Stop (categories game) maker

How to play

1. Write the categories across the top of the sheet, such as Name, Animal, Place, Food, Thing and Job.
2. Choose a letter for the round. Pre-print one on the sheet, or pick it with a spinner, a dice roll or a letter from a bag.
3. Everyone writes a word for each category that starts with the letter, as quickly as they can.
4. The first player to finish calls Stop. Everyone stops writing, and the words are read out and checked.
5. Score each answer: 10 points for an answer nobody else has, 5 for a shared answer and 0 for a blank or invalid one. The highest total after the last round wins.

Tips

• Choose concrete categories that people can agree on, such as Animal or Country, and add a harder one for older players.
• Agree on the rules before you start: whether a word must be a real one, and whether proper names count.
• Use short rounds with fewer categories for young players, and longer games with ten categories for adults.
• Print two sheets per page and cut between them to give two tables a sheet each.

Where it comes from

The categories game is played under many names: Basta, Stop or Tutti Frutti in Spanish-speaking countries, Stop or Adedonha in Brazil, and Le petit bac in France. In many Arabic-speaking countries it is named after its first columns, إنسان، حيوان، نبات، جماد، بلاد (person, animal, plant, object, country).

Played in: Latin America · Europe · Arab world & Middle East

Questions