This is a fun, crazy word-association game, where each person builds on a collective story, one word at a time. Play it for as long as you like!

How to do it

Great ideas can come from anywhere, and this game is a nice fun way to help people get into a creative groove, through word association.

As the facilitator, explain that you’re going to kick off a story, and then each person needs to just add one word, to keep the story going. The next person adds the next word, and so on. Start with a fairly fun surprising sentence (e.g. “One morning when Harry turned up for work, there were coconuts all over his desk...”), and then get things moving by prompting the first person in the group to add their one word. Keep going until each person has said at least 3 words.

The outcome is always unexpected, and almost always hilarious. Hint: make sure people don’t say two words when using articles or pronouns.

Variations

This game can bring out some interesting social dynamics. Some people will try to ”˜game it’ by trying to influence the emerging story, or try to look overly smart by using really tricky words. It can be insightful to have a quick discussion after the game, by asking everyone what did they observe was going on during the game.

As humans, we can’t help but try to establish a social code ”” a way of setting up expected norms and behaving within those norms ”” and some will try to test and push those norms. Having this happen within a fun game is a safe way of showing how important it is that a group establishes a social contract with each other, especially if it’s for a larger meeting, like an offsite.

Download this icebreaker

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