Unplug Play

Write all the letters of the alphabet on separate pieces of paper. Mix them up and place them facedown on a table or in a hat where nobody can see them. (You may want to consider leaving out Q, X, and Z.)

Players take turns pairing up to try and spell words together without either player knowing in advance what word they are going to spell.

Player 1 picks a letter out of the hat. Players 1 and 2 now take turns spelling a word, one letter at a time, beginning with the letter Player 1 picked out of the hat. (No names or plurals allowed!) Player 2 now says one random letter. Player 1 says a random letter, and Player 2 says a fourth letter. After four letters, the game is put on pause and the rest of the players in the game must guess what word Players 1 and 2 are going to spell. Each player writes his or her guess on a piece of paper (without sharing the guess with anyone) and places the guess facedown in the center of the table with his or her name on it.

Then Players 1 and 2 continue spelling their word, all the time never communicating with each other. Players 1 and 2 should never talk other than to exchange letters. Once Player 1 or Player 2 thinks they are done spelling the word, that player says “Stop.” Either player can say “Stop” at any time. At that point, all players turn over their guesses to see if anyone was correct, and points are awarded.

Play continues when Player 3 draws a new first letter and Players 3 and 4 take a turn trying to spell a new word. Change up the pairings on each round.

If at least one player guessed the word correctly, that player and anyone else who guessed the word each earn 50 points and Players 1 and 2 lose 50 points each! The other players in the game get no points.

However, if nobody guessed the word, Players 1 and 2 multiply the number of letters in their word by 10, and that is how many points they each earn. Nobody else loses or earns any points.

IMPORTANT: If the two players misspell a word, they each lose 10 times the amount of letters in the word they created, and everyone else in the game earns 25 points.

In addition, if Player 1 or Player 2 thinks at any time while spelling that they are in danger of not spelling a word at all or spelling one incorrectly, the player should say “Stop!” immediately. In this case, multiply the number of letters already used in the incomplete word by 10, and that is how many points Players 1 and 2 each lose in that round. Again, everyone else in the game earns 25 points each.

If the letter picked out of the hat by Player 1 is R and the next three random letters chosen brought the word to REPU, then some possible guesses could include republic, reputable, repugnant, reputation, etc. (Remember, plurals of words are not allowed.)

If the word ended up being reputation and nobody guessed it, the total points for Players 1 and 2 would be 100 (10 X 10). However, if one person got it right, that person would earn 50 points, and Players 1 and 2 would each lose 50 points!