Categories game: free printable PDF

Who to play with, and where, on paper

• A printable game for road trips and holidays

  For trips, weekends away or the beach. Paper and a pencil are enough.

• Paper game for grandparents and seniors

  It entertains and exercises vocabulary, with no phone or computer. Also good for a retirement home. In the generator you can create a game sheet with your own categories.

• Paper game for two

  Everyone gets a sheet and a pencil. Agree on your own categories and print them in the PDF generator.

• A game for classrooms, workplaces and parties

  Hand out the sheets and play with no phones at the table. For teachers, team building.

Rules of the game

The aim is to find and write words that match the selected categories and start with the chosen letter. The game is played in rounds; players earn points for valid words. The player with the most points wins.

1. Each player receives a game sheet and places it in front of them along with a pencil.
2. The game has several rounds. Before each round, agree on a letter that all the words must begin with.
3. One player silently recites the alphabet. Another player stops them at any time with the word STOP.
4. The round begins when the player says aloud the letter they stopped at.
5. Players must fill in the words for each category in one row of the table as quickly as possible. The words must begin with the selected letter.
6. The first player to fill in all the fields shouts the word STOP and everyone else has to put down their pencil. The players can also agree to end the round at any time.
7. At the end of each round, points are awarded for the words according to the rules on the game card.
8. The game ends after the agreed number of rounds. The player with the most points wins.

Scoring

• Empty field = 0 points.
• Same word as another player = 0 points.
• Unique answer = 1 point.
• Only answer in the category = 1 point.