Categories game sheets
Pick a letter, fill the row, count the points.
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Example
A Thanksgiving categories game for six players: classic set, 10 rounds, letter cards
Six relatives, from a nine-year-old to Grandpa, play after dinner. Settings: Classic categories, 10 rounds, the letter and points columns on, one sheet to a page in landscape, the page of letters added, title “Thanksgiving Categories”, US Letter. Page 1 is printed six times, the letters once.
- Each sheet has seven categories — First name, Country, City, Animal, Food, Job, Thing — in columns about 31 mm (1.2 in) wide, between a narrow Letter column and a Points column.
- Ten rows, one per round, each 14 mm tall, enough to write in by hand, with a Total box under the Points column.
- Page 2 holds the 22 letters (no Q, X, Y or Z) in squares about 32 mm across, 8 to a row: cut them out, put them in a bowl and draw one per round.
- Scoring as the page suggests: 10 for a word nobody else has, 5 for a word someone else also wrote, 0 for an empty box. Round 1, letter B, column Animal:
| Player | Animal (letter B) | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Maya, 9 | Bear | 5 |
| Dad | Bear | 5 |
| Grandpa | Bison | 10 |
| Aunt Jo | Baboon | 10 |
| Sam | Bat | 10 |
| Mom | (empty) | 0 |
thanksgiving-categories.pdf, 2 pages. With seven categories and ten rounds the best possible score is 700 (7 × 10 × 10). To save paper with two sheets to a page, choose 5 or 8 rounds: a half sheet holds 8 rounds at most.
How it works
- Choose a set of categories, or type your own, one to a line.
- Choose how many rounds to a sheet, and one sheet or two to a page.
- Add the page of letters if you have no letter dice.
- Print a sheet for each player and draw the first letter.
Frequently asked questions
- How is the game played?
- A letter is drawn, and everyone writes a word starting with it in each category before time runs out. Usually a word nobody else has scores 10, a word someone else also wrote 5, and an empty box 0.
- Which letters are left out of the cards?
- The ones almost nothing starts with — Q, X, Y and Z in English — so a round is never lost to the letter.
- Can I use my own categories?
- Yes: choose “My own” and type up to ten, one to a line. Long ones break over two lines in the heading.
- How many rounds fit on a sheet?
- On a full page, all of them: 5 to 20 rows in landscape or portrait (20 rows in landscape are about 8 mm tall, so portrait leaves more room). With two sheets to a page each holds at most 8 rounds; asking for more prints 8.
- What is in the kids’ and the funny sets?
- For children: Name, Animal, Food, Colour, Toy and Place. Funny, for adults: Celebrity, Brand, Film or TV show, Excuse for being late, Something in a fridge, Band or singer, and Thing you shout. Choose “My own” to type up to ten of your own.
- Is anything uploaded?
- No. The sheet is made in your browser. On the free plan a small line with our name is printed at the foot of the last page.