try to be the first to guess a word that describes the phrase beginning with the letter shown on the card. Whoever shouts out an acceptable answer (acknowledged by the game master), that player wins the card, and a new letter is shown and the game continues.
Game play continues until a player has collected the pre-designated number of cards, or you’ve played through the deck. The player with the most cards, is the proud winner of the tiny trophy. Wave it high-you’ve earned it!
Trophies is great to play with large groups (30+!).
Word on the Street
How to Play Word on the Street
Be the first team to collect 8 letters by selecting words that have the needed letters to pull them off the street (board) before the other team can pull them off onto their side.
On the game board you’ll find a street, with squares going down the center of the lane. 17 letter tiles are placed down the lane. On your turn, a category card is turned over to reveal the phrase. Your team works together to find a word that makes best use of the letters on the board.
If the phrase were “an animal with spots”, you might choose cheetah, or cow, or maybe giraffe. Move any letters that are on the board one space for each letter in the word. Move it completely off the board and your team has captured that letter.
But if the letter is not completely pulled off the board, and the opposing team moves it back during their turn, that letter continues to be in play until one team is able to remove it completely off the board.
Tug-of-war, word style! A great group game, fun for both individuals and groups.
Heads Up
Made popular by the Ellen Degeneres show, this no-tech version of the enjoyable game app is a noisy and fun addition to your word games.
In Heads Up, one player is the guesser, and the other players give word or phrase suggestions to help the guesser decipher the unknown word. There are 4 categories to choose from: Superstars, Hey, Mr. DJ, Act it Out and Dynamic Duos!.
Each player, on their turn, will choose 6 cards from one category and place them in their headband with the words facing out. Everyone else gives clues to help the player guess the words.
Depending on which category chosen, you’ll have to either act out the phrase, hum, whistle, or give verbal clues. You receive one chip for each correct answer given in a 60 second timeframe. The game continues until each player has completed a round of 6 cards. The collector of the most chips wins the game.
As a family, we really enjoy the app version of this game. And since game nights are electronic free, we can continue the fun without abandoning our no phone rule!
Codenames
This may be my favorite board game at the moment. I’m always secretly hoping that our group game nights include this game. I love the word association and trying to figure out how many words I can include in a one word clue.
Code Names is a group game using one word clue cards to identify your secret agents, bringing them to safety. Be the first team to collect all their agents and win the game. Watch for the assassin, guess his word and the game ends – and your agents are exposed!
Players are divided into 2 teams, and each team chooses one person to be the Spymaster. The spymaster from team A chooses a one word hint and how many possible clue words they think are available for that word. For example, if three of your words are tree, star and tinsel, these could be connected to Christmas. So you would say “Christmas-3”. You can give a clue for only one word if you choose. But it’s really fun to try to connect more than one.
Play continues between teams until one team has located all of their agents, making them the winner OR the assassin is revealed. In this case, the other team, even if they’ve not found all their agents, win the game.
Wordy Word
Think fast, talk faster is the byline in this word game. Teams must work together to create a list of words that will stump your competition. But, you must write and guess quicker than the sand in the timer!
Players are divided into two teams and given a dry erase card with 5 spaces to write words. A quick roll of the 5 colored dice determines which letters will be used for this round. Each team places the letter in the correct row and space on their board. For example, if line 2 has a red circle in spot 3, whatever letter was rolled on the red dice, will be placed in that space, in this case the letter is a ‘T’. This means that whatever word is chosen, the letter ‘T’ must be the 3rd letter of that word.
Begin the sand timers and each team write words using the letter written onto the board, using as challenging words as possible. When all 5 spaces have words, lay the sand timer on its side to stop its countdown. Teams then pass their cards to another team.
Now each team takes a turn and with one person giving clues, the rest of the team must try to guess the words. The catch is that however long it took the opposing team to write the words, your team has the same amount of time to guess them.
One point is given for each correct word. Teams continue playing rounds until one team has collected enough points to cross the finish line.
Conclusion
Word fans: hopefully you’ve discovered a new word game. Are these new to you? What did I miss? What word games do you like to play?