Give Us A Clue
| No. of Players: | 2+ |
| Type of Game: | miming |
| What you need: | nothing |
Goal
To guess a word or phrase that is mimed by other players.
How to play
Players divide into two teams. One member of one team is given a word or phrase by the gamemaster to mime for two minutes. The mimer's team scores points for correctly guessing this word or phrase. But if they fail, the other team has a chance to guess it. By convention, players first establish the type of word or phrase with their team members. For instance, a movie title can be indicated by miming the operation of a film camera, a song title by pretending to sing, a TV show by air-drawing a rectangle, a book title by opening an imaginary book, or a play by pretending to open curtains. Mimers also usually indicate upfront the number of words in a given phrase, and then act these out one at a time.
Alternatively, a mimer from each team is told the same word or phrase at the same time. Players take their guesses directly to the gamemaster who gives them another word or phrase to mime if they are correct. The team that successfully guesses all the words and phrases on the gamemaster's list, or correctly guesses the most within a certain time limit, is deemed the winning team.
In other versions, players do not form teams but simply mime their chosen word or phrase to the other players. The player who guesses correctly chooses a word or phrase to mime in the next round.
Example
Atticus chooses the movie title One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and begins by pretending to hand crank an old-style film camera. He nods when they correctly identify that the title of a film will be mimed. Atticus holds up six fingers to indicate that there are six words in the title and then just one finger. Brynn says 'First word' and Atticus nods 'yes,' lowers his hand, and then raises his hand again with one finger pointed up. The other players look at each other quizzically, and Brynn says 'First word' again. Atticus now nods 'no' and creates even more confusion. He repeats the gesture and gets the same response. This back and forth continues until Chuck realizes that the first word is one.
Atticus then shows two fingers to indicate he is going to mime the second word. He then stretches out his arms and walks around the room. This is first met with a bunch of incorrect guesses: Brynn says airplane, Chuck says soaring, Dawson says flight, and so on, until Brynn finally guesses flew.
With these first two words understood, Atticus thinks they can get the title if he now mimes the fifth word. So he holds up his entire palm and then twirls his index finger around his ear while opening his mouth and making goggly eyes. The initial incorrect guesses include crazy, nuts, and wacko until Atticus points to his watch and then acts out a cuckoo bird coming out of a clock. Dawson immediately says cuckoo and they more or less all together shout One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. It is agreed that Dawson should mime the next round.
