Next Steps is a series of posts following a series of games that are popular beyond the board gaming world, and giving a suggestion for deeper dives into similar games. The suggestions here are intended to keep parts of the “essentials” of the game, while potentially being a step or two more complicated.
Introduction #
Scattergories is a favorite of my wife’s family, and we have played it a lot.
In case you haven’t played it: to start, each player gets an answer sheet and a pencil, and a 20-sided die is rolled to determine the starting letter. Players then have 3 minutes to write down one answer per category that begins with the chosen letter. When time's up, players share their answers, earning a point for each unique answer. After three rounds with different letters and categories, the player with the most points wins.
Between the time pressure & the struggle to come up with a unique answer in a given category, there are lots of aspects that give Scattergories its unique flavor. Here are some potential next games to look into if you are looking for something new!
Word on the Street #
Word on the Street, a game for two teams, is a series of tug-of-wars for each consonant in the alphabet. On your turn, draw a category card and flip the sand timer. Before the time runs out, you need to choose a word and move the tiles for letters used in the word towards you. If you “capture” a tile, by pulling it completely to your side, it is safely yours for the rest of the game. The first team to capture eight tiles wins.
Like Scattergories, Word on the Street asks for you to come up with a word in a category. In Word on the Street, however, you need to consider not just the first letter of the word, but all of the letters. This change shifts the dynamic while still capturing much of the spirit of what makes Scattergories fun.
It is worth noting that, while the box does say that it plays 2-8 players, it really is a game for two. You can have multiple players on each team, but it often is more distracting than helpful.
Anomia #
Anomia is another game about coming up with items in categories under pressure. Compared to Word on the Street or Scattergories, however, the restrictions are small - but so is the time!
Each player takes turns drawing a card and flipping it over in front of them. Each card has a symbol and a category on it. When any two players have matching symbols, they must quickly call out an example from the category on the opponent’s card. The first player to do so wins the opponent's card. The game continues until the draw pile is exhausted, and the player with the most cards at the end wins.
While there aren’t any restrictions outside of the category itself, the fact that you are racing another player and are under very intense pressure, you’ll often find yourself struggling to recall even a single “pizza topping” or “news website.”
Just One #
If the pressure is your least favorite thing about Scattergories, but you like coming up with words that need to be unique, then the cooperative party game Just One might be a good fit.
Each round, one player is the guesser and draws a card without looking at it, displaying it to the rest of the players. The card shows five words, and the guesser picks a number from 1 to 5 to select the mystery word. The other players then write down a one-word clue to help the guesser figure out the mystery word. However, if any of the clues are identical, they are discarded before being revealed to the guesser. The guesser has one attempt to guess the word based on the remaining clues.
Coming up with a good clue that will point the guesser in the right direction without being a duplicate with another player is a tricky balancing act. Just like in Scattergories, it might be worth the risk to go for an “obvious” answer in hopes that nobody else does as well.
Each of these games captures different aspects of Scattergories, and if you enjoy playing it as much as my wife’s family does, they might be good games to try next!
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