Unplug Play

Every player in the game must make a grid of five rows across and five columns down for a total of twenty-five boxes. Number the boxes from 1 to 25 going horizontally across the top row, then down to the second, and so on. In the end, the number 1 should be in the upper left-hand corner, the number 5 in the upper right-hand corner, the number 21 in the bottom left-hand corner, and the number 25 in the bottom right-hand corner.

On a separate piece of paper, write each player’s name (except your own), leaving enough space next to each name for tally marks.

For each of twenty-five random words, players must guess the most popular word that comes to everyone’s mind each time. If players connect well with most of the other players in the group, they will have a good chance of being part of the winning couple or team.

Play begins with Player 1 saying a random word. (Any word goes; just make sure it is a real word and nothing that is a private joke between two of the people in the game.) Let’s say Player 1 says “pepper.” In box number 1, each player (including Player 1) writes a word he or she thinks everyone else will say after hearing “pepper.” Often, that word may simply be the first word that comes to mind. Do not let anyone see your answer! Then Player 2 says a different, randomly chosen word, and in box number 2, all players write a word associated with that word. Play continues until all twenty-five boxes are complete. (It is not necessary for all players to have an equal number of turns coming up with a word for the group.)

Once all twenty-five boxes are filled in, all players reveal their answers to each box one by one, starting with box number 1, and players will start to see which players are on the same mental wavelength.

In the end, players will see how well they matched with each individual player in the game on all twenty-five answers by tallying matches. The couple with the most matches wins.

For instance, for the word pepper, it is reasonable to think many people might write salt. If Player 1 wrote salt and two other people in the game also wrote salt, then Player 1 puts a tally mark next to those players’ names on his list. With these two people, Player 1 already has one match each. Everyone does the same with their answers. For box number 2, Player 2 chose “army.” If four players wrote navy, those four would put tally marks next to the other three players they matched.

TIP: Words like pepper and army may create a lot of matching. Your words certainly don’t have to be that easy. It’s really up to each individual player to choose his own word each time it is his turn.

If, at the end of the game, Player 2 and Player 6 matched nine answers out of the twenty-five and no two other players matched as many, they win. Credit can also be given to second and third place couples.

IMPORTANT: In the event of a tie for first place after twenty-five words, simply add another row of boxes and five more words. Everyone competes in the extra round, and the couples in third or fourth place now have the chance to catch up and perhaps win! (These added rows can really heighten the competition because now most players know who they need to match in order to win.) Keep adding one row at a time until a winning couple is revealed once the matches for the last word in the row are determined.

It can become difficult to keep track of everyone you match for each word with a lot of players, so we recommend following the “Team Play” option if there are more than five players in the game. With team play, you are all still rotating around the room and using the same twenty-five words just like with individual play. The difference is that the scoring becomes a point system.

Teams of three or four players try to match each other rather than the group. In a team of three players, your team receives 2 points if two of you match on a word and 3 points if all three of your answers match.

A team of four players can also earn 2 points if only two of the team members in the group match on a word. However, a team of four players CANNOT earn 3 points! Even if three of the four players match on a word, they still only earn 2 points! Instead, a team of four players has the chance to earn 4 points (1) if all four players’ answers match on a word OR (2) if two team members match on the same word and the other two members match on the same word. (For example, if the initial word was ice and two people on the team of four wrote cold and the other two wrote cube, then your team would earn 4 points.)

NOTE: This rule is put in place to make it fairer for teams of three players to compete against teams of four players. Teams of four simply have an advantage over teams of three since they have more opportunities for matches. Therefore, this adjusted scoring slightly removes the advantage.