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MANUAL OF GAMES FOR THE

ENGLISH LANGUAGE
,

CLASSROOM

O h no, not Hangman again: a manual of games for the English l anguage classroom

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Contents
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Introducti on

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Backs to the Board

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Battlesh ips grids .

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Balderdash sample words .

Battleships

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Boggle................................................................................................................................. 12
Challeng e . . . . ..............
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Countdo wn Letters . . ... . . . . .. ... : ..................................................................................... 16

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Doublets
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Five Thin gs .
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MasterWord .................................................... ........... ...................................... .................. . 21
Panic Wo rd ......................................................................................................................... 22
Pictionary ........... .. ........ .. . ... . .. ... . .... .. .. .. ...... ... .... .. . .. ..... .. .... ........ . ..... ........ .. 23
Quick Sc rabble . .. .............. .. .... . . .......... .... . ... ..... . ... .. .... ...... ..... .. .. .. . ....... ....... . .. .. 24
Quick Scrabble g rid . .......... . .......... ........ ...... ... .. . . . . . . . ............... .. . ................. 25
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Word Whiz
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Taboo
Twenty Questions
Wheel of Fortun e
Word Ioughts & Crosses

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XenoWord ........................................................................................................................... 36
Appendix I: Distribution of l etter tiles in Scrabbl e

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Appendix II: Word category id eas

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page 2 of 38

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38

'

011 no, not Hangman again : a manual of games for the Engli sh language classroom

Introduction
These are English lang uage g ames which you can play in y our classes. They requ ire
little or no preparation and minimal resources. Most of them are essentially very
similar - word-guessing games - but variations in the set-up or rules make them
appear as different games.
They are chiefly old favourites which you will have played before, b ut may still forget
at crucial moments.
With larger classes the games can be adapted for more tha n two teams.
Hangman is not included .
Feedback i s very welcome . Please send any questions, comments or corrections

'

page

of 38

Oh no, not Hangman again: a manual of games for the English language classroom

Backs to th e Board
Aim

Guess words from cl ues provided by team-mates.

Preparation

None:
Play

Divide the class into 2 teams. Put 2 chairs in front of the whiteboard , with their backs
to the board. A member of each team sits in the chairs. They a re not allowed to look
over their shoulders at the boa rd. Write a word on the board , which the 2 pl ayers
have to guess. Thei r team shouts clues, wh ich can be verbal or mimed. They are not
allowed to say the word , give any cl ues about the spel ling or speak any l a nguage but
English
.

The first pl ayer to g uess correctly wins a point for his team. You then write up another
word and continue the game as long as you wih.
After about 3 words, cha nge the pl ayers.
Example

The word is elephant. Students must not say 'Beg i ns with E' or 'gajah', b ut they can
say 'Big animal with l ong nose' or mime an elephant's trunk.
Variations

1. A solitary student sits at the front, with the whole class shouting Iues. This is
generally less fun than a team game.
2.

I nstead of word s, write up complete sentences. This is a ctua lly more

successful t h a n you mig ht expect, even with low-level cl asses. You will hear
stu dents call out shocking things like, 'Past tense!'

Notes

An old ELT favourite and justly so. The solitary version is sometimes called Hot Seat.

page 4 of 38

Oh no, not Hangman again: a manual of games for the English l anguage classroom

Bald erd ash

A im

I nvent false d efinitions for words and choose the true definitions.
P reparation

Find some obscure words and their (true) definitions. A good source is the
International House of Logorrhea at www.phrontistery.i nfo/ihlstart.html .
Provide smal l slips of paper for students to write false definitions on.

Play

The leader of the round chooses a word . H e re a ds it aloud and spells it. Each pl ayer
then invents a false meaning for this word that could fool the other pl ayers and writes
it on a sli p of paper. The leader should copy the true definiti on on to his sl ip of paper,
so that he cannot be seen reading from the word ca rd.
Each player hand s his definiti on to the leader. The leader reads aloud each definiti on,
incl uding the correct one . Each player then votes on which definiti on he thinks is
correct. The leader reveals the true meaning. The scores are totall ed .
Another player becomes the new leader, and play continues.
point for every vote your false definiti on receives. 2 points if you choose
the true meaning. The leader gets 3 points if nobody chooses the true meaning .
Scoring: 1

Exa mple

The leader chooses bettong, a small Australian kangaroo. The 4 other players submit
d efinitions as follows:

Player A:
Player B:
Player C:
Player D:

South African salted meat

a Malaysian tree
a medieval measure of 660 yards
a fool

Players A and C vote for la fool', Player 8 votes for 660 yards and Player D votes for
the kangaroo. The scores are:

Player A: nothin g

Pla.yer B; nothing

Player C: 1 point (from Plaver B)

Player 0: 4 points (2 fro m Players A and C
Leader: n othing

2 for the true meaning)

V&riations

If there are few players, the leader could submit a bluff definition as well as the real
definition.
Notes

From the board game of the same name. See the sample words o n the next page.

page 5 of 38

Oh no, not Hangman again: a manual of games for the Engli sh language classroom

Balderdash sample words

aulete

a person who plays the flute

be locolus

a magic stone that makes a soldier invisible

bettong

a small kangaroo

boletus

a variety of wi ld mushroom

eollutory

antiseptic mouthwash

erwth

a six-stringed violin

dorking

a chicken with five toes

exoduster

someone who leaves town i n a hurry

f ar d

to put on makeup

forney

a ring worn on the fourth fi nger

galligaskins

loose baggy trousers

gravid

pregn ant

hippiate r

a horse doctor

histrixite

a Tasm anian mineral containing copper and iron

jargonelle

a pear which ripen s early

mantelet

a bullet-proof screen

mawworm

a hypocrite

noddlethatcher

someone who makes hats and wigs

oxte r

to wal k along arm i n arm

ozostomia

bad breath

pistareen

a Spanish coin worth twenty cents

ramfeezled

exhausted , tired

selaff

to scrape the ground with a g olf club before hitting the ball

screeve

to draw pictures on

'-iggcrc

sidewalk for money

tighb trousers worn by football pl ayers

'

spate

a substance used in shoe making

toison

the wool of a young sheep

tranka

a l on g cyli ndrical box which juggl ers b alance with their feet

wakiup

an American I ndian hut

wallygowd y

a precious jewel or gem

page 6 of 38

Oh no, not Hangman again : a manual of games for the Engli sh language classroom

Battl eshi ps
Aim

Find an opponenfs words on a g rid.

P reparation

Photocopy one work sheet like the one below for each team.
Play

Give each team a category (see Appendix II) . They have to come up with (say) 7
words that belong to that category. Each word is a battleship. They enter the words
o n the g rid titled 'our shi ps ' ,horizontally, vertically or diagonally , one letter per
square. Letters should not be in adjacent squares.
The teams then ta ke turns in trying to sink each other's ships. They do this by
announ cing a targ et square on the enemy ' s g rid (e. g. 85). If there is a letter in that
square, the other team must reveal it. If the squ are i s blank, the team says, 'Miss! '
At any point a team may g uess the complete word , but not more than one g uess is
allowed per turn.
The first team to si n k all the other's shi ps (Le. find out all the words) wins .
Example

Team A's category is fruit and Team B' s is jobs. Hits are in
by an x.

Team A's words

B

A
1

2
4

A
N
A
N

5
6

'.....

2
8

9
;0

_.s._

E
A
R

A
P
P

R
A
N

5
6

E
C
T

1"\

E','

.
.

.'

'/

I,

Mi sses a re shown

Team B's words

bold .

9
E
:-,0- R

E
A
C

E
P

E
R

M
...
"t '

, -

Team A says '82' and Team 8 replies 'Miss" Tea m 8 tries F6 and Tea m A says 'R'.
Team A tries D3 a nd gets O. Team B tries G6 and misses. Team A tries E3 and gets
C. Tea m B tries F7 and misses. Team A tries C3, gets D and guesses 'DOCTOR'.
Variati o n s

You can vary the size of the grid , number of words, l ength of words, rules about
positi oning , number of shots per turn, etc.
Notes

Traditional game. See the worksheet on the next page.

page 7 of 38

.-

Oh no, not Hangman again: a manual of games for the Engl i sh language classroom

Blankety-Blank
A im

Predict missing words in sentences.

Prepa rati on

Prepare some sentences with missing words.

Play

Read out a sentence, with a blank instead of a word or phrase. All the players write
d own the word or phrase they think is missing. They score 1 point for every other
piayefwho chose the same answer as they.
Exa mple

You say, 'On Frida y evenings I go home and give my wife a big BLANK.' Of 1 0
students, 4 write kiss, 3 present 2 bunch of flowers and 1 box of chocolates. They
score 3, 2, 1 and 0 respectively.
Va riati o ns

Set it up l ike the TV show, with 2 players g uessing answers g iven by a 'celebrity
panel of other students.
'

Notes

From the British g a me show of the same na me. See also Fami l y Fortunes.

page 9 of 38

Oh no, nol Hangman again: a manual of games for Ihe English language classroom

Blockbusters
Aim
Make an unbroken line of cells by guessing words from clues.

Preparation
Make a 5x5 grid of hexagons like the one below on an OHP transparency and project
the grid on to the whiteboard.

Play
Put the class in 2 teams. One team is represented by Noughts (0), the other by
Crosses (X). The aim is to win cells and thereby make an unbroken line of cells from
one edge of the grid to the opposite edge (left to right or top to bottom):

The line does not have to be straight.

Each cell contains the initial letter of a word. One team chooses a cell. Give the clue
for th:>t word. The first person in either team to shout out the correct ar1swer wins the
cell. Mark it with a 0 or a X. That team then chooses the next cell.

Example
Noughts choose B. The teacher says 'Synonym of courageous.' Students call out
various answers until a student in Noughts says brave and wins the cell. Noughts
then choose R and win it. They then choose L, but Crosses get tht! answer first.
Grosses choose S, but lose it to Nou9ht co,.",,,tually Noughts hr.vl! B, R, S, T and N,
thereby linking lefi io right and winning me game.

Variations
I have made a few changes to the original rules, which you can find on the Internet.

Notes
Adapted from the game show of the same name. See the grid on the next page.

page 10 of 38

Oh no, not Hangman agai n: a manual of games for the English language classroom

Boggl e
Ai m

Make as many words as possible from random letters.

Preparation

None.
Play

Put the students i n small teams. Draw a 4x4 square on the board and insert ra ndom
letters. (I nclude enough vowels. ) Give the students about 5 minutes to make as many
wo rds as possible. The letters of a word must be adjacent. You cannot use a letter
more than once in the same word .
Score only those words that no other tea m has got. For words
letters 3 points; 5 or more l etters 10 points.
-

of 3

letters - 1 point; 4

Exa mple

From this square you can make the words FAN, COPS, ANTICS, SPAN
more.

and many

You are not allowed to 111ake FAT or D I SC (not all letters adja cent) or KICK (using K
twice) .

A W C

Variations

You can vary the number of square>'the score , timi ng , etc.

,1

Adapted from the board g ame of the same name.

page 12 of3 8

--

Oh no, not Hangman agai n : a manual of games for the English language'classroom

Chall eng e
Aim

Add 1 letter to a word in turn without completing the word.

P reparati on

None.
Play

Ask a student to think of (but not utter) a word and tell you the first letter. Write the
Itter on the board. Ask the next student to think of a word beginning with that letter
and tell you the second letter. And so on. The ai m of the game is to never finish the
word, but always try to make it longer.
A student

may

get stuck becau se:

he t hi nks

the word is already compl ete and cannot be made a ny longer

does not know any word beginning with those letters
suspects the intended word is misspel l ed.

he

he

If stuck, he is not allowed to pass. Instead, he h as a

(i .e. bluffing) or challenging the previ ous player.

choice

of adding

another l etter

If he challenges the previ ous player, that player must n ow reveal the word he was
thinking of. If that word does not exist or is misspelled or is no longer than the word
already on the board, this is a successful challenge.
If a player is successfully
they are out of the game.

challenged or unsuccessfully challenges another player,

Gall1e continues until only 1 pla ye r is left alive (the winne r ) .

Exa m p l e

First student thinks of fish and says F. Y o u write r on th e board.

thinks of funny and says U. Board now says FU. And so on.
Letters on board Response to challenge

Second

Successful challenge?

FURIUS

furiusly

Yes (word is misspelled)

FURIf.;US
j:':!
1'0cj
'-'.
.til

furi ou sly

No (word is correct)

:---,

FURIOUS

'.

fu ri oU8ity

'Don't know'

i . ,"

student

Ye

--

(word does not;-i?tr:

1 ,_

.--

Yes (iJlayer cannot make word longer)

Variations

A player leses a life instead of being eliminated straightaway .

Notes

Adapted slightly from I, challenge' in More Grammar Games by Mario Rinvolucri and
Paul Davis, w ho credit it to Issam AI Khayyat.

page 13 of 38

Oh no, not Hangman again: a manual of games for the English language classroom

Charad es
Aim

Mi me a title for team- mates to guess.

Preparatio n

Provide sl ips of paper for players to write titl es on.

Play

Put the class in 2 teams . They think of titles of books, fil ms, TV prog rammes or songs
and write each title (and the genre) on a slip of paper. A player from Team A is g iven
a title by Team B. He acts it out (without speaking) and his tea m mates guess it
-

If they can do

Tea m B then

so within a reasona bl e time, Team A gets

one of Team A's titles.

a paint and a player from

acts out

Special signals

Pretend to open a book.

Pretend to turn the handle of an antiquated film camera.
TV programme: Draw a TV s cre en in the air.
Song: Pretend to sing.
Number of word s in the title: Hold up fingers.
Which word you're working on: Ho l d up fingers again.
Number of syllables in the word: L a y fingers on arm.
Wh i ch sy l la b le you're w o rk i ng on: Lay fingers on arm again.
Length of word: Make a l ittl e or 'big' sign as if describing a fish.
Book:

Film:

'

'

The entire concept: Sweep arms through the air.

Sounds like: Cup hand behind ear.
Longer ve rsion of : Pretend to stretch a piece of elastic.
Shorter version of: Do a karate chop.
Plural: Link l ittle fi ngers.
Past tense: Wave hand over

should er toward back.

Example

The title is Brokeback M ou ntain (a film). The player pretends to turn a fil m camera,
then holds 2 fing ers in the air. He holds up 2 :fl n.g ers again, then lays 2 fingers on his
arm' and dra\tvc a' mor;.t?ioin the air.. He net.holds up 1 fingc:r anUy.?Jjxgr. pn , ' >i. . 1".,,:.
.
his arm, then 2 fingers 0(1 his arm again (1 &tword, 2 syllables, 2nd syllable). He
i ndicates his own back. Finally, he l ays 1 fing er on his arm, mi mes breaking
something and waves his hand over his shoulder.
.

Variatio!1s

Besides the g enres mentioned above, you can mi me the titles of plays, the n a mes of
people, pl aces and things, and sayi ngs. Other special signals are possible.
N otes

A traditi onal game which has been made into a number of television game shows.

page 14 of 38

Oh no, not Hangman again: a manual of games for the Engli sh language classroom

Col l ocati ons Ladd er

Aim

To g uess words that make coll ocations.

Pre p a rati o n

Make a list of suitable collocations, a s i n the exa mple bel ow.

Play

Fro m a list of collocations, put the top and bottom words in a ladder on the board ,
leavi ng empty rungs for the blanks between. Each word must have lin ks with the
words next to i t. Collocati ons can be read up or down, so these are both acceptable:
blue
whale

whale
blue

Put the class in 2 teams. Each turn ask them to choose, 'Top or bottom?' Add
to the uppermost or lowermost uncompleted word.

letter

Each team guesses the word or passes. If they get it wrong or pass, the other tea m
chooses top or bottom. They get a letter and guess or pass. If a team guesses
cor rectl y , they g et 1 poi nt and the next turn .
If only 1 lette r is

left and a team has failed

to

guess the word (e.g. genera), just add

the remaining letter. Neither team gets the point.

Example

Your list is: whale- blue

whale

whale
b

ring

ri ng
.4

.
. .. ..

-' .

film - director- genera/ - major- key - ring.

-'

whale
bl

whale
blue

whale
blue

ring

k
ring

ke
rinq

. .. ..

-,

Team A choos'as top and you add B, but they fail to guess the word , s o play passe's
to ta m B. Team B also chooses top, so you add L. They correctly g uess blue a nd
choose bottom. They fail to g uess from the letter K. Team A then chooses bottom
and you add E.
Va riations

You could play with weaker word associations,

instead

of strict collo cations.

Notes

Adapted from the Indonesian game show, Kata Berkait (= H ooked Word).

page 1 5

of 38

Oh no, not Hangman again: a manual of games for the English language classroom

Countd own Letters

Ai m

Make the longest word from random letters.

Pre p arati o n

You need letter tiles or card s as in Scrabble, with the distri b uti on reflecti ng thei r
frequency in Eng lish. (See Appendix I . ) Sort them into 2 piles: vowels and
consonants.
Play

2 tea ms.

Divide the class into

Team A picks 9 letters at random. They can specify

only whether the letter is a vowel or a consonant.

Both te ams then have

limited time (e.g. 1 minute) to find the longest word they can

from those letters. Words that start with capital letters and a bbreviations are not
permitted.

The team with the lo nge r word scores 1

tie, both teams score.
Tea m B then picks 9

point for each letter

in thei r word.

I f there

is

letter s. And so on.

Exa m p l e
Team A says 'Vowel' and gets a n A. They then choose a consonant and get a n R.
They choose another consonant and get an F, then a vowel and get another A. In the
end the y haveA, R, F, A, T, M, 0, L, C.
Team A mai<es the word fractal (7 letters) , while Team B comes up with
letters). Team A gets 7 points, while Team B scores O.

fonnat (6

Team B then pi cks the letters G, 0, K, W, P, 8, H, I , U. Tea m A gets pious (5 letter s)

and Team 8 whisk (also 5 letters) . Both teams get 5 points.
Variations

According to the TV rules, the 9 letters must contain at least 3 vowels and 4
consonants.
Teams CQuid always
ongei wot'u ..

'

SCOrf

point per letter, e'Jen if another team has made a

Notes

Adapted from the letters round of the British television quiz progra m me, Countdown ,
whi ch was based on the French programme Des chiffres et des lettres.

page 1 6 of 38

Oh no, not Hangman again: a manual of games for the English language classroom

Do ubl ets
Aim

Turn a word into another word by changi ng 1 letter each

turn.

Preparati on

It is advisable to complete the p uzzl e s yourself first, so that you d on't give the
students i mpossi ble tasks. (A prog ram called WordLaddeR at www. i h san. biz can do
th is for you.)
Play
Players score points according to the number of steps taken to turn
another,

1 l ette r

word into

each turn. Write both the original and final words on the boa rd.

Letters cannot be moved , merely substituted. The inventor , Lewis Ca rroll, wrote that

'the links should be En g l i sh words, such as might be used in good society. '

t the end of the game the player with the lowest score wins.
Exa mp l e

Write up

H EAD

and TA IL .

Team A d oes it in 5 steps (HEAD - HEAL - TEAL - TELL - TALL - TAI LL Team B in
6 steps (HEAD - H EI\L - SEAL - SELL - TELL TALL - TAIL), so they sore 5 and
6 points re s pe ctivel y.
-

Variations
A letter may also be add e d , removed or moved each turn (e.g. PEAS - PEAKS
SPEAK - PEAK).

Notes

Invented by Lewis Carroll and featured in the magazine Van ity Fai r in 1879. Also
known a s Word Chai ns, Word Ladder, Word Golf, Stepwords, Ladderwords,
Laddergrams, Transitions, Transformations, etc.

page 17 of 38

Oh no, not Hangman again : a manual of games for the Engli sh language classroom

F ami l y Fortunes
Aim

Predict popular answers to questions

P reparation

Make a list of questions. (See ideas on next page.)

Play

Read out a question. All the players write down the answer they thi nk most of the
other pl ayers wil l give . They score 1 point for every other player who chose the same
answer as they.
Exa mple

The teacher says, 'Name something you'd associate with the Queen of England.'
Of 10 students, 4 write palace, 3 crown, 2 throne and 1 corgi. They score 3, 2, 1 and
respectively.

Va riati ons

In the TV show contestants predict answers given by '100 people surveyed'

beforehand, so you could provide your own answers (from a survey of teachers or
another class?) and then play as a team game.
Notes

From the British g ame show of the same na me, which is based on the American
show Family Feud. See also Bl ankety-Blank.

page 18 of 38

Oh no, not Hangman again : a manual of games for the English language classroom

Family Fortunes question ideas

A boy's name be ginning with J
A b reed of dog
A domestic animal
A famous Royal
A food people g ive as a g itt
A food that can be brown or whi te
A food that can be easily eaten wi thout
chewing
A foreign cou ntry that you would want to visit
A game played in bed
A ga me played on a table besides cards
A kind of ache
A month that's also a person's name
A non-living obj ect with legs
A number you have to memorise
A part of the body beginning with the letter N
A part of the bod y with four l etters
A reason you might stay inside on a beautiful

Someth ing associate d wit h pig s

Something associated with Robinson Crusoe
Something bad you wou ld n't think abou t
Something in the garden that's g reen
Something London is famous fo r
Something made of wool
Something most peop le have only one of
Something people eat with steak
Something people mig h t be all ergi c t o
Someth in g red
Something slippery

day

Something that your dog does

A Scand inavian cou ntry

A sign of the zodiac
A singer who is known by one name
A sport in which two people compete against
each other
A TV soap
A type of foreign money

A way of cooking fish

A word or phrase you hear in a tennis game
An ancient city

An animal beg i nning with the letter B

An animal whose eggs you'd never eat for
breakfast
An ani mal wi th three letters in i ts name
An animal you might see at a zoo
An annual sporting event
An occupation that begi ns with the 10ttrJ
An occupation whose members must get
.
tl:-cd of .)mifirrg :
An ugly colou r
A word beginning with 'snow'
Besides a house or a car, the most
expensive i tem you own
One of the seven dwarfs
Some famou s brothers
Something a car can have two of
Something a cat does
Something a denti st would say
Something a teenage boy can do for hours
Something associated with Superman

Something someone does that annoys

everyone in the room
Something that comes in pairs
Something that flies that doesn't have an
engine
Something that makes you scream
Something that uses microchips

hole in it
red light on it
Something you associate with the sea
Something you do before g o i ng to bed

Something with a
Something with a

Something you do in the bathroom

Something you do in the event of a power
cut
Something you do standing on a chair
Something you hc:we more than two in yo ur

body

Something you have with coffee

Something you learn how to do from a how

to book
Something you mi ght accidentally leave on
all night
Something you open other than a door
Something you pu t in tea
Something you pu t o n walls
Something you pu t ou t for the bid$
..... ,I,' .:
-. .
Something you struke
Something you throw away d aily
Something you wash once a week
Something you wear o n the beach
Something you wear two of at the same time
Something }'OU would n't try even o nce
Something you wou ld n't want the police to
find in the boot/trun k of you r car
Something you 'd yell at if it stopped working
The bad habit you 'd most like to get rid of
The heaviest i tem i n you r house

page 19 of 38

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Oh no, not Hangman again : a manual of games for the English language classroom

F i ve Thi ngs
Aim

Guess items i n categories.

Preparation

Prepare 2 lists of categories. (See Appendix I I .)

Play

Put the class in 2 teams. Give each team a (different) list of categories. The students
must write 5 items - things/people/animals/places - in each category.
When both teams are ready, Team A reads out its category. Team 8 then has 1
mi nute to g uess as many of the items as possi ble. For each correct guess Team B
gets 1 point. For each item that was not guessed , Tea m A gets 1 point. (So 5 points
are shared between the 2 teams. )
I t is then Team A's turn to g uess items from one of Team 8's categories.
Exa mple

Team A's category i s things that are sticky. The 5 things they choose are honey,
glue, asphalt, flypaper and n apal m.
Team A secretary: Things that are sticky.
A

Team B student: Honey!

Team A secreta ry: Yes.

Team B students: Syrup! (No!) Glue! (Yes.) Sellotape! (No!) Blu-Tak! (No!) .

. .

etc.

Variations

If a team g uesses all 5 items, they get a bonus of 2 points.

The timekeeper can be either the teacher or a member of the team whose
items are being g uessed.

Notes

An established English language teaching game with various names, e,ct.

Brai nstorm
,./0(,
;n the Re'Nard

course

book series.

"

" ,

page

20

of 38

M-

: (..... !,.. ,

,-.

.. .

..

'

Oh no, not Hangman again: a manual of games for the Engli sh language classroom

MasterWord
Aim

Guess a secret word .

Preparation

None.
Play

You can play it with any number of students. Choose a secret word of 4 letters.
Students try to g uess the word . Unlike in Hangman. they must suggest complete
wo rds, n ot indivi d ua l l eUer s .
Write the

words

and

columns of numbers on the board . The columns indicate:

how

how many letters a re both right and in the correct position.

many lettrs the students have got right

E xa m pl e

Your word i s FISH. The students' g uesses

score

guess

are a s

follows:

explanation of score

LOVE No letters rig ht

STAR S is ri ght ,

MARK

T INY

I is right and i n the right place

S I NG

S and I are rig ht; S is in the wrong place, I i n the rig ht place

KISS

S and I are rig ht and in the right pl ace

DISH

I, S and H a re right and in he right place

-.4-'

but

in the

wrong place

No letters right

-,

. FlSH,,, AU

4.letters a re right n .trl.tr. e right place

'.

;.-

' . .

I n practice the class usually needs more guesses.

Variations

Some versions omit the left-hand column , which shows how many letters are both
r ght and in the correct position.
Notes

Over the years thi s g ame has a ppeared in various guises, such as Bulls & Cows,
Jotto, My Word a nd Mastermind .

page 21 of 38

O h no, not Hangman again: a manual of games for tile English l anguage classroom

Panic Word
Aim

Provide definitions and clues for as many words as possible from a list.
Preparati o n

Make lists of words. Put a t l east 10 words i n a list. Write each list on a piece of paper.
Play

Put the students in 2 tea ms . Give a list to a student from Team A. They have 2
minutes to g et their team-mates to guess as many words as possible. Then give
another list to Team B.
Exa mple

A student has thi s list:

handle
largest
wander
pointed
concert
talked
hoping
criticism
gradu ally
pl ate

stands
forbidden
centre
e.fford
shown
mention
generous
col umns
superior
robes

They choose words i n random order and provide definitions or cl ues such as
'Synonym of biggest' a nd 'You eat food off it'.
Variatio ns

Players from either team can guess the words.

Notes

This game has v iouS i ncarnations and names .

, .. ;';, '
. '.. -;

page 22 of 38

Oh no, not Hangman aga i n: a manual of games for the English language classroom

Pictionary
Aim

Guess words fro m p ic tu res drawn

by pla yers.

Prepa ration

Provide s li ps of paper for players to write words on.

Play

Put the class into 2 teams. Each team thinks of words for the other
and writes each word on a slip of paper.
When

to guess

both tea ms a re ready, a pla yer from Team A is given a word by Team B.

has to draw
guess

team

it on

He

th e whiteboard (without speaking or writing) and his team-mates

it.

If they can do so within a reasonable time, Team A gets a point and a player from
then h a s to draw one of Te a m A's words. And so on.

Team B

Exam ple

word is nightmare, so the pl a yer draws a person l ying

bubble that contains a ghost coming from his head .

The

on

bed, with

a thought

Variations

The opposing team can make unhelpful suggestions or comments about the
picture.
Players from both teams draw at the same tirne.

Notes
From the

board g a me of the same na me

page

23 of 38

Oh no, not Hangman agai n: a manual of games for the English language classroom

Qui ck Scrab bl e
Aim

Make word s crossword-fashi on.

Preparati o n

Mak e a 9x9 grid li ke the one bel ow on an OHP transparency and project the grid on
to the whiteboard.
Play

Play like Scrabble, except that:

Each player or team has

Score o nl y

The numbers

any 7

letters they like. ( No need to make letter tiles. )

point per letter.

a nd

represent double and triple word scores.

If you don't already know how to play Scrbble, you can find detailed rules and
exa mples on t he I nternet

Exa mple

3E
0

R 0
2

D ROI D gets 5x2=10

points. EDGE gets
4x3=12 points.

3T

E
2

2
H

35

TEACH gets 3x2x5=30

points. HOPE gets only 4
points.

Variations

Y'ou

can

of course

vary t.le numberof sqLJres, scoring, et,

as

you p,ij?_$.o ...

Notes

Adapted from the board g ame Scrabble by somebody (sorry, can't recall whom) and
slightly modified agai n. See the grid on the next page.

page 24 of 38

Oh no, not Hangman again: a manLial of games for the English language classroom

Quick Scrabble grid

2
3

3
2

3
.

. '

'.

2
..

,..;" .

3
.> ... .

page 25 of 38

Oh no, not Hangman again : a manual of games for the English language classroom

Scattergories
Aim

Think of word s in a category that begin with a certain letter.

P reparati o n

Prepare a list o f categories. (See Appendix I I for ideas .) Either make a pri nted list
with the categ ories in columns that students ca n fill in, or just write the categories on
the board.
Play
Students can work
initial letter
Students

and

try to thi nk

their
answers.

After one

or in pairs or small groups. Reveal the categories and the

start timing. Allow about

Players read
same

alone

minutes.

of one answer for each category.

answers aloud. They score points only if no other player has the

round, change

the initial letter.

Exa mple

The first initi al letter i s

categ o ry

T.

Student A
tiger
Tiger Woods
teacher
Turkey
temple

animals
celebrities
jobs
nationalities
buildings

things you can read

vehicles
weather
score

Student B
tiger
Tiger Woods
teacher
Tokyo

Student C
turtle
Tina Turner
tailor
Turkish
theatre

Student 0
teacher
Mr T
thief
Texan

textbook
train

train

tram
typhoon

toilet
p a per
tricycle
tempestuous

6Y2

thesaurus

to i!et

Students A and 8 have the same answer for the first category and therefore score
nothing. Student C g ets a point, whil3' Student D gets a smack round the mouth.
I

. ....

. ..

The scores for that round are as snown. (Student D g ets only 'Y2 mark for 'toilet
paper'.)
Va riatio ns

Allow more than o ne answer per category.

Give poi nts for all correct answers, e.g. 3 points for a unique answer a nd 1
pint foon- nique one.

Notes

Derived from the board game of the same name.

page 26 of 38

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Oh no, not Hangman again: a manual of games for the English language classroom

Smart Mouth
Aim

Make word s from i niti al a nd final letters,

P reparation

You need letter cards or ti les, as in Scrabble.

P lay

Put the letter tiles face d ow n . Players turn them up in pairs. The first student to say a
word beg inning with one of the letters and ending with the other wins the tiles.
At tl1e end the player with the most tiles wins.

Example
The letters Band C are turned up and won by a player who shouts 'Club'. Then the
letters L and K are won by ' Luck'. And so on.

Variations

The first letter turned up has

by 'Basic' but not 'Club'.

to be the first letter

in

Notes
From the boa rd game of the same name.

page

27 of 38

the

word. B and C could

be

won

'

011 no, not Hangman agai n :. a manual of games for the Engl i sh l a nguage classroom

Taboo
Aim

Guess words from spoken clues that must exclude forbidden words.
Pre p a ration

Prepare card s with keyword s and taboo words like the example below, or - if there is
time in class - get the students to do this.
Play

Put the class in 2 teams. Start the clock. Show a player from Team A a card . Once
he'has memorised the keyword and taboo words, give the card to Team B . The
player gi v e s spoken clues o nly without gestures or spellings.
,

If he says one of the taboo words, members of Team B need to point it out. In that
case Team A scores nothing for that word and has to try another word.
Once Team A has correctly guessed the word, show the player another card. The
tea m tries to guess as many words as possible in the allotted time (e. g. 3 minutes).
When time

runs out, a pl ayer from

Tea m B comes forward.

Example
Some
;: ;

examples of Taboo ca rd s:

exerc ise :::

.:, dictionary;

. headache,

gym
aerobics
workout
fit

book
word
meaning
definition

bod

l ook

head
pain
aspirin
hurt
mi raine

true
lie
trust
good
mon

The Team A player starts wit h dictionary. He says, 'Something we use if we don't
know so me vocabulary i n English' and the team guesses correctly. For headache he
says, 'The part my body a bove my neck - ow! owl' For honest he says , 'If someone
is B LANK we can trust them - ' and Team 8 yells that he h a s used the taboo word
trust.

..

'

Variations .

The opposing team can make unhelpful suggestions at the same time.
Notes

From the board g ame of the same na me. Appears in an ELT b ook as Don't Say It!

page 29 of 38

Oh no, not Hangman agai n : a manual of games f C?r the Engli sh language classroom

Twenty Ques ti ons

Aim
Guess an object

by

asking yes/no

qu etions

Preparation

None.
P lay

Put the class i n 2 teams. Each team thi nks of some objects
guess.

for

the other team to

8 asks a maximum of 20 q uestions until they

guess it, in wh i ch case they score a point . If t hey can't guess correctly in 20
questions, they score nothing. Team A then has to guess Team B's object, and so
Team A ch ooses

an object. Team

on.

The q u e sti ons sh ould

all be a nswered with a simple 'Yes' or ' No' (or ' Maybe') .

Example
Team A chooses their English

teacher as the item to be guessed.

Team 8: Ca n you eat it? (1 q uestion)

Team A: Maybe.
Team 8: Is it alive? (2)
Te a m A: Yes.
Team 8: I s it smaller th an a dog? (3)
Team A: No.
Team 8: Is it i ntellige nt? (4)
Team A: Maybe.
Team B: I s it a monkey? (5)
Team A: No.
Team 8: I s it a h u man? (6)
Team A: Yes.
Team B: Is it famous? (7)
Team A: No. [etr..]
V rjations

The cl ass of object i s specified beforehand , e.g . a memoer of the animal

plant kingdom, or a thing. (This version is called Animal, Vegetable or
Mi neral.)

Oi

Guess the celebrity or the occupation.

Notes

Traditional parlour g ame with various TV and radio i ncarnations, incl uding What's My
Line?

page 30 of 38

O h no, not Hangman agai n : a manual of games for the English language classroom

Wheel of Fortune
Aim
G uess the word from letters that are added gradually.

P re paration
None. There is, unfortunatel y , no wheel in thi s version.

Play
As i n H ang man, thi n k of a word (or phrase) and write a blan k for each letter on the
board. Divide the cl a ss into

teams.

Consonants can be g uessed , but vowel s have to be bought, using points earned by
correctly guessed consonants. The l etter Y is treated as a consonant.
Tea m A guesses a consonant. If the consonant is not found in the word , play passes
to Team B. If the consonant is in the word , Team A gets 1 point for every occurrence
of the letter. Tea m A can then buy 1 vowel for every point they h ave.
I f the vowel is not i n the word , pl ay passes to Team 8. (Team A keeps any re maining
points for their next turn . ) If the vowel is in the word , Tea m A can buy another vowel
( if they h ave any points left) or g uess another consonant. Vowels do not earn points.
The first team to g uess the whole word wins.

Exa mple

You choose the word encyclopedia and write

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

on the board.

Team A wrongly guesses T and play passes to Team B . which g uesses

1 point and buy E. The board now re a d s :

N.

They get

E N

Tea m 8 then wro ng ly guesses S and play passes back to Tea m A. Tea m A g uesses
C and gets 2 po i nts. They buy A, then I. The board now reads:

ENC
Team

A correctly

I A

g u esses the word nd wins that g a me.

Variations

The wo rd

can belong to a

(;ocegory ( see Appendix I I for ideas) . which

revealed before players start guessing.

Th e letter Y could be treated as a vowel in hymn, happy, etc.

Notes
Adapted from the g a me show

of the

same na me.

page

31

of

38

is

Oh no, not Hangman again : a manual of games for the English language classroom

Word Nou ghts & C rosses

Aim

To make 3-letter word s in a 3x3 grid.

P repara tion

None.
P lay

Draw a 3 x3 grid on the boa rd . Put the class in 2 teams. The teams take turns j'n
adding a letter to the grid. The first team to make a 3-letter word wins.
Words can read from

left

to right, top to bottom or (diagonally) top-left to bottom-right .

Exa m ple
Tea m

A beats

tea m B .

x
A

x
A
R

E
R

X
A

Variations

'Cl

__

' '-' "

The d anger is that students start pl aying ultra-defensively, so that every g ame ends
with no words being formed . An alternative is to u se a bigger grid (e. g . 1 Ox1 0) with,
.
... . .. .,; . . . 'say ; 'l etter "\fo rd s.- : : , ,
. ... . .. , _ .;. _ '
''
,"
.
'
.:
' '"
'. :
You could also allow words to read u pwards, back-to-front, etc.
",

'.

,.

, I

Notes

An old g ame, pro bably. which I found somewhere on the I nternet.

page 32 of 38

Oh no, not Hangman again : a manual of games for the English language classroom

Word Ru mmy
Aim

Dispose of all the letter cards i n your hand by ma ki ng

word s.

P repa ration

Provide a set of letter cards (or ti les) for each g roup of 2-6 pl ayers. (See Appendix I .)
Yo u could make your own or write the letters on ordi nary pl ayi n g ca rd s.
P lay

3 or 4 players/teams a re best, but 2-6 can play. Deal each player 7 card s . Pl ace the
next card face up to start the d iscard pile and the remaining cards face down to form
the stock.
The object of the game is to d ispose of all the cards in your hand by:

mel d i n g : making a word from your cards

The word must have at least 3 letters.

laying off:

d i scard ing: t h row i ng

and placing it face up in front of you.

adding cards from your hand to a meld

make a l onger word. The new letters may be used
away 1

already on the table to

anywhere in the word .

card to the discard pile

at the end of e ach turn .

Each turn draw one card from the stock or the d iscard pile. End the turn b y
discarding . If the stock pil e runs out , turn over the discard pile to form a new stock.
A player wins by disposing of all of his cards. Play stops immediately. Other players
may not put d own a ny more card s , even if they ha ve word co mbinations in their
hands. They have to pay the winner points for the cards remai ning in their ha nds, as

follows: 5

points per vowel,

point per consonant, 2 5 points per wild card.

Deal again. At the end of the g a me, the player with the most points wins.
Wild cards/jokers/blank tiles can represent any letter. When playing a wild card, the
player must state whi ch letter it represents. Any player may p i ck up a wild card by
putting that letter i n its place.
Exa mp l e

PIyer A melds the cards H , A and T to make HAT. Player B meld s 8 , ::l wi ld card , N
'
'
;
and G ' a nd says this i s SONG. He' lays off C o n HAT, making C HAT. Prayer A puts an
o in SONG and takes Player B's wi ld card .
Variations

Omi t card s for J, Q, X and Z, as these letters occur i nfrequently in English.

You may not lay off any cards on other players' melds u ntil you h ave l aid down
at least o ne meld of your own.

As i n regular Rummy, many other variations are possible.

N otes

Based o n the Rummy fami ly of card games.

page 33 of 38

'

' :: r

t,
,:

' -

Oh no, not Hangman again : a manual of games for the Engli sh language classroom

Word W h iz
Ai m

Move along a board of l etter squares by thinki ng of wo rd s

with the letter y o u are o n .

in c ateg ori es

that beg i n

Preparatio n

Make a gri d like the one below on a n OHP transparency and project the g ri d o n to the
, whiteboard .
Write categ ories (see Appendix

II)

o n slips of paper.

Play

Put the class in teams. (The grid bel ow is for up to 5 teams . ) The teams a l l start on
the uppennost l etter in the g rid. To move off a l etter a team must provide a word
which begins with that letter and bel ongs to a random category . I f the team cannot
think of a word i n a reasonable time , they are stuck on that l etter square until their

next turn ,

when they are given another random category.

Draw the categories rando ml y

fi ni shed , start the pile a g ain.

from your pile of slips of paper. When they are

Mark a tea m's late st pos i tio n on the

board with a X.

Example
T u rn 1 : Al l

3 t eam s are on the

l etter T. Team 1 starts. The category they get is

Vehicl es . They say, 'Train' and move to the next letter, O . Team 2 then gets the
category Musical I nstruments a nd says, 'Trombone ' , so the y move to O. Tea nl 3 gets
the category Tools and can't think of anything, so they stick on T.

T u rn 2 : Team 1 then gets the category Sea Life and says ' O ctopu s' , so they move to
the letter A. Team 2 gets Mammals, can't thi nk of anything a nd sti ck on O. Team 3
gets Cities, says 'Tokyo' and moves to O.

Variatio n s

You could make a more attractive boa rd which the students move pieces along .
To make i t harder: each team must provide d ifferent answers ..for the same category
-' each' turn. Start.with a differeni,
team each tu rn .
; "
;" :v ,, , , :
.... .
" ,

I.

Notes

From the board g ame of the same name. See the g rid on the next page.

page 34 of 38

. . '.

-' : . . . ... .

I ':

\.

'. . :

'

Oh no, not Hangman again : a manual of games for the Engl i sh language classroom

Word Whiz grid

Tea m

F i rst
l ette r

T
0
A
W
B
C
II ,

- . : - .. : . ; . :

!;

t'

--

page 35 of 38

--.

..

1 ',

('

Oh no, not Hangman agai n : a manual of games for the English language classroom

XenoWord
Aim

T o g uess words ( members o f a lexical set) a s more letters are added to t h e word .
P reparation

Make a list of 8 related words - e.g. colou rs, animals, food, cl othes, football , jobs.
Play

Put the students i n 2 teams. Write the numbers 1 to 8 on the board . Tell the students
what the words have in common , e.g . Th ey are all jobs.'
'

Team A chooses a number. Write the first letter of that word on the b o ard . Team A
g uesses the word or passes. If they get it wrong or pass, Team B can choose the
same or a d ifferent number. They get a letter and guess or pass. I f a team guesses
correctly , th ey get 1 point and the next turn.
If only

1 letter is le ft

and

a team has failed to guess the word

team gets the point.

the rema ini ng letter. N either

(e.g. astra/age) . just add

.

Exa mp l e
These are

your words:

a croba t

astrologer

cl own

rat-catcher

masse ur

thief

proctologist

lap dancer

Tea m A ch o o ses number 1 . Write the letter a o n the boa rd . Team A incorrectly
g uesses architect. Play passes to Team B, whi ch also chooses n umber 1 . You add a
second letter: ac. Team 8 i ncorrectly guesses actor . Team A ag a i n chooses 1: acr.
Team A correctly g uesses acrobat . They get another turn a n d choose number 6.
They g uess incorrectly. Team 8 chooses number 2. The board n ow l ooks like this:

1
2

...

a crobat

Variations

Each team has 1 5. They buy letters for 1. If they g uess the word, they receive 1
for every l etter not already written on the board. The tea m with the most money wi ns.
Example: F is on the board. Team A buys a letter for 1: FL. The team then buys
another letter: FLO. The team correctly guesses FLOWER and g ai ns 3 (for WER) .
Notes
A

game of my own i nvention.

page 36 of 38

Oh no, not Hangman again : a manual of games for the English language classroom

Appendix I: D i stri buti on of l etter ti l es in Scrab b l e

A

blank

tota l

52

page 37 of 38

Oh no, not Hangman ag ai n : a manual of games for the English language classroom

Ap pen d i x I I : Word categ ory i d eas

animals
appearance
bad habits
baseball
beach
big ' small
body
book
b u ildings
car
celebrities
circus
cities
clothes
collectibles
colours
comic book
characters

film I book I musical

genres ' titles
film people

fruit ' vegetables

crimes
currCiic,e:;

diseases

road ' street

g aits

s ea life

ga r de n

s ha p e s

g eog raphy

shops

handbag

sou n d s

h obbies

sports /

hotel

sportsmen/women

house

states of the USA

-isms

things in a kitchen I
bathroom / bed room
/ sitting room

veh icles

th ings in wa te r I on
trees I on a wall

wea pon s

jobs
languages
liquids

metals a nd stones
monsters
m usical instruments
names, first
nationalities

games

th i n g s made of wood
I leath e r , metal '

plastic

toys
travel
units
way s

to get rich

we ath e r

wed d ings
words beg i n n ing and
ending with the
same letter

things that are

plugged in

words containing
double letters

things that are

square ' round I
painted I cylindi ica!

words rhymin g :Nith

certain sounds

things that are wet '

dry , cold ' hot '
sticky

office

dwellings

-ologies

thi ngs that fly ' g row

' move fast

electrical ' electronic

appliances ' gadgets

outer space

things to put on food

pairs

things with wheels

parts of speech:
nouns ' adjectives I
verbs I adverbs

things you can do

with your mouth '
feet ' hands

party

things you can read

festivals

tou rist attractions

things that are black

' white ' green I etc

drink

farm

thi ngs you wou ld

take to a desert
island
tools

nice ' nasty ' scary

things

excuses

things you replace

time

domestic routines

emotions

things you listen to '

watch

school ' school

subjects

mammals ' bird s I

fish ' reptiles '
invertebrates

countryside

things you do on
your own I with other
people

furniture

computers

countries

places to eat
relatives

football

lu c k

cooking

things you collect

plants

food

commun ication
containers

personality

page 38 of 38

words-with 1 J 2 I
etc syllables

words with particular

suffixes
words with the stress
on the 1 st ' 2nd I etc
syllable