Charades
| No. of Players: | 2+ |
| Type of Game: | spoken or miming |
| What you need: | nothing |
Goal
To guess a word that is acted out by other players.
How to play
Players divide into two teams, the actors and the guessers. The acting team leaves the room to decide on a word they will act out. The chosen word must be a compound word, or one that divides into two or more syllables that are words in themselves (or at least sound like words). The acting team then acts out a scene for the guessers that represents the first sub-word or syllable in the chosen word. This scene can either be spoken, so that the sub-word or syllable is among the words spoken, or mimed with no speaking. The remaining sub-words or syllables are similarly acted out as well, with a final scene that acts out the chosen word in whole. If the other team correctly guesses the word, the teams switch roles, so that the guessing team becomes the acting team and vice versa. If the guessing team fails to guess the word, the acting team acts out another word. Players can use props and wear costumes for added fun.
Here's a list of 1000 compound words.
Example
Amaya and Bowen form the acting team and leave the room to decide on a word. They choose the word BLACKMAIL, quickly rehearse three scenes and rejoin Cole and Debby, the guessing team.
In the first scene they do not speak. In order to represent the word BLACK, Amaya grabs two pillows from the couch, one black and one white, and holds them in her outstretched hands for Bowen to examine. He chooses the black one. Next, she holds out a black remote and a white sheet of paper. He chooses the remote.
For the next word, Bowen looks out an imaginary window and says "Hey Amaya, your mailman's here." Amaya responds "I don't have a mailman, I have a mail ma'am. He's a she. She's not male." In this scene, they effectively demonstrate the second word in two ways, by saying the word MAIL directly, and by saying the word MALE which sounds like it.
For the final scene, Bowen teases Amaya with an imaginary item in his hand which she tries to grab, but he keeps pulling away. At the same time, he holds out his other hand and rubs his thumb and fingers together, as if he wants her to give him money. She eventually does give him imaginary money from her pocket in exchange for the item.
Cole and Debby correctly recognize the last scene as one of BLACKMAIL, which fits in with the other two scenes. They become the actors for the next round.
