I Spy
No. of Players: | 2+ |
Type of Game: | spoken |
What you need: | nothing |
Goal
To guess a word given its first letter.
How to play
This classic word game is often played with children. One player says "I spy, with my little eye, something that starts with ___" where the blank is filled with the first letter of the physical object the 'spy' and all other players can see. The spy takes care not to clumsily reveal his choice of object. The other players then try to guess this object, with the spy confirming or denying the guess. The role of spy alternates round the players, or is awarded to the player who correctly guesses the object. Alternatively, the spy can say hot, cold or warm to indicate how close a wrong guess is to the object. Other versions of the game have the spy name a word that rhymes with the object (e.g., "I spy, with my little eye, something that sounds like ramp" for a spied lamp) or name the color of the object (e.g., "I spy, with my little eye, something red").
Example
Alonzo, Benedict, Chris and Dallas agree to share the role of spy equally. Alonzo is elected to go first.
Alonzo: | I spy, with my little eye, something that starts with T. |
Benedict: | Is it toaster? |
Alonzo: | No |
Chris: | Is it table? |
Alonzo: | No. |
Dallas: | Is it television? |
Alonzo: | Yes! Benedict's turn. |
Benedict: | I spy, with my little eye, something that starts with C. |
Chris: | Is it carpet? |
Benedict: | No. |
Dallas: | How about couch? |
Benedict: | No. |
Alonzo: | I know, it's cat. |
Benedict: | Yes! Now Chris goes. |
Chris: | I spy, with my little eye, something that starts with W. |
Dallas: | Is it window? |
Chris: | No. |
Alonzo: | Water? |
Chris: | Yes! Dallas, it's your turn. |
And so on.