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This article was reviewed by Ashton Wu and by wikiHow staff writer, Bailey Bujnosek, BA. Ashton Wu is a Board Game expert at Shelfside. After delving into the Yugioh tournament community while growing up, Ashton launched himself into the board gaming community in 2014 and went into reviewing board games as a career full-time in 2019. His YouTube channel Shelfside has over 50K subscribers and over 4 million views, assisted by written reviews on the Shelfside website and BoardGameGeek.com. He also consults with gaming companies to build high-quality gaming products. Ashton is a tournament commentator, board game playthrough director, and host of the Shelfside Podcast, where he talks about board games with his business partner, Daniel. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in addition to the Technology Management Certificate.
This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources.
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The only downside to playing Scattergories is running out of new categories! Whether you’ve finished the lists the board game comes with or want to host a DIY game of Scattergories with printable lists, we’ve got you covered. Read on for enough Scattergories categories to fill a dozen new lists—plus, learn how to brainstorm your own or use a generator to get more list ideas.
Best Scattergories Categories
- Breakfast Foods
- Vacation Destinations
- Cute Animals
- Reasons For Being Late
- Things At A Party
- Things That Are Green
Steps
How to Play Scattergories
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Distribute the same list of 12 categories to each player. Traditionally, players all agree on which list they want to use, but you could also simply go in order from List #1 on. Make sure everyone has the same list so there’s no confusion when you start playing Scattergories. -
Hand out papers and pencils so players can write their answers. If you’re playing the Scattergories board game, hand out the folders with the blank answer sheets inside them.[4] If you’re doing a DIY game, hand out lined paper with the numbers one through 12 written down the left side.- Typically, you play three rounds of the game before crowning a winner, so you’ll need three sheets of paper per player. Alternatively, use one sheet of paper that players can number and write on three times.
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Roll the 20-sided die or use a random letter picker to get a letter. Every word you write during the round must start with that letter. Roll a die if you’re playing the actual board game, or use an online random letter picker to generate a letter. This is known as the key letter.[5]- In the Scattergories board game, the die only has 20 letters. It excludes the letters Q, U, V, X, Y, and Z because there aren’t many common words that start with these letters.
- Put these letters in play for a challenging twist on the game.
- In the Scattergories board game, the die only has 20 letters. It excludes the letters Q, U, V, X, Y, and Z because there aren’t many common words that start with these letters.
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Give everyone three minutes to fill out their sheet according to the list. Set and start a timer for three minutes. Once the countdown starts, everyone scans their list and thinks of a word to write that fits each category and starts with the chosen letter. For example, if the letter is “A” and the first category is food, you might write “apple.” If the second category is “Celebrities,” you might write “Amy Adams,” and so on.[6]- Acceptable answers must begin with the key letter, not “A,” “An,” or “The.”
- You can’t use the same answer twice in one round. It’s unlikely you’ll use it twice in one game since you roll a new key letter every round.
- Proper names count whether you use the first or last name, or both if the name is alliterative.
- Alliterative answers are worth one point for every word that starts with the letter. For example, “Amy Adams” would be worth two points in the celebrity category if the key letter is “A.”
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Award points for acceptable answers. Go around the group and have everyone read out every word they wrote. Skip categories you left blank. Award yourself one point for every acceptable answer. Either tally your points or write the total at the top of the answer sheet. Once everyone’s read and scored their answer sheet, move on to the next round.- Vote on creative answers to determine if you’ll accept them or not.[7] For example, if the category was “Famous Doctors” and the key letter was “D,” debate whether you’d accept Dr. Dre or not.
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After three rounds, the person with the most total points wins. Once you’ve gone through three lists of categories and finished scoring, have everyone add up their total points. Crown the person with the most points across all three rounds as the winner![8]
Expert Q&A
Video
Tips
References
- ↑ https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2381/scattergories
- ↑ https://thelovenerds.com/couples-scattergories/
- ↑ https://www.lovetoknow.com/life/lifestyle/scattergories-lists
- ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/scattergories_(2003).pdf
- ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/scattergories_(2003).pdf
- ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/scattergories_(2003).pdf
- ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/scattergories_(2003).pdf
- ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/scattergories_(2003).pdf
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