In this game, words are built up by each player in turn by adding a letter while trying to avoid being the player who completes a word.
Have the players sit in a circle. The first player thinks of any word of four or more letters and calls out its first letter. The second player then thinks of a word beginning with that letter and calls out the second letter of the word he or she has thought of. The third player thinks of a word beginning with the two letters already called out and calls out its third letter, and so on while each player tries to keep the chain of letters going without calling out the last letter of a word. The player who completes a word has one strike.
For example, suppose there are three players. Ann thinks of danger and calls out ‘D.’ Bob thinks of divide and calls out ‘I.’ Chris thinks of distant and calls out ‘S’ Ann thinks of disorder and calls out ‘O’. Bob thinks of disown and calls out ‘W.’
Chris now has no option and has to call out ‘N’, thus completing a word and has a strike. A player must have a valid word in mind when he or she adds a letter.
Players may be challenged by any other player who suspects the letter called out does not help form a word. The challenged player must then declare the word he or she has in mind. The challenged player must then declare the word he or she has in mind. If this cannot be done or if the word is not valid, the player has a strike. (A dictionary may be needed to resolve disputes.
A player also has a strike if he or she hesitates for too long before calling out a letter. When a player has three strikes, he or she becomes a “donkey” and drops out of the game. The last player left wins the game.
