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Match Game

Play your own at-home version of the hit television game show "Match Game."

Match Game

Match Game is based upon the old television game show of the same name. You can play it at least two different ways. My sisters and I used to play our own home version all the time. We just got pens and pieces of paper and made up our own questions.

You have to divide into two or more teams of an equal number of people. Each team has a captain. You'll also need one leader to ask the questions. This person will be a neutral party like a game show emcee. He or she is not part of either team.

All the captains stand at the front of the room. Everyone should have a supply of pens and paper before the game begins. The leader asks the group a question and everyone writes down an answer—including the team captains. There is no speaking allowed. Your answer is secret and should not be shown to anyone else. All the pieces of paper are then handed up to the team captains. The team captains read aloud their own answers and then start reading out all the answers from their own teams. You add up how many matching answers you have and score a point per match.

Here are some sample questions:

  • If you could have the magical powers of any superhero, who would it be?
  • If you could live in any city in the world, what city would it be?
  • What is the greatest movie playing in the theatre right now?
  • What is the funniest sitcom on TV today?

Another way to play the game is closer to the television show method:

The team captain comes up with a sentence and all the players on his or her team has to fill in the blank. For example: “Harriet was at work one day. She looked up from her desk and said `I am so hungry, I could eat my ________.'” Everyone must fill in the blank. If your answer matches that of your team captain, your team scores a point.

You can set a maximum on the points so that there is an end to the game—15 to 20 points are usually adequate.

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