Scattergories ESL Word Game

I used to play this game all the time as a kid, and it works well for advanced ESL classrooms too! If you’re looking for a simpler way to play this game for lower-level students, check out how I modified the game here: https://www.atlasteaching.com/games/reversescattergorieseslgame

Scattergories is a word game that challenges players to think of a variety of words that start with the same letter. Let me first tell you how the traditional game is played, then I’ll tell you how I modify it for an ESL classroom.

Here’s the traditional way to play:

In the traditional game, each player is given a list of categories like “singer,” “food,” “city,” or “item of clothing.” A letter is chosen at random, and players have a few seconds or minutes to write down something for each category that starts with the chosen letter.

For example, if “C” is the chosen letter, then a player could write down:

• Singer                          Cher

• Food                   Cherries

• City                     Chicago

• Item of Clothing Coat

Then, players will share their answers. If anyone else has an answer matching yours, both your answers are eliminated. Players total up the number of unique words they have.

For example, if another player wrote down:

• Singer                          Celine Dion

• Food                   Cake

• City                     Chicago

• Item of Clothing Coat

Both players would get points for the singer and food, but their answers for the city and item of clothing would be eliminated. In the next round, another letter would be chosen, and the game would continue.

There are two ways to modify this for an ESL classroom.

1.     Instead of taking time to go through everyone’s answers and eliminate repeated answers, just allow each student to get a point for each answer they wrote down. Some students will be able to think of a word for each category, will inevitably, some students will leave a few answers blank.

2.     Instead of giving students different categories, you could speed up the game by asking them to write down as many words as they can think of that start with that letter. For example, write down 5 foods that start with “C.”

If you need help thinking of category examples, here’s a list! Feel free to adjust or add to them as you need to.

• Animals

• Food

• Movies

• Clothing

• Colors

• Sports

• Drinks

• Fruits

• Vegetables

• Fast Food restaurants

• Ice cream flavors

• Candy names

• Holidays

• Weather

• Jobs

• Famous singers

• Famous actors

• Things in the House

• Things at School

• Places (Cities, Countries)

• Things that are made of glass

• Things that are round

• Things that smell good

• Things that are yellow

• Things that are hot

• Breakfast foods

• School subjects

• Excuses for being late

• Musical instruments

• Cartoon characters

• Adjectives

• Adjectives to describe the feeling of “happiness”