Name, Place, Thing party word game

Paper, pens and the choices to make before the first letter

On a single phone the app draws the letter and keeps time while everyone writes on paper, so have a sheet and a pen ready for each player. In an online room every player types on their own device and the paper goes back in the drawer. Either way, the game takes 2 to 20 players.

During set-up you choose:

• How do we use the app? Pick “Guide only” if you just want the letter and the clock, “Winners” if you want to enter names (at least 2) and keep count of the rounds each player wins.
• Categories: from 4 to 8, picked by hand from a list of 21 (Name, Thing, City, Animal, Occupation, Colour, Food, Sport, Film, Character, Brand, Country, Plant, Action, River, Dinosaur, Human body, Capital, Means of transport, Musical instrument and Video game) or drawn “Random”. The draw happens only once, and the categories then stay the same for the whole game.
• Countdown after STOP: 10, 15 or 20 seconds of grace for everyone once somebody has finished.
• Hard mode: adds H, Q, X, Y, J, K and W to the letters that can be drawn.

The rules of a round, from the letter to STOP

Each round is played with a single letter. If nobody likes it, you can use “Draw another letter” before you begin (in a room, the host does this). With hard mode off, on a single phone the app only draws letters that have at least one possible answer in every category you have chosen.

After “Start round” there is no fixed timer: you keep writing until someone has filled in every category. At that point they press “I FINISHED!” and the countdown you chose begins. When it reaches zero, STOP appears: pens down for everyone, even halfway through a word.

How the scoring works

• 10 points for a valid answer that nobody else wrote in the same category.
• 5 points for a valid answer written by two or more players.
• 0 points for an empty box, a word that does not start with the letter, or an answer that does not fit the category.

On a single phone you do the scoring yourselves, out loud, category by category: the app reminds you of the points table and, in “Winners” mode, asks you to mark who won the round. In a room the app works out the points (more on that below) and the round goes to whoever scored most on that letter; if there is a tie, every player in first place wins the round.

A round on the letter P, answer by answer

Rosie, Harry, Megan and Auntie Kath are playing in the living room with five categories (Name, Thing, City, Animal, Occupation) and 15 seconds after STOP. The app draws P.

1. Everyone writes. After a minute and a half Harry announces he has finished and presses “I FINISHED!”: the 15 seconds start. Auntie Kath, who was stuck on Occupation, scribbles “postman” at the last moment.
2. At STOP you compare answers. Name: Rosie and Harry both have “Peter” (5 each), Megan has “Poppy” and Kath “Patricia” (10 each).
3. Thing: “pencil” for Rosie and “pillow” for Megan (10 each), “pen” for both Harry and Kath (5 each).
4. City: Rosie and Kath write “Paris” (5), Harry “Plymouth” and Megan “Portsmouth” (10).
5. Animal: “penguin” for Rosie and Megan (5), “panther” for Harry and “pig” for Kath (10).
6. Occupation: Rosie “plumber”, Megan “pilot”, Kath “postman” (10 each); Harry, who had declared himself finished, left the box empty by mistake: 0.

Round totals: Megan 45, Auntie Kath 40, Rosie 35, Harry 30. Calling STOP gives you no automatic advantage: Harry rushed everyone and still came last. In “Winners” mode you simply tap Megan’s name.

One phone in the middle, or a phone each

With a single phone the app is your timekeeper: it draws the letter, shows the categories and runs the countdown, but it does not read your sheets. Checking the answers is still a group discussion. You can play as many rounds as you like and stop whenever you feel like it.

In a room the host creates the game, the others join with the code or the QR code, and everyone fills in their own grid. The main differences:

• The host decides in advance how many rounds to play, from 1 to 10 (3 by default), and no letter comes up twice in the same game.
• Whoever presses “I’m done · STOP” locks their own answers and starts the countdown for everyone else; if every connected player has handed in, the round closes straight away.
• The host’s phone checks every answer: the first letter and whether the word belongs to the category according to the app’s word list (for Action, it has to be a verb the app recognises). Capitals, accents and apostrophes make no difference when spotting duplicates.
• Answers are revealed one category at a time, led by the host, who can always use “Mark valid” or “Mark invalid”; the points are recalculated instantly.
• At the end the player with the most points overall wins. If points are level, rounds won decide it, then speed in completing the grids, then the number of 10-point answers; if it is still a tie, a random draw settles it.

The room works at a distance too, with friends in other towns: for tips on organising it, have a look at Playing together from a distance.

Strategy, common mistakes and disputed answers

Scoring more points

• Avoid the first word that springs to everyone’s mind: with P, “Paris” and “Peter” are almost always duplicates. A less obvious second choice is worth double.
• Fill in the easy categories first, then go back to the hard ones: an empty box scores nothing, a common answer at least five.
• Know your letters: in English S, C, B and P are generous, while U, V and Z run dry fast in categories such as Occupation or River, so jot down anything valid the moment it comes to you. H, common as it is in English, only turns up in hard mode.

Settling arguments

The doubtful cases are always the same: does a brand count as a Thing? Is “pistachio” a plant or a food? Does a nickname count as a name? Decide before the first round and write it down. On a single phone, if there is still a doubt, vote with a show of hands and the majority decides. In a room the host has the final word and can overrule the automatic verdict at any point during the reveal.

Who it suits and when to bring it out

It suits almost every age: children who already write confidently (from about 8) manage fine with the classic categories, while teenagers and adults can raise the bar with River, Capital or Dinosaur and hard mode. With younger players, stick to four categories and twenty seconds of grace; you will find more ideas in Word games for kids.

The ideal number is 4 to 8 players: enough for some interesting duplicates, not so many that comparing answers out loud takes forever. With bigger groups the online room becomes almost essential (see also Games for large groups). And if you fancy a calmer word game to do together, try the Crossword.