We’ve had a little more family time to play games this summer, and we’ve enjoyed hearts and charades and backgammon and kickball and a special version of hide-and-seek we learned from our Danish cousins. But I want to share our favorite game of the summer, which is called the Name Game. It is perfect for a group of about a dozen people of multiple ages. (Warning: it’s hard to believe how fun this will be until you try it. Just trust me.)
The Name Game | Here’s how to play:
—Assign one person to be the judge. This person won’t play the game this round.
—Have everyone else write down the name of a person who will be familiar to most people in the group. This can be the name of a historical figure, fictional character, celebrity, or even someone in the room.
—The judge reads all of the names slowly, two times through, in the same order. Everyone needs to listen closely, because this is the only time you will hear the names read and ideally you want to remember all of them.
—The youngest person starts the game. S/he tries to match one name to the person in the room who wrote down that name. If the guesser gets it right, s/he becomes a team leader and the person whose name was guessed now joins the guesser’s team, and they make another guess with their collective wisdom.
—If the guesser guesses wrong, the person to their right guesses next. Over time, teams will consolidate. If the leader of one team matches the name of a person with the leader of another team, that entire team migrates to the first team. This continues until only one person or team wins.
Game Example
For example, my niece Margaret said, “Uncle Peter, are you Beyonce?” Yes, he was, which is to say, he had put the name Beyonce in the hat. So now Margaret is the team captain and Peter is on her team and collaborates with her to try to figure out what our friend Romesh has put in the hat. So then they guess SpongeBob, but Romesh did not put in SpongeBob, so the game moves along to the next guesser. (For the record, Romesh had written Santa.) Eventually, Margaret’s sister Virginia guesses that Margaret put in the name Justin Bieber, so Virginia is now the team captain with both Margaret and Uncle Peter on her team.
Enjoy!
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This Post Has 6 Comments
This sounds super fun! I’m a little confused about how someone wins the game though. Can you please explain to me how someone wins? Is it the largest team when all the names have been guessed? Thanks
It is super fun, and you win by being the leader of the team that eventually guesses who everyone else is without anyone guessing who you are. Does that make sense?
I am a little confused as to how you establish the second team leader. I get that the first person to guess correctly becomes the team leader, but how do they get the next person on their team. Do they keep guessing until they get it wrong?
Once the team answers incorrectly, I understand the person to the right guesses next. If they get it wrong does it keep going around the circle until someone guesses correctly?
Once they guess correctly they become a captain, but how do they get more people on their team?
I have played this before but am foggy on the rules. Please help me so that I can play this again with a group.
Also does someone keep track of all
Of the names on a sheet of paper and cross them off as they’ve been guessed?
Thanks for your help
So if person #1 correctly guesses the name associated with person #2, then person #1 is now a team leader, and person #2 is on their team. Does that help?
One person does not play–that person reads all the names out loud twice, in the same order. And that person adjudicates any disputes and basically keeps track of which ones have been guessed, etc.
Sorry still confused about how you establish team leader number 2 or is the goal to just get everyone on one team? How do you establish the winner? Is it the last person to be guessed or the largest team?
So, if you guess someone correctly, you (let’s call you person A) become a team leader, and the person you guessed (let’s call them person B) is now on your team. The goal is to get everyone on your team, but if someone else (call them person C) correctly guesses you, then you and your team are now on their team, and now person C is the team leader, with persons A and B on their team.
And yes, there is one person who is considered the judge who keeps track of it all.
Enjoy!