Scattergories

A fun party/group game for 2 to 6 people. The aim of the game is to come up with more original answers than the other players.

How to Play: (official rules)

1. Each player has a folder with List Cards and answer sheets inside. Decide which list to start playing from. As long as everyone chooses the same list, it doesn't matter which list you answer from.
2. Set the game timer.
3. Roll the D20 alphabet die to determine the letter the round will use.
4. Start the game timer.
5. Everyone quickly fills in the first column on their answer sheets, based on the questions on the list sheets. The question may be: 'A Boy's Name' or 'Breakfast Foods.' If an 'P' had been rolled, then answers for those questions could be 'Peter' or 'Percy, and 'Pancakes' or 'Pork Sausages.'
6. Everyone must stop writing when the timer stops.
7. Score your answers by going around the group for each answer, with everyone reading their answer aloud. Circle each of your answers that does not match anyone else's answer. Score a point for each circled answer.
8. With the same list, play another round by rolling the die again. If you get the same letter as before, roll again.
9. After 3 rounds have been played, the player with the highest number of original answers is the winner.

Different Rules: Instead of playing 3 rounds with one list, work your way through every list, playing one round with each.

Controversial Answers: If there is a disputed answer, the whole group must vote on the acceptability of the answer. If the vote is a tie, it is not accepted.

The main fun, in my opinion, comes from the strange answers that some people can come up with, as well as the (mostly good natured) arguments between players over answers. I've also found that girls seem to be way better than boys at this.

Scattergories is a registered trademark of Hasbro games

A game show based on Scattergories aired on NBC from January 18 to June 11 of 1993. Its officially scheduled time was 12:30 P.M. Eastern time, but NBC affiliates had a lot of leeway with regard to the daytime schedule. Dick Clark was the host.

A team of four men competed against four women. Each team, given a letter of the alphabet and a category, had a short amount of time to come up with four to six words beginning with that letter that fit the category.

The team then picked four out of five celebrities who, on videotape, would provide one word for that letter and category. The team lost points if any of their words was duplicated by a celebrity.

After two rounds, the team with more points went on to play the bonus round. The team had 25 seconds to give two words for each of five letters, and then the celebrities gave prerecorded answers; if at least three of the celebrities' words were not duplicates, the team won bonus money.

This show really didn't work, thanks in no small part to the low budget, which was no doubt responsible for the celebrities appearing on videotape clips rather than actually in the studio. Its premiere was preempted in Chicago by news coverage of a train wreck; as it turned out, that special report was more interesting than "Scattergories" the game show.