Scratch Pad Games
Scratch pad games like Tic-Tac-Toe, Hangman or modern-day guessing games and word challenges require only some paper, a few pens and a bit of brainstorming. You can play them anywhere, from a dinner party to an airport during an extended layover. Portable electronics and smart phones have high-tech versions of these games but the old school one-on-one interaction between friends over a scratch pad and a pencil still brings perks like laughter and bonding. You can download blank
game sheets and print them out.
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Name Game
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The "Name Game" dates back to the days when Victorian parlor games ruled the candlelit nights.
Hand out five pieces of paper to your guests and ask them to fill out each slip with the name of a famous person from history, politics, sports or entertainment. Collect all of the slips in a bowl and mix them up. Each guest gets a turn to correctly identify as many names correctly within 30 seconds. Use a watch or egg-timer.
Guests can take turns playing the game host, choosing a name from the bowl and giving clues about the person. Gestures are not allowed, and the famous name may never be uttered by the host until the time period is up. Whoever identifies the most famous names wins
Hollywood- Hangman
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Jazz up a round of Hangman by matching up two teams of players, Hangman, the classic scratch pad game that rules study hall, can become a specialized theme game. You can pay homage to a Hollywood blockbuster, the archives of Metallica, or the characters from The Sopranos. Hangman is for two players or terams. Die-hard Hangman fans debate over exactly how much detail the "hanged" figure requires to end the match. Some fans insist that the figure needs eyes, a nose and a mouth to end his reign. Others end the game once the stick figure's last limb is affixed. Agree on the rules before starting.
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DIY Party Games
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A group of friends can create a scratch pad game in someone's living room simply by picking up a dictionary. For an after-dinner game, grab some paper and pens and pass around a dictionary. One player gets to choose an obscure word and ask the others to jot down the correct definition. The word-chooser then gathers all of the entries and reads all aloud before announcing the winner -- the definition closest to the official one in the dictionary.
Make it faster by having someone read a definition of an unusual word and then challenge the others to guess whether it is for real or hogwash made up by the reader. Players can challenge the reader to use the word -- as allegedly defined -- in a sentence or two.
Jane Austen or Your Sister-in-Law?
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Grab some scratch paper and hand out pens to four or five friends gathered for a game. Each player gets a turn to rifle through the nearest bookshelf, choosing one title from a well-worn stack of paperback classics, the latest bestseller or an oddball reference manual. One player at a time selects a book and gets a few minutes to scan through it. Each player then takes pen to scratch pad, writing a brief passage that is either real or made-up.
A send-up of D.H. Lawrence, Shakespeare, Stephen King, or Mickey Spillane can make this a hilarious game for the literary-minded. When everyone is finished writing, one player gathers all of the sheets and proceeds to read the passage aloud. The players guess whether it is from the book or merely inspired. Up the stakes by having the group decide by a vote which player wrote which passage.
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References
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