Contact
Players
For 2 - ~12 players.
Gameplay
The purpose of this game is to guess the it player’s secret word. The it player picks a noun but no proper nouns and provides the first letter of their noun as a starting hint.
The other players then describe a word that starts with the same letter as hinted. The it player then states ‘No it is not X.” X is any word that starts with the hinted letter and fits the description of the clue.
Players should determine what length of time to give the it player before playing contact. Time can range from 1 minute to 1 second.
For each consecutive letter, the word choices are more limited to the letters that are hinted.
This continues until other players guess the word or players eliminates all letters.
Example 1
The it player picks the word sheep and hints that the word starts with S.
Player 1 asks: Is it an animal that slithers?
It player: No, it is not a snake.
Player 2 asks: Is it a thing you put on your feet.
It player: No, it is not socks.
Player 3 asks: Is it at the beach?
It player: No, it is not sand.
It player could also answer, no it is not sea, no it is not sandcrabs, no it is not sea foam. The response must both fit the clue and start with the hinted letters.
If the player cannot get the word, he or she has to reveal the second letter of the word. As a fail safe, two players must both know what the word is from the clue.
Example 2
The word is sheep.
Player 1 asks: Is it a skin encased meat (referencing sausage)
The it player cannot think of an S word and sits in silence.
Player 2 (or any other player): Says ‘contact,’ meaning they think they know what player 1 is referencing.
Player 3: Counts 1-2-3 and both player 1 and player 2 say their word at the same time.
If the word is the same, the it player reveals their next letter. If the word is different, the game continues.
Example 3
The word is sheep.
Player 1 asks: Is it a skin encased meat.
The it player sits in silence
Player 2: Contact
Player 3: 1-2-3
Player 1 and Player 2: “Sausage.” Now the it player reveals H.
or
Player 1: “Sausage” and Player 2: “Schlong” Different words mean the contact is invalid and the it player does not give another clue.
Example 4
The word is sheep and the it player has released the letters S and H.
Player 1: Does it float on the sea?
It Player: No, it is not a SHip.
Player 2: It is a body part?
It player: No it is not a SHin.
If hinted three letters, S, H, and E
Player 1: Is it a person who herds animals?
It Player: No, it is not a SHEpard.
Variations
- If two players mess up a contact, as in they don’t say the same words on the count of 3, they immediately start a game of Mind Meld with those two words as the seed words.