The free letter categories game Name, Place, Animal, Thing

How to play Name, Place, Animal, Thing

You need the phone, something to write on for every player, and at least one other person. Everyone writes at the same time, so a round lasts about as long as the timer, plus a few minutes of arguing over whether Grandma counts as a name.

1. 1Give every player a sheet of paper and a pen. The notes app on their own phone works too.
2. 2Pick a category set and have everyone write the categories across the top of the page as columns.
3. 3Choose a timer of 60, 90 or 120 seconds. Or play the old way: the first person to finish shouts Stop and everyone drops their pen.
4. 4Tap to spin the letter. Each player writes one answer per category, every answer starting with that letter.
5. 5When time is up, go around the table and read your answers out loud, one category at a time.
6. 6Score each answer and add it to the totals. Then spin again. Letters never repeat in the same game.

Play as many letters as you like. Five or six rounds make a good game, and the highest total at the end wins.

Category sets

Each set is the list of columns you fill for every letter. Classic is the one most people grew up with: Name, Place, Animal, Thing, Food and Job. Family, Food lovers, Movies, TV & music and Around the world swap in fresh columns, and Random mix is for groups who like strange categories.

Scoring and settling arguments

The classic scoring is simple. An answer nobody else wrote is worth 10 points. An answer someone else also wrote is worth 5. A blank, or an answer the group rejects, is worth 0.

After each round you can enter every player's points in the app, and it keeps the running totals across rounds, so nobody has to add up columns on the back of an envelope. Scoring in the app is optional. If your group likes pencil math, use the phone just for the letter and the clock.

Most arguments are about what counts. Settle a few things before the first letter. Does a brand name count as a thing? Is a made-up place a place? If one player wrote bear and another wrote polar bear, is that the same answer? A good default: if most of the table agrees, it counts.

Tips for filling the sheet faster

• Fill the easy columns first. Names and animals come quickly. Save Thing for last, because almost anything is a thing.
• Go for answers nobody else will think of. With B, half the table writes bear. Bison might be yours alone.
• Keep a few go-to answers for tricky letters. For K: Kevin, Kansas, kangaroo, kite.
• Don't get stuck on one box. Leave it blank, keep moving and come back if there's time.
• Set Hard letters to Leave out when younger players are in the game, so nobody stares at an empty page.

Ways to play

Where it works best

Classrooms are a natural fit. Put the letter and the timer on the classroom screen, let students write on scrap paper, and you get spelling, vocabulary and geography practice that doesn't feel like homework. It works well in language classes too.

For family game night, it's one of the few games where a seven-year-old and a grandparent play by the same rules. Choose an easy set, switch Hard letters to Leave out and use the long timer.

It also works over a video call. One person shares their screen or reads the letter out loud, everyone writes at home, and you compare answers when time runs out.

One game, many names

All this game needs is paper and a pencil, so it has traveled everywhere, picking up a new name at almost every border.

In Mexico, Cuba and Guatemala it's Basta, and whoever finishes first shouts something like “Basta para mí, basta para todos.” In Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Peru it's Tutti Frutti. In Chile, Colombia and Venezuela it's usually Stop. Brazilians call it Stop or Adedonha, and they often pick the letter by having everyone hold out some fingers, then counting through the alphabet on the total.

In Germany it's Stadt, Land, Fluss (city, country, river), and one player recites the alphabet under their breath until someone says Stopp. French players know it as Petit Bac. In Turkey it's İsim Şehir (name, city), and in Iran it's Esm-o-Famil, first name and last name, after the first two columns on the sheet. In India it's Name, Place, Animal, Thing, a favorite for free periods at school, and in South Africa some people call it Stop the Bus. The Czech name barely needs translating: Jméno, město, zvíře, věc.

Nobody owns it. In 2013, courts in Berlin rejected a game company's attempt to claim Stadt, Land, Fluss as a trademark, calling it a classic that has been played for generations. In the US, the best-known boxed version is Scattergories, released by Parker Brothers in 1988, which uses a die to choose the letter.

Questions