How to Play the Categories Game as a Family

How do you play the Categories game?

Choose a category and, for a harder round, one starting letter. Go clockwise, giving each player eight seconds to name one new answer that fits. An accepted answer earns one point. A repeat, pass or answer that does not fit gives that player one strike, but nobody is eliminated. End when every player has one strike; the highest score wins and equal scores are a tie. For written play, everyone answers the same category list before a shared timer ends.

What do you need?

Spoken Categories needs no equipment. One person may keep score with a large sheet and pencil. Written Categories needs one sheet and pencil per player, a shared category list and a timer everyone can perceive.

Pens, pencil caps, counters and small category cards are small parts. An adult should supervise young children, keep materials away from pets and collect everything after the game. Put pencils flat on a stable table when not in use. Do not use sharpened pencils during active movement or allow players to carry them around the room.

For more games that use the same simple supplies, see paper games for family night.

Choose a fair category and letter

Fun, Apparently’s spoken base game starts with category only. Add a letter after one practice round if everyone wants a narrower challenge. If a letter is used, the first meaningful word of the answer must begin with it. Ignore “a,” “an” and “the” at the start of a title. Decide before play whether first or last names can satisfy a people category.

Screen categories for age and shared knowledge. Do not use bodies, health, religion, money, grades, relationships or personal family information as categories. Do not ask players to disclose favorites or experiences they would rather keep private. Anyone may reject a category or sit out a round without explanation.

Use this closed spoken ruleset

This is Fun, Apparently’s complete base version. It keeps everyone involved after a mistake instead of eliminating them.

1. Seat players where everyone can hear or otherwise receive each answer.
2. Choose one familiar category. For the first round, do not add a letter.
3. Pick a starting player and continue clockwise.
4. Give each player eight seconds to say, sign, point to or enter one answer.
5. Award one point immediately for a new answer that fits the category and any announced letter.
6. Record one strike for a pass, repeat, late answer or rejected answer. The player remains in the rotation.
7. End the round as soon as every player has one strike.
8. Add each player’s accepted answers. The highest score wins; equal highest scores remain a shared tie.
9. Start the next round with a new category and let the next player clockwise begin.
10. Stop after three rounds, or after the number announced before play.

What counts as a legal answer?

An answer is legal when it clearly belongs to the announced category, begins with the key letter if one is in use, and has not already been accepted in that round. Singular and plural versions of the same word count as a repeat: “apple” blocks “apples.” The same real thing under a nickname or translation is also a repeat unless the host announced a language-learning round.

Proper names require a rule announced in advance. The simplest family choice is to allow either a first or last name to match the letter, but not a title such as Doctor or Captain unless it is part of the recognized name.

How do repeats and challenges work?

A challenge must be made before the next player’s timer starts. Pause the timer, let the answering player give one short reason, then have the other players vote on whether the answer fits. The challenged player does not vote. A majority accepts it; a tied vote rejects it. USC Annenberg’s published written rules also use group voting for challenged answers and exclude the challenged player’s vote to break a voting tie.

If accepted, the player keeps the point and play resumes with the next person. If rejected, remove the point, record that player’s strike and continue. Do not reopen an answer after the next turn begins. Challenges address the word, not the player; teasing or arguing about someone’s knowledge stops the round.

If the host made the category unclear, discard the disputed turn without a point or strike, rewrite the boundary in one sentence and restart the round with a new category.

What happens when a player passes?

Saying “pass” ends the turn and records that player’s one strike. A pass is always permitted and never needs an explanation. The player stays in the circle and continues to score on later turns until the round ends.

Remove the timer for a player who needs more processing time, or give the entire group 15 seconds per turn. Do not quietly extend time only for favored players. A visible sand timer is optional, but it is a small object that requires child supervision; a phone timer controlled by one seated adult is simpler.

If every player passes once in succession, end the round immediately. Score the accepted answers already recorded, even if some players do not yet have an earlier strike. If nobody scored, record the round as no score and choose a broader category.

How do you play written Categories?

1. Give every player the same six numbered categories and one sheet.
2. Announce one key letter and review the legal-answer rule.
3. Set a two-minute timer that everyone can see or hear.
4. Players privately write no more than one answer for each category.
5. When time ends, everyone stops writing, even mid-word.
6. Read answers one category at a time.
7. Cross out invalid answers and exact matches shared by two or more players.
8. Award one point for each valid answer no other player used.
9. Complete three rounds with new letters and category lists.
10. Add all points; the highest total wins and equal totals are a shared tie.

An answer cannot be reused by the same player for two categories in one round. Spelling does not decide whether an understandable answer is valid. A reader may ask what a written word says without arguing for or against it.

Adjust time pressure without changing fairness

Time pressure should make retrieval lively, not turn reading or speech speed into the real contest. Run the first spoken round untimed for young children or a new group. When everyone understands the boundary, use eight seconds only if the group wants it.

Other fair options are:

• 15 seconds for every spoken turn;
• one untimed pass token per person, represented by a large mark on the score sheet rather than a loose object;
• cooperative play, where the family tries to build the longest legal list;
• paired answers, where two players quietly agree before one responds;
• a written round with the host acting as scribe for anyone who requests it.

Choose one timing rule for the whole round. If a timer fails, discard only the affected turn and replay it after the timer is fixed. Do not estimate whether an answer was probably in time.

Include non-readers and different communication styles

Spoken Categories can be fully non-reading. Say the category and accepted list aloud, show a picture symbol for the category and accept spoken, signed, pointed or device-entered answers. A helper may repeat the player’s selected answer without changing it.

Use concrete categories for early players. “Fruit” is easier to check than “things associated with summer.” Offer three picture-category choices and let the player point to one. Do not require a child to spell an answer or define it after the group clearly understands what they mean.

For written play, provide large print, wide line spacing and the same category list in each player’s preferred format. A player may dictate to a neutral scribe who records the exact answer without suggesting one. Reading answers aloud is optional; the host may read the sheet.

Cooperative play is the lowest-pressure option: count the group’s unique accepted words and try a second category without comparing individual totals. North Carolina DPI suggests recording how many words the group finds and trying to beat that record.

How does the whole game end?

In spoken play, finish the announced three rounds. Each round ends when everyone has one strike or when everyone passes in succession. Add the round points; highest total wins and equal highest totals are a tie. A round with no accepted answer is no score.

In written play, finish three timed lists, resolve every challenge and total the unique valid answers. Highest total wins and equal totals are a tie. Do not add an unannounced extra round.

Return pencils to the table, collect sheets and cards, and account for every small item before children or pets leave the playing area.

Sources

• North Carolina Department of Public Instruction: Vocabulary for Pre-K
• Hasbro: The Game of Scattergories
• USC Annenberg: Scattergories
• University of Alaska Fairbanks: Lunchbox Games—Scattergories