I think this is my very first translated printable offered on this website! A family member requested a copy of my game Three Deep in Spanish to play with a mixed group of native Spanish speakers and native English speakers learning Spanish. So now I’m giving it to you! I called the game “Uno, dos, tres,” and it works like the 1-2-3 variation of Three Deep, so head on over to that post to learn how to play. It should be very doable for native Spanish speakers, and doable for many Spanish language students, depending on the level. If you’re teaching a Spanish class, it could be a great way to incorporate a fun game while practicing some Spanish vocabulary!

Get the Spanish printable

Espero que todos se diviertan!

(If you are a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints like me, the family member I made this for is serving in a Spanish-speaking mission. I made a second version of the Spanish Three deep printable specifically for missionaries. It has some church- and mission-specific terms on it, so if you are in a similar situation, maybe it’ll help you out!)

So I love writing the escape rooms I sell on my website, but designing them can be a little restrictive sometimes. I want to only use supplies that are relatively cheap or easy to get, I need to be able to replicate and explain the game easily, and I can’t use any standard measurements (darn Imperial/metric system dichotomy).

Writing escape rooms for my friends and family is fun because it isn’t so restrictive. This summer I decided to do one for my kids and their friends. They’re into the Harry Potter and Wings of Fire book series, so I did a dragon/wizard theme. It was a ton of fun, for me and for the kids!

What follows is a detailed (and lengthy, sorry) explanation of everything: how I set up the game, how running it went, and the clues I created (which you can download for free). It also serves as a bit of a model to how you might create your own DIY escape room using the techniques I lay out in my book, The DIY Escape Room Book, so check that out if this intrigues you. Hopefully this post can help or inspire you as you create your own dragon, wizard, or Harry Potter escape room!

Index

• The Players
• The Room
• The Game
  • Puzzle 1 – Glow in the dark paint
  • Puzzle 2 – Searching through a cauldron for a lock and combination
  • Puzzle 3 – Using a touch box
  • Puzzle 4 – A potion, a cryptex, and a physical puzzle
  • Puzzle 5 – A scrambled word
  • Puzzle 6 – A secret code
  • Puzzle 7 – Mixing a potion
  • Puzzle 8 – Solving a riddle
• Lessons learned
• Resources you can download
• Online purchases I made, or had made in the past
• Tutorials I used
• Credits

The Players

I made the game specifically for my kids, and we invited some neighbors/friends/siblings of friends to play too. I ended up running it five times: once with my eight-year-old daughter and my husband as a daddy-daughter activity, once with my nine-year-old son and two of his friends, and three more times with other friends and neighbors, with ages varying from 10 to 18.

The Room

The setting of the game was an evil wizard’s tower. We have a guest bedroom upstairs, which I converted into the escape room. It was very convenient because it could sit undisturbed for weeks while I slowly worked on the clues and decorations. My kids (and me) got into the habit of calling it the “Chamber of Secrets” because I wouldn’t let them inside. (That was a lot of fun to hear around the house: “Remember, you’re not allowed in the Chamber of Secrets!” “Has anyone been in the Chamber of Secrets?” “When you play hide and seek, make sure your friends know not to hide in the Chamber of Secrets!”)

To decorate, I used a lot of stuff I had on hand, like Christmas lights and Halloween decorations. I also had some brick-patterned temporary wallpaper, and I used that to cover all the drawers and cabinets I didn’t want the kids to waste time searching through. It worked great. It was very clear to everyone that they didn’t need to search through the drawers, and the wallpaper looked a lot cooler than blue painter’s tape would have looked (which is what I usually use to mark things that players in an escape room shouldn’t open).

I will say that the temporary wallpaper did a little more damage to the furniture than I was hoping. It chipped the paint in a couple of small spots and left a sticky residue on the metal drawer handles (though the residue did come off). Nothing too bad, but just something to keep in mind if you do ever use temporary wallpaper somewhere other than walls.

I did buy some new supplies for decorations for the escape room (like flickering LED lights). I also bought some feathers that I made “quills” out of. Combined with some manila paper I cut and rolled to look like scrolls, they made for a fun decoration/note-taking tool.

For any escape room that takes place in the past (even a fictitious past), a thrift store is an excellent place to shop for decorations or clues. I found some way cool stuff at a small-town thrift store, like some pewter cups and a variety of jars and candle holders.

I was really happy with the way the room ended up looking. For the things in the room that didn’t have such a “wizard’s tower” vibe, I did the best I could. I put a plain brown blanket on the bed instead of the modern gray one that’s usually there. I got rid of the pillows and all the other decor normally in the room. I used Christmas lights instead of the bright overhead light.

To make the vanity bathroom in the room feel more like part of the game, I didn’t use the vanity lights but instead used strand lights, and I used the counter and sink as the location for a potion puzzle. It was a perfect place to hold all the jars, most of which were filled with liquid, and it kept any messes contained. Plus I think it ended up looking really cool!

The Game

The plot of the game was pretty simple: there’s an evil wizard trying to control the dragons, you’re protectors of the dragons, the wizard locked you in his tower, you need to find a way out and, if you can, a way to keep him from taking over the dragons. Not the best plot, I admit. Usually I like to create a detailed story and set up my games with an intro I read out loud, but this time I actually really liked the minimal plot. I could say it in a couple sentences without reading it from a paper. For kids, it felt easy and natural that way.

The game was structured around a spell book. It had both a spell and a potion inside that the kids needed to complete to escape the room. I left two blanks in the spell and four blanks in the potion recipe. Various puzzles in the room led the kids to fill in the six blanks.

To make the spell book, I used a 4×6 leather photo album I gave to my husband as an anniversary gift years ago (he was nice enough to let me borrow it). It was perfect – it felt old-timey and fitting. I designed and printed the spell book pages and cut them all to be 4×6 so I could just slide them into the photo album.

The spell book had a few pages that were important (the pages with the spells, for example), and the rest were pages with Latin-sounding placeholder text and pictures of various dragons, animals, and plants. I used a very tiny hard-to-read font so the players wouldn’t waste time thinking they had to translate all the text in the spell book (they didn’t). The extra pages were there just to make the spell book feel more complete and fun.

If you don’t have a leather photo album, the download has a cover page you can use with an inexpensive plastic photo album, or you can bind the pages however you want.

Since the game was for kids, I wanted it to be fairly straightforward, so I marked each blank in the spell book with a number. The clues in the room were all marked with numbers in the same style, making it clear which clues went together.

This did help, but I think the fact that the room was non-linear (no exact order to work in) still made it difficult, even for the teens.

Puzzle 1 – Glow in the dark paint

The first blank was a word (indago) to complete the spell. I hid this clue in the closet of the bedroom. I painted the word in glow-in-the-dark paint on a piece of cardboard and taped it above the door in the closet.

I also cleared all the other stuff out of the closet to keep the kids from thinking they had to search through it. To give the kids the hint to look at the clue in the dark, I taped a note on the wall so it was the first thing the kids saw when they opened the door. It said: “Come inside, turn off the light, and close the door.” So mysterious!

I chose to tape the glow-in-the-dark clue high above the door to keep the kids from noticing it in the light, because you could still read the glow-in-the-dark word fairly clearly even with the lights on.

I tried hard to prevent this by using layers of other white and pearlescent paint, and it was a little disappointing that the neutral glow-in-the-dark acrylic paint came out so visible, but it ended up OK. It was a fun reveal for the players, looking around the pitch-black closet until they looked up and saw the glow-in-the-dark word.

Taping the word up high close to the light (which I left on during the game) also helped it glow extra brightly because it could soak up a lot of light.

To make this puzzle longer, I locked the closet door shut with a chain and keyed lock (securing the chain around the bed fame and the doorknob of the closet).

Then I hid the key pretty well in this jewelry box filled with jewelry and fake gems. The outside of the jewelry box was marked with a 1, so it was clear that the key went to the closet door (which was also marked with a 1).

Puzzle 2 – Searching through a cauldron for a lock and combination

The second blank was another word (colligo) to a spell the kids needed to say out loud. For this word, I folded up a piece of cardstock multiple times and drilled a hole in it. Then I unfolded the paper and wrote the word on it. Then I re-folded the paper and locked a combination lock on it. Because the paper was folded so many times, it was impossible to read the word without opening the lock. It was pretty impossible to even tear the paper because it was so thick.

Handy tip: Locking paper, especially cardstock, is a good inexpensive option if you don’t have a box or container you can lock easily.

I wasn’t quite sure what to do with this lock at first. My idea was to have the kids search through something like beans or rice. I thought it would be a fun tactile experience. I had a cauldron from our Halloween decorations which I thought would make a good container. I just needed to find something to fill the cauldron. I thought about beans, shredded paper… I couldn’t really find something good, not too messy, and inexpensive until I was cleaning up a craft my kids had just done. We made diorama-type boxes with animals and rocks and fake plants and all sorts of nature items. I ended up just dumping them all in the cauldron, and I think it actually worked pretty well. I hid the lock at the bottom, so the kids had to search through the moss, leaves, and rocks until they found it.

The combination to the lock was hidden in the cauldron, too. I made clay circles that had the five numbers of the combination written on them. I was planning on hiding them in a separate location, but I ended up just hiding them in the cauldron, too, and I think that worked well, especially because the numbers kind of looked like rocks and weren’t super easy to spot right away. I think it was the perfect difficulty level.

Puzzle 3 – Using a touch box

The third blank the kids had to fill in was an ingredient in the potion: powdered bat bones. This clue was probably the most labor-intensive and costly to assemble, but it was fun and I really wanted to do it. I made a touch box out of a cardboard box and black fabric. Inside there was a prop bat skeleton (another borrowed Halloween decoration).

To make the touch box, I used an old Amazon box. I cut a hole in it big enough for a hand to go in, then I lined the inside in black fabric. I put the bat skeleton in, closed the box, and wrapped it in more black fabric. I also used thread to secure the bat to the cardboard box. It was too big to pull out of the hole, but I didn’t want the kids to try to pull it close to the hole to peek at it. So I used a huge thick needle to punch through the cardboard and made extra sure the skeleton was secure. (Well, almost. It turns out one of the last groups was able to yank the bat free and pull its head out of the hole.)

The second part of the clue was this foam board with these animal skeletons. I wrapped the foam board in black fabric, duct taping it in the back. Then I used the same needle and some fishing line to sew the skeletons securely to the board.

I was really happy with the way the puzzle turned out. It felt appropriately creepy for an evil wizard’s tower, and I found a way to tie the whole board to the bed so the kids could feel the animal bones but not pick them up and carry them around. This was partly to increase the difficulty; players would have to feel the touch box, then move to the other side of the room to feel the other skeletons and identify the right one. Securing it to the bed also conveniently hid the back of the board, which was not-so-prettily covered in duct tape and knots of fishing wire.

Everyone figured out without too much trouble that it was a bat inside the touch box. A couple of the kids were a little hesitant to stick their hands inside a mysterious dark box, which is always fun. But I think it was the perfect difficulty level.

Puzzle 4 – A potion, a cryptex, and a physical puzzle

The next blank was another potion ingredient: unicorn milk. For this, I printed off a stylized outline of a unicorn and mod-podged it onto little popsicle sticks to make a mini puzzle. There were only eight pieces, so it wasn’t too difficult or time consuming for anyone to put together.

I put the pieces in this cryptex, a cylindrical vault locked with a six-letter password (secret).

Then I read about an idea online that I loved involving a pretend potion. I printed a paper label with “Insight Potion” on the outside and, on the reverse side, a message that said “the password is secret.” I taped the label securely to the bottle. Then I needed to fill the bottle with an opaque liquid so the message wouldn’t be revealed until the kids drank the “potion.”

The drink I settled on was mango nectar; I didn’t want soda because it would be easy to identify, and I didn’t want anything kids would think was “gross” like tomato juice. I thought the mango nectar would be unusual enough so the kids weren’t like, “Yep, that’s root beer,” but still taste OK. For extra fun and to make it look less like an orange juice, I put some food coloring in it.

It was fun to see the various reactions to this clue. Many players were hesitant to drink it. Some of them only took a sip, and it took a while (or a hint) for them to realize they needed to drink the whole thing.

I think one of the fun parts of an escape room is coming across something where you think, “Am I supposed to…? Is this really part of the game?” And you’re not exactly sure if you should proceed. But then you hesitantly go ahead with it and it turns out there was a clue there all along. That’s how this clue felt for many of the players. Which made it just as fun for me to watch.

There was only one group where all the players thought the potion was so disgusting, they wouldn’t drink it at all. I tried to tell them someone needed to take one for the team and just drink it, but in the end they poured it down the sink. [Eye roll] I think the green food coloring threw them off. Or they just really hate mango nectar.

Anyway, after the kids drank (or poured out) the potion, they were able to read the message, unlock the cryptex, and put together the puzzle.

Puzzle 5 – A scrambled word

The fifth blank was another potion ingredient: squid eggs. For the clue, I made some dragon eggs (mostly because I saw this tutorial online and they just looked so cool I had to make some). I thought they turned out great.

Then, in the same spell book with the spell and potion recipe, I added a bunch of different pages with illustrated dragon eggs.

The five eggs I made were all illustrated in the book (and lots of others eggs were too, many drawn by my children, who were eager to help). Each egg page had a letter on it. The five eggs I included in the room had the letters S, Q, U, I, and D, which unscrambled to spell “squid.”

This puzzle ended up being a little too tricky for the younger players. The oldest players figured it out by themselves, but I’m not sure if the younger ones would have been able to get it without a hint.

Puzzle 6 – A secret code

The last blank was the last potion ingredient, which I called “alpaca fluff.” (I wanted to put tasty things into the potion, and I thought that cotton candy varied it up some from liquids.)

This was probably the hardest puzzle for the first two groups, and they needed help from me to solve it, but not because it was difficult. It was more due to the puzzle design.

To make the puzzle, I found a cool font of mage-script-looking characters and switched the letters for symbols. I printed the translated-into-symbols text and hid it in the room.

Perhaps I hid it a little too well; I taped it inside the rim of this box.

It did take a lot of searching. For some groups, after lots of searching it made for a fun little “a-ha” moment when the players finally found it. Other groups needed a hint. I also learned that leaving the box empty (as opposed to containing a red herring) made it easier.

I wanted the decoder to this text to be something different and physical, so I got six strings and attached an English letter to one end and its corresponding symbol to the other. Then I put them all in a chest. The kids just needed to separate the strings to see which letter went with which symbol.

Unfortunately, the strings were a huge mess and took forever to untangle. Maybe I just made them too long. When I did the room for my husband and daughter, I intentionally jumbled them up a little before putting them in the chest. But when my husband found them, they had magically worked themselves into such an awful tangle, I sat on the floor and worked on it while they continued solving the room. It took forever to separate it out.

So for the next game, I tried to jumble the strings less…but somehow I think I made an even bigger mess than the first time! It also didn’t help that when the kids opened the chest, they just grabbed the wad of string, held it, tossed it around, and passed it back and forth a few times, just making the tangled mess even bigger without attempting to undo it.

By the time they got around to working on the puzzle, I offered again to untangle it for them. But it was taking forever (seriously, those strings were a huge, huge mess), so I instead gave them a hint to look at the letters in the decoder and see which potion ingredient on the counter had the same letters. One of the kids found it pretty quickly. (There was actually one other ingredient that had the same letters, calf pulp, which sounds disgusting but was the only thing I could think of with those same letters to make a distracter with. Luckily, they didn’t even notice the distracter, so I didn’t bring it up.)

The other times I ran the room, I tried really hard to lay the strings in the chest as neatly as possible. That worked great. The strings were so long, there was still some untangling involved, but it was much more manageable. A good lesson on always testing your individual clues, I guess!

Puzzle 7 – Mixing a potion

After all six blanks were filled in, the kids were able to mix the potion. This was one of my favorite parts of the game (and actually most everyone else’s favorite part, too). I’ve been wanting to make a puzzle like this since I saw this video of a magic-themed escape room for adults (caution, the video does have some language). So I’ve been collecting cool glass bottles and jars for a few years now, making assembling the puzzle a lot easier. It was just super fun to put together, making up all the ingredients and labels and finding things to fill them with.

(For tips on collecting jars like this, try craft stores, dollar stores, thrift stores, and even jars and bottles from food in your fridge or pantry, removing the labels and washing them well after you’re done with them. Goo Gone is my best friend when it comes to repurposing food bottles and jars, because sometimes the sticky residue from the labels is really hard to get off. At craft stores, you can buy loose corks of various sizes to go with glass bottles you might already have.)

It was actually a little challenging at first to come up with fictional potion ingredients, so I ended up making this spreadsheet, which I now offer to you! I listed out all the animals, animal parts, plants, and plant parts I could think of, making it easier to create unique ingredients (some of them sound pretty gross, so use whichever ones you want).

These are the ingredients I ended up using in the potion, and what real-life ingredients I used to represent them:

These are more ingredients I added as distracters. The kids didn’t actually add them to their potion:

My science-loving son informed me that some of my ingredients were off—like apparently scorpions don’t have bones and platypus eggs are a lot smaller than the potatoes I used to represent them—but I was OK giving up some realism for the overall effect of the puzzle.

Making the homemade “caviar” for the catfish and iguana eggs was a lot of fun. I followed this tutorial, which worked pretty well. Instead of coffee, I used pomegranate juice or water with food coloring. It took a little trial and error and I wasn’t any good at getting all the little drops to be the same size and shape, but it worked well enough for what I needed it to do. Definitely a fun ingredient on the counter, and if you’re up for a little food crafting, something that would be really fun for any wizard or Harry Potter escape room prop, especially because it’s safely edible. (Since mine was just a distracter, I left them coated in vegetable oil, but if I had wanted the kids to actually eat them, I would have tried to wash the oil off and made them taste better.)

I didn’t want the potion to be too gross, so all of the ingredients the kids had to add were sweet or flavorless. Not that the end result was tasty (kind of a watered-down Kool-aid taste–I know because I tested it in advance to make sure), but at least it wasn’t disgusting. Still, you would have thought it was made of actual moonwort slime, bat bones, and squid eggs based on the way some of the kids acted when they had to drink it, going on and on about how gross it was. So dramatic!

The last part of the potion recipe was that the potion had to be sipped through “the hollow bone of a griffin wing.” I used gold paper straws for this, and I did this mostly for cleanliness reasons; if more than one child wanted to taste the potion, they could use their own straws and not put their lips on the cup. Plus without the straws they probably would have had difficulty drinking out of the oddly-shaped pewter mug the recipe called for (which was just too cool not to use). Plus I think it gave a hint to the kids that they only had to take a sip of the potion and not drink all of it.

Included in the potion bar were some tiny metal measuring spoons and some little glass pipettes (which I think I got in the pharmacy section from Walmart). I think these helped the potion puzzle feel more realistic and cool. When you’re measuring out drops of intestine juice with a pipette or tiny spoonfuls of moonwort slime, it’s just really hard not to feel like you’re in a Harry Potter movie.

My last tip on doing a potion puzzle like this is making sure no one in your room has any food allergies before you start. It wasn’t something I thought about until one child started asking questions about the ingredients during the game. I ended up telling her what all the ingredients were, and everything was safe for her, but from then on I started the room by asking, “Does anyone have any food allergies?” I found this was also a nice way to work in a subtle hint that they would be eating or drinking things in the room, without having to tell them directly (contributing to that, “Wait, is this part of the game?” feeling I think is so fun).

Puzzle 8 – Solving a riddle

At this point in the game, I needed a way to give the kids some information (a combination to a lock), but I didn’t want to just tell them the combination out loud. I tried to keep myself as removed from the game as possible; I was only there to give hints. So I planned to use our HomePod Mini and wirelessly play the combination over the speaker during the game, once the players mixed the potion correctly and drank it.

To do this, I needed to find something to cover the HomePod and disguise it (so it didn’t look like a HomePod). I went back and forth on this, searching for the perfect thing and feeling like I just couldn’t find it. I envisioned something kind of see-through so you could see light shining underneath (I thought I’d add some more lights to make it more mysterious). But it couldn’t be completely see-through. I was thinking at first of coming up with some metal frame and lining the inside with tissue paper.

It took a while, and I wasn’t completely satisfied with the result, but I ended up using the glass cover to a ceiling light fixture I had taken out of another room a while ago. It was big enough to cover the HomePod and some color-changing LED lights. The only problem was the hole in the top of the glass dome, so I used a cheap glass cup coated with mod podge on the inside to make it not transparent, but still able to show light.

Again, I wasn’t thrilled with the way it turned out, but I think it worked OK. The players didn’t seem to think it was too odd or lame looking. My husband thought it was awesome though, and was quite impressed. I called it the “Glowing Talisman” and put a sign by it that read “HIGH CONCENTRATION OF MAGICAL ENERGY: DO NOT TOUCH” to keep the kids from touching it or taking it apart.

It worked well; all the players were all obedient—well, with a few exceptions. Someone thought it was funny to touch it and pretend to get zapped by the magical energy and thrown across the room, and someone else seemed to think the paper sign was a trick and I had to stop her from taking the clue apart. But since the majority of the time it worked, I think it shows that, as long as there’s an in-game reason for a rule or guideline, players are likely to keep it.

The spell book explained what to do with the Glowing Talisman: it holds the answers to all questions, and if you drink the right potion and say the right spell, it will give you the knowledge you seek.

The potion in the spell book was labeled “Lock Combination Potion,” which I hoped would make it pretty clear to the kids what they needed to do.

So once the kids drank the potion, they stood before the “Glowing Talisman” and recited the spell from the spell book, then stood and waited for it to give the answer. At this point I surreptitiously used my phone to play a pre-recorded riddle over the HomePod mini:

The lock’s three digits are found in this riddle:
Count a spider’s legs for the one in the middle.
The first is the number of wings on a bird.
Hold the dragon eggs for a clue to the third.
The lock will open with these digits three;
Solve this riddle and the scissors you’ll free.

And, to make this riddle even more fun, I decided not to record it myself since everyone would recognize my voice. Same with my husband’s. Since I wanted to use a voice none of my kids were familiar with, we ended up hiring a voice actor on Upwork. This is a website my husband uses for his private consulting business all the time. You can hire great freelancers for all sorts of contract work, like graphic design, coding, and even voice acting. Such a small project wasn’t that expensive either ($5 to $15, depending on the actor). I was really happy with the way it turned out and really pleased with the actor.

Some groups needed to hear the riddle more than once, but eventually they all got it. Once they solved it to get the combination (285), they could unlock a combination lock that secured a pair of scissors, then use the scissors to cut a cable tie on a bottle.

Once they did that, they could open the bottle and find two things: 1) a magical amulet that, according to the spell book, will allow them to free the dragons, and 2) the key to the room.

And then they were out! I made the amulet with polymer clay (the look is inspired by the one from Mrs. Brisby and the Secret of NIMH—anyone else remember that surprisingly-creepy-in-retrospect movie from their childhood?)

Lessons Learned

Every time I run an escape room I learn valuable lessons on hosting DIY escape rooms, and this time was no different.

1. Instruct players how to open unfamiliar locks before the game starts.

There were two types of locks in my escape room that the players had never seen before. One was called a push button lock, which had buttons labeled with numbers that needed to be pushed in for the lock to work, but the order didn’t matter. The other was a number combination lock, but it had a button to press once you entered the combination to make the lock open.

Unfortunately, for the first two games, I didn’t think to tell players about these locks before the game started. Instead I had to give some hasty instructions during the game once the players found the lock, afraid that they would get the right combination but not know how to work the lock and get frustrated. This felt out of place. It interrupted the flow of the game and made the experience feel less real.

The other times I ran the game, I had pictures of the same type of locks in the room that I showed the players before they went in. They weren’t the exact locks in the room, but they were similar enough that I could explain how the locks worked before the game started, which worked perfectly.

2. Smaller groups are better (especially with kids). Larger groups increase the difficulty.

Watching my husband and daughter play the game was a lot of fun. He was there to guide her, so they didn’t get stuck a lot, and she clearly had a lot of fun. In fact, when they opened the final bottle, she was disappointed that the key was inside because she didn’t want the room to end. Then she wanted to stay and play in it for a while, which I was fine with

Since she was disappointed that they finished early (in about 40 minutes), I vowed that I wouldn’t say a thing in the boys’ room unless they asked for a hint (I’m awful at that). However, that didn’t last. I ended up giving a lot of unsolicited hints, and if I hadn’t, they wouldn’t have finished in an hour.

I thought that since the boys were all older than my daughter, they would find the room easier. But it was definitely more of a challenge for them. This might be because they didn’t have an adult helping them, but I also think that with children, the larger the group, the harder it is (slash–no offense to anyone–the dumber they are). In this case, even a group of three changed the dynamic. I could see it, watching my son with his friends. His personality changes a little. He’s more excitable, more apt to show off a little by being silly. They all were, just kind of loud and rushing around the room and not using a lot of critical thinking. They’re all very smart boys; I just think having them work together in a room without an older player made the game harder. Maybe even one older teen in the room would have helped a lot.

All the other times I ran the room, there were only two players at a time, which actually felt perfect.

From all this, I came up with some advice to players (especially kids) who are doing an escape room:

• Take your time to think carefully.
• Keep your clues organized.
• If something doesn’t make sense or is frustrating, leave it alone for the time being or give someone else a turn with it, then find something else to work on.
• If you don’t know what else to work on, use a hint.

3. Use distracters carefully.

On a multiple choice test, a distracter is one of the wrong answers—something that looks like it could be the right answer but isn’t, to test if a student really knows the information.

You can use distracters in an escape room, too. For example, in the potion puzzle I set up, if I only included the ingredients needed for the potion in the room, it would have been pretty easy. There wouldn’t have been any ingredients the players needed to eliminate. So instead I doubled the amount of ingredients in the room, making the puzzle harder (and also a lot more fun to set up).

But distracters make a room harder, and I think it’s important to know your players when you’re using them. Another distracter I used in the room were some extra potion recipes in the spell book. They were meaningless to the game, and I tried to make that fairly clear. (They were labeled specifically to find hidden treasure or the lost city, and none of the ingredients they called for could be found in the room.)

I put the extra spells in for a few reasons. One, like I said, to increase the difficulty. But I also wanted the spell book to feel more “real,” and it wouldn’t be super realistic to have a spell book with only one potion in it, right? So I included the two distracter spells (it originally was going to be more).

For some players, I think this proved to be too hard. They saw the first potion in the book and focused for a long time on trying to make it (which was hard considering they didn’t have any of the ingredients). It took them longer than I thought it would for them to move on to something else (and they needed a hint).

4. Watch out for accidental red herrings.

A red herring in an escape room is something that misleads the players, something they might think is important but actually isn’t. Usually I try to stay away from them, but I accidentally left one in the room that one group got hung up on for a long time.

Inside the jewelry box where I hid the key to the closet, I left a bunch of jewelry I found from a thrift store to make finding the key more difficult. But one of the necklaces had a decorative key hanging from it. I didn’t even think about it when I left it in the room, but it was enough to distract one group of players. As soon as they found it, they searched all over for the thing it unlocked. I felt so bad because they were wasting their time!

5. Make sure players can’t cheat.

The most disappointing moment in hosting the room came when one group played, and they realized that with patience, they could slowly cut through the cable tie on the bottle even with the scissors locked shut. This was at the beginning of the game, and I quietly let them work on it for a while, thinking they wouldn’t be able to open it and would eventually move on to the actual game, but when I saw that they were about to open it, I stepped in and said no; not allowed. That didn’t feel super cool to have to do (interrupting the game and interfering with the realism), but I didn’t want them to miss the whole game! I don’t think they would have wanted to, either. But I should have been smarter in my game design and made sure there was no way the players could have cheated (probably by buying cable ties somewhere other than the dollar store).

6. If you’re hosting a room more than once, keep in mind how much setup the game will take.

I ended up running the room five times, and for almost everything, the setup was pretty easy. I had to rinse and refill the Insight Potion and put a few things back, but by far the hardest part to set up was the potion puzzle. Since I hosted the five games on four separate days, many of the potion ingredients had to be thrown out and then added again the next time the game was played (since they were perishable and I didn’t want them to spoil). By the last few rounds of the game, I decided not to throw them out but just store them in the fridge. Kind of fun(/annoying) because it left our fridge looking like this for a day.

9. Keep readability of numbers and letters in mind.

I always forget to do this. In my room, I had capital I’s that looked like lowercase L’s that looked like the number 1. I had 6’s and 9’s that got mixed up. For the older kids, this felt like it appropriately added to the difficulty. But for the younger kids, it felt too hard. I didn’t even think about it when I was putting the room together. So, as a tip, if you want to be extra clear, underline numbers and letters that might be confused with other numbers or letters, or use fonts that reduce confusion.

8. People still have fun.

I was worried when some groups played that they would have a bad time, because of various reasons (the potion was too gross to drink, I had to stop them from cheating, they got hung up on a red herring, one puzzle was just too difficult). But when everyone got out of the room, they all said what a great time they had and how much fun it was.

I’ve seen this in other escape rooms I’ve hosted, too. I feel like I keep chasing that one room where everything goes perfectly, but it rarely does. But even when it’s not perfect, more often than not, people have fun and make memories, and that’s what matters.

Resources you can download

Below you can download any of these resources separately right now.

If you want to get them all in one zipped file and sign up for my email list for when I release new escape rooms, click the button below. (You can still get them for free when you click the button, but you’ll also see a name-your-price option if you’re feeling generous. No pressure, though!)

…Or download separately:

• Clue map—This flowchart summarizes the whole flow of the room. A clue map is a handy thing to have on hand for any escape room host.
• Spell book (PDF)—The game-specific pages I made probably won’t fit into your escape room exactly, but you can use all the other pages, printing and binding as many as you want. You can write or hide your own clues on those pages or just use them as a prop.
• Circled numbers that match the blanks in the spell book (various sizes)—If you use a version of the spell book with the circled numbers, you can mark the clues that fill those blanks in the room with these circled numbers.
• “Come inside” sign for the glow-in-the-dark clue in the closet—If you’re using a glow-in-the-dark clue in a closet or somewhere dark, you can print and use this as a clue to your players to turn off the lights.
• An “escape room construction in progress” sign—I didn’t have this, but I totally would have used it, putting it outside the door the whole time I was setting up the game.
• Some “We escaped!” signs—After your players escape, it’s always fun to hold up signs and take a picture. These fit a wizard/magical theme, and some include some medieval-sounding vernacular. If some of it sounds random, it’s because it comes from one of our family’s favorite shows, Dwight in Shining Armor, which we highly recommend. A great show to watch for medieval/wizard/magic themed game/decoration/prop ideas, too!
• Mythical creature puzzles—You can print these stylized pictures of mythical creatures and make physical puzzles out of them. The small ones fit on the mini popsicle sticks that I used. The medium ones fit on standard sized popsicle sticks. The biggest ones fit on the giant popsicle sticks. You could also just cut the image up with scissors. You could write a message on the back, or have the image itself be the clue, like I did.
• Insight Potion label—To use this clue, print, cut, write a message on the back, and attach to a glass bottle or cup. There are several different sizes to accommodate different sizes of bottles.
• Mage script—An alphabet with the “mage script” symbols and the English letters they correspond to. You can also just download the font here.
• Mage script specific clue—The papers I used to make my “alpaca fluff” clue, if you want to use those specific letters.
• Potion ingredients list—A printable to make it easier to come up with fictitious potion ingredients. You can also see the online version here.
• Potion ingredient labels—You can print these, cut them out, and attach them to bottles or jars holding pretend potion ingredients. I printed them two-sided so the back also looked like old-style parchment paper.
• Do Not Touch sign—You can use this to mark any prop you want to call “magical” and don’t want players to touch (like something that sneakily disguises a HomePod).
• Audio riddle—This riddle gives a three-digit combination (285) that unlocks a pair of scissors, and works best if there are five dragon eggs somewhere in the room to hold. (On the page that opens when you click the link, right click the audio file and click “Save Audio As…”)
• Tips for players—A printable sheet of tips for escape room players (especially children).

Online purchases I made, or had made in the past (no affiliate links)

• Temporary wallpaper
• LED candle lights
• LED rainbow lights
• Leather photo album
• Push button lock
• Animal skeletons
• Cryptex
• Old-timey combination lock

Tutorials I used

• Painted dragon eggs, a tutorial from Becca Beach
• Fake “caviar”—edible fish-egg looking food that would make a great potion ingredient, from Sprinkle Bakes
• A video of a magic-themed escape room for adults, from the show Escape! with Janet Varney from Geek & Sundry. It gave me some ideas for the potion puzzle (and was fun to watch)

Credits

• Dragon drawings in the spell book were from Poci16 (here and here).
• Mukundwa K. was the voice actor who recorded the lock combination riddle.
• Dragon outline for the spell book cover
• Mage script font

So the exciting news: I wrote a book! I’m so excited!

I’ve always loved writing, and writing and publishing a book is something I’ve always dreamed of doing. Through the years I’ve found other outlets for my writing, like the games on this website and then the DIY escape room kits. And this book combines my love for writing with all the fun of escape rooms. It’s been an amazing opportunity!

Here’s the story. In late 2019, I was contacted by Skyhorse Publishing, asking if I wanted to write a how-to book for people making their own DIY escape rooms at home. Um, YES!

(Actually, my thoughts at the beginning alternated between a terrified “Me!? Write a whole book!? With photos?! I can’t do that!” to a super excited “I am going to write a BOOK! LET’S DO THIS!”)

It is definitely the biggest project I’ve ever done, with the writing, photography and images, and lots of clue and puzzle ideas in the book. But it was so fun to write! For months I was in total escape room mode, and anything and everything I came across in everyday life, my brain tried to twist into, “How could I use this in an escape room?”

So, more about the book: Basically I break down my whole process, everything I do and have learned from the DIY escape room kits I’ve made. I also provide lots of clue and puzzle ideas.

The hope is that, with this book, anyone with creativity and a desire can make an awesome escape room. Probably better than mine! I actually have a lot of restrictions when I write the escape rooms that I sell on my website: I have to use relatively inexpensive or easy-to-get items, I can’t use any specific units of measurement because some of my customers are from the US and some aren’t, my clues have to be printer-friendly, the rooms need to be easy to run multiple times, etc. You, writing your own escape room, would be free to use whatever props you want and customize it however you want! That’s what the book is designed to let people do.

The book will be released next Tuesday, March 16, in a little over a week. I’m so grateful for Skyhorse and for how great they were to work with, and for this opportunity they gave me. I hope that this book will be a great resource for many DIYers/escape room enthusiasts!

It’s Thanksgiving week! Let’s play a game called “gratitude.” What are you grateful for?

Right now I’m grateful for this amazing husband and father.

Specifically, I’m grateful for what a wonderful cook he his. Josh cooks dinner, like, every single night. I don’t think it’s necessarily that he loves cooking (though he’s great at it). I went through a period that made cooking really hard for me, and without complaining or even mentioning it, Josh picked up the slack, making sure our family was always fed.

Josh cooks so much that, around the dinner table the other night, our seven-year-old daughter must have thought she overheard something about me cooking. With her voice filled with genuine, innocent surprise, she asked, “Mom helped with dinner? What did she make?” When Josh and I started laughing, she must have realized something she said wasn’t accurate, so she tried to amend: “Thank you for dinner Dad, and Mom if she helped!” It was how sweet and genuine she was that made me and Josh laugh so hard.

Your turn! What are you grateful for?

I know this isn’t really a game, but I know it’s a great thing to do.

I’ve been thinking about this because on Friday, the leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints shared a message with the world on how we can have hope and healing through expressing gratitude. One of the things President Russell M. Nelson encouraged everyone to do was to use social media to share messages of gratitude for the next seven days.

You should join in! Since I’m not on social media very often, I wanted to share my message of gratitude here.

I hope you can recognize what you are grateful for and share it with others this Thanksgiving week!

Introducing the Alien Threat DIY virtual escape room kit!

As far as I know, there’s nothing quite like this out there. The game is made of five different rooms with 1 to 3 players each. Those five rooms have unique clues and custom websites (and really cool ones, too, thanks to my husband), and everyone needs to communicate and share information to beat the game. In addition to using websites, players do things like cut and manipulate paper, sculpt things out of clay, and solve problems on paper.

And, even better, you can still run this game as a traditional escape room with all players in one room. It works great that way. Of all my rooms, it’s the easiest to prep. And instead of a large PDF of instructions to read, for the first time I have a video tutorial that walks through the whole game for hosts.

This game has been really fun to work on and test, and I’m excited for others to play it, too! Also I’ve discovered that it’s apparently impossible for me to write a non-science fiction themed escape room – but I am trying to branch out! I have a fantasy game in the works, promise!

So go and download the game, just in time for Halloween! It’s so easy to prep, you can totally get the game ready in time for a fun and safe Halloween night with your family or friends, no matter how far away they are! Oh, but don’t worry, despite the alien theme, it’s G-rated and not scary.

So, crazy time in the world, right? Lots of people are staying home, avoiding going out and trying to minimize the spread of the coronavirus. If you’re stuck at home, perhaps you’re trying to come up with things to do as a family or things for your kids to do to keep them busy? A while ago I posted about photo scavenger hunts, which is an activity where you’re given a list of things to find and take pictures of. While there is one at-home printable list in that post that would work great for right now, a lot of the rest of the lists are out-and-about items to take pictures of, like things at a shopping mall. Not many people are able to do that these days, are they?

So I made a few new around-the-house photo scavenger hunt lists! These would be great to print out and do around the house. You could give the lists to your kids along with a camera and have them complete them on their own, or you could take the photos together as a family. You could compete or play with extended family members or friends in another house. Just give the same list to your kids and to their friends or cousins, have them all take their photos, and then share and compare. You could make it competitive or not, perhaps giving awards to the most creative or best photos. You could make it a race where speed is important, but personally I think it would be more fun for the kids to take their time and set up some fun photos, going for quality over speed (because there’s nothing wrong if this activity takes up more time than less, right?)

A note on the lists: I made them extra long instead of short, so if there are some items on the list that don’t apply to your family, feel free to skip them or cross them out. You could even pick and choose and compose your own list, or tell your children to choose 10 items from the list to take pictures of.

I also put together a few different versions:

Main list

This list is great for older kids and has quite a few items on it (two pages’ worth). There are some items to take pictures of, but a lot of actions (like taking a picture of someone dancing) and a lot of things that kids would have to assemble or gather before they could take a picture (like making a stack of something or spelling something out in blocks). Caution, if they did everything on the list, there would be some cleaning up they would have to do. Maybe you can roll that into the activity and take even more time? There are also a few sneaky cleaning activities on the list itself, like a picture of an empty sink or a rug or carpet with neat vacuum lines on it. He-he.

Non-messy list

This list is the same as above, but with all of the “mess-making” items removed, so that kids won’t be so prompted to move things around the house or get things out.

One-player list

If you only have one child playing, they can do this list that doesn’t involve taking pictures of someone else doing something.

Little kid list

This list is geared toward younger children and things they would be able to do or have fun with (caution, there are some mess-making ones).

However you play, I hope you have fun! And stay safe and healthy!

Still looking for ways to engage with friends while you’re social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic? Here are a few ideas of games you can play over text message!

GIFs

Share funny GIFs with each other (this is a favorite in my family!). There are some keyboard extensions that let you add GIFs right from the Messages app. You can also use a site like Giphy.com to find humorous GIFs to share. You could take turns having people on the text message thread share the hardest/funniest/scariest/worst/best thing that happened to them that day and have everyone respond with a GIF. Someone could post a funny/random GIF and everyone could see who can write the best/funniest caption for it. What would you caption this?

You could tell everyone to post a GIF of an animal that starts with the first letter of their name, or a GIF that represents their most embarrassing moment. Check out any of the questions in the “Get to Know You” game of the Word Generator and see if they could be answered with a GIF! (You can go for humor over accuracy.) For example…

1. What’s the food or dish you can cook the best?
   

2. How patient would you say you are?
   

   

3. What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?
   

Photos

• Share time lapses of completing projects (folding lots of laundry, doing the dishes, painting a wall, crafts, etc.).
• Play a scavenger hunt: Have one person text the name of an object, and everyone else sends in a picture of it. Who can send one in first? The “Around the House” subject in the Word Generator could come in handy!
• Similar to captioning GIFs, take turns sending funny/random pictures and see who can think of the best caption. You could even vote on the best.

Trivia

Trivia is an easy game to play over text because there’s no dispute over who answered first. I have some Harry Potter trivia on my site, or you could use any trivia from any game you want! Below are some trivia facts about a few older Disney movies (in the style of a certain trivia game that I think is a lot of fun but doesn’t have a family-friendly enough name for me to mention). Text your friends one bullet point at a time. The first one to name the right movie wins, but if someone texts in an incorrect answer, they can’t guess again that round.

• I was released in 1960.
• I was filmed in Tobago.
• I’m an adventure movie.
• I star John Mills, Dorothy McGuire, James MacArthur, Janet Munro, Tommy Kirk, and Kevin Corcoran.
• The 1812 novel I’m based on has inspired many other adaptations, including a 1960s science fiction TV series (and its 2018 reboot).
• Some of my main characters are Fritz, Ernst, Francis, and Roberta.
• My plot features a family, a shipwreck, an island, and pirates.
• Animals that were brought in for my filming include dogs, giant tortoises, monkeys, elephants, ostriches, zebras, flamingos, hyenas, anacondas, and a tiger.
• My initials are S. F. R.

Swiss Family Robinson

• I was released in 2000.
• I’m a fantasy comedy-drama film.
• At the end of my credits, there is an explanation for why the moon appears orange when it rises.
• I star Bruce Willis and Spencer Breslin (older brother of Abigail Breslin).
• I’m about an unhappy and unlikeable image consultant meeting a younger version of himself.
• My initials are T.K.

The Kid

• I was released in 1997.
• I star Harland Williams, Jessica Lundy, William Sadler, and Jeffrey DeMunn.
• I’m a comic science fiction film.
• One of my characters is Ulysses, a trained chimpanzee.
• In one of my scenes, the president of the United States and all of NASA joins in on a sing-a-long of the song “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.”
• I’m about a computer programmer-turned-astronaut on the first manned mission to Mars.
• My initials are R. (sometimes written as R.M.)

RocketMan

• I’m an animated movie released in 1988.
• I’m a musical.
• I feature the voice talents of Billy Joel and Bette Midler.
• I’m about talking cats and dogs.
• I’m based on a Charles Dickens novel.
• My initials are O. & C.

Oliver & Company

• I was released in 1989.
• James Horner won an award for composing my music.
• I have two sequels and, for a while, had a Disney Parks attraction.
• I take place largely in one backyard.
• My main characters are four kids from two neighboring families (a teenage girl and her preteen brother and a teenage boy and his younger brother).
• One of my antagonists is a scorpion, and one of my heroes is an ant.
• John Candy was considered for one of my roles, which was instead given to Rick Moranis.
• The two families I’m about are the Szalinskis and Thompsons.
• My initials are H.I.S.T.K.

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids

• I’m a 1998 remake of a 1961 movie.
• Both me and my 1961 original movie feature product placement by Nabisco (in 1961, Fig Newtons; in 1998, Oreos).
• I took eight months, three weeks and two days to shoot.
• I was filmed in London and several locations in California.
• I star Dennis Quaid, Natasha Richardson, and, in her film debut, Lindsey Lohan.
• I’m about eleven-year-old identical twin sisters separated at birth and reunited at a summer camp.
• My initials are T. P. T.

The Parent Trap

• I’m a 1993 comedy sports film.
• I star Leon Robinson, Doug E. Doug, Rawle D. Lewis, Malik Yoba, and John Candy.
• I was John Candy’s last film to be released during his lifetime.
• Some songs on my soundtrack include “I Can See Clearly Now,” “Wild Wild Life,” “ Countrylypso,” and “Rise Above It.”
• I was filmed in Calgary and Jamaica.
• I’m loosely based on the true story of a bobsleigh team in the 1988 Winter Olympics.
• My initials are C. R.

Cool Runnings

If you have any other games you like to play with family and friends over text, please share!

I hope everyone’s staying safe and healthy during this coronavirus pandemic! With no immediate sign of the social distancing letting up soon in many parts of the world, hopefully games (and escape rooms) can continue to be a distraction and even an opportunity to bring friends and family closer together.

This week I’m offering my last escape room for free, Science Lab Breakout. Science Lab is my most popular escape room. It comes with two difficulty levels and is great for ages 12 and up and for groups of up to 10 players. Very versatile! Also, I never designed any of my escape rooms to be played virtually over long distances (not knowing there would be such a need for that!), but of all my escape rooms, Science Lab Breakout would be the easiest to attempt to do over video chat.

Once again, use the coupon code ESCAPECOVID to get the escape room Science Lab Breakout for free. Head over and grab it before April 13 when the deal ends. And stay safe and healthy!

How is everyone surviving COVID-19? While it’s a crazy time and there are a lot of adjustments for our family to make, I have enjoyed some things, like getting to spend more time together as a family and not feeling so busy. Games are one way to make the best of a difficult situation!

Here’s my third escape room offered for free to help parents and families find something new and fun to do while they’re stuck at home. Seafloor Escape is my newest escape room. Unlike Space Pirate Attack, the game doesn’t require a host to play a role in the room (though a host is still required to run the room and give hints). One of the downsides of Seafloor Escape is it’s designed for smaller groups (3 to 5 players ages 12 and up). But if you’re stuck at home with just your family members and not inviting others over to play, that might work out well for you!

Like usual, use the coupon code ESCAPECOVID to get the escape room Seafloor Escape for free. Head over and grab it in the next week before the deal ends and another escape room is offered. And stay safe and healthy!

I don’t know about you, but this COVID-19 pandemic has brought some major changes to our family. We’re practicing social distancing, seriously cutting down on our social time with friends and trips out of the house. My husband, three kids, and I are going to be spending a LOT more time at home (meaning…practically all our of time at home).

There have been a few times during this pandemic already that games have helped us out, providing a chance to laugh and play together, to do more than chores or jobs or worrying.

I want to do a roundup post on games of all sorts that could be good to play during this time. If any of you have games you’re playing or want to see posted, let me know! I’d love to hear about them! For now, here’s a giant list of games that might see you through COVID-19…

For so many of these games, a word list would come in super handy! My word generator has TONS! You could create whole new games with some of the word lists on the page. Check it out!

Games to play socially distanced outside

If you’re careful, you should be able to play these games with people outside your home if you stay far apart.

• Invisible frisbee – A physically active game where players can stand super, super far apart and don’t need to touch the same frisbee!
• Red light, green light – Good for little kids
• Animal signs – Very funny and kind of silly game; good for older kids and up; not physically active
• Monkey see, monkey do – Good for little kids and up
• Simon says – Good for little kids
• Photo scavenger hunt – This could spread over a large area. Use a list of photography subjects that don’t involve getting close to other people
• Charades – Play spaced apart appropriately
• Signs – Not very physically active; good for older kids and up
• Where’s Waldo? IRL – Played walking around in a big area
• Kick the can – This involves tagging players, but if you replace the tagging with “I see ____!” it could work
• Hit the dirt – A super physically active outdoor game for older kids or teens

Games to play with friends or family virtually

You could of course also play any of these games with people in your home.

Games you could play over video message (or Zoom or Google Meet or FaceTime or any video call)

• Pictionary
• Celebrities – A mix between catchphrase and charades
• Charades – Could work over video chat, too!
• In the manner of the adverb – A variation of charades
• Musical pictionary – Pictionary with a twist
• Say the same thing – A two-player cooperative game
  
• Mixtionary – Pictionary with a twist
• Reverse catchphrase
• Password – A four-person word game
  
• Catchphrase – Try to get players to guess a word by describing it

Games you could play over phone calls

(or over video message)

• Going on a picnic – Good for kids
• Alphabet chant – Good for kids
  
• Green glass doors – Good for any age
• Name that movie – Any age
• Name that tune – Any age
• Questions only – Any age
• Psychic – Any age
  
• Build a cabin in your mind – Any age; no competition involved
  
• Family trivia – Any age
  
• First letter, last letter – Very easy word game
  
• First word – Two-player talking game
  
• Fortunately, unfortunately – Storytelling game

Games you could play over text message

These are games that would also make great talking games, in person or over the phone.

• Movie title mash-up
• Photo scavenger hunt – This could be a fun thing to do over text; send each other pictures, and work cooperatively or competitively
• Get to know you questions
• Categories
• Would you rather
• This or that
• Tell a story
• Twenty questions
• Two truths and a lie
• Breakfast combo
• Actor/movie loop
• Three things
  

Games to play with family members at home

Paper games

• Pictionary – A classic, for any age that can draw; you just need something to write with and something to write on.
  
• Hangman – Another classic. Can be played with two or more players. Players must be old enough to spell.
• The dot game – Two players, for about ages six and up
• Draw your dream house – Any age, no competition involved
• Mirror drawing – Great for little kids, no competition involved
• Paper telephone – A funny group game for teens or adults
• Draw a monster – If you can draw, you can play!
• Tic-tac-toe
  
• Ultimat tic-tac-toe – A more challenging way to play that actually turns it into a strategic game
• 3-D triple-decker tic-tac-toe – A slightly more ridiculous way to play

Talking games

• Catchphrase – Classic. You just need a list of words
• No, because – Simple talking and guessing game
• Sing a song – Any age
• Telephone – Any age
• What if – For slightly older children to adults; can get quite funny

Active games

• Charades – Act out words and get players to guess. Classic!
• Garbage ball – You need wadded up trash and a room you don’t mind getting messy!
• Air-powered ping pong – You need straws, a ping-pong ball, and a flat table
• Marshmallow fight – You need lots of marshmallows!
• Castle – To be played outdoors at a playground, if you’re in an area where you’re able to
• Cake walk (or cupcake walk) – A simple activity you could use as a reward
• Capture the flag – An outdoor game if you have more players
• Flour bomb capture the flag – A fun variation to normal capture the flag. You could also just make and peg each other with flour bombs for fun!
• Duck-duck-goose – Any age, no supplies needed
  
• Freeze tag – Best played outside
• Freeze tag variations – They can get fun if you have enough players!
• Hide and seek – Best played outside
• Sardines (backward hide-and-seek) – Works great inside
• Hot or cold – Great for little kids
• Invisible frisbee – Yes, the frisbee is invisible, but it’s probably still best outdoors…
• Steamroller – For little kids
• Hot lava – Let’s get real; this is fun for ANY age
• Red light, green light – For little kids
• Floppy sock tag – One of our family’s favorites! You need long floppy socks; it’s quite active, hilarious, and most ages can participate
• Balloon stomp – Balloons and string required

Other games to play at home

• Cleaning games – These definitely might come in handy if you have young kids…
• Tape on the nose – Very silly, good for any age
• Photo scavenger hunt – Very adaptable!
• Don’t Eat Pete – Fun, easy little kid game
• Claps – No supplies needed, for older kids to teens, not really much competition involved
• The cup game – Also for older kids to teens, also not much competition involved
• Rock-paper-scissors
• Speed Scrabble – For teens to adults
• Animal signs – Tweens to adults; no supplies needed, and it’s fun!
• Clothespins – A game that could fill a whole day
• I spy – Great for young kids, also very adaptable
• Marshmallow toss – You need marshmallows and a muffin tin
• Monkey see, monkey do – No supplies required, but best with a slightly larger group
• Mystery gift pass – Could make a fun reward activity for kids of any age
• One hundred – Fast-paced, easy, and fun
• Simon says – Great little kid game
• Spoons – Face cards and spoons required
• The candy bar game – Some supplies required, but it can be a lot of fun! Great for kids, too
• The human knot – Need a slightly larger group
• Skittles – If you have a lot of Skittles…
• Murder (winks variation) – Tweens to adults, slightly larger group
• Murder (hand-squeezing variation) – Tweens to adults, slightly larger group
• Walk on the ceiling – Any age kid, and kind of a one-player game
• Penny in the flour – Can make a trivia game more exciting!
• Eat a donut from a string – A funny challenge game
• Water in the face – A guessing game
  
• Alliteration adventure – A type of versatile activity
• Who am I? – A guessing game; can be good for kids who can read
• Memory – Any age, various supplies required
• Play doh blow darts – Great for kids!

And finally, games NOT to play right now

• Mummy
• The toilet paper game

I’ve had lots of downloads of the last escape room I offered for free during the COVID-19 pandemic, which made me happy! Today I’m offering a new escape room for free for a week: Space Pirate Attack.

Space Pirate Attack is different from Color Crisis; it’s for teens and adults, and it’s my hardest adult room. It’s also pretty imaginative and has the host play a role in the room, but it doesn’t require the Internet. Use the discount code ESCAPECOVID to get it for free!

I’m offering these escape rooms for free because I know so many people are sheltering at home and distancing themselves socially, and if I can provide something fun to break up the monotony, I’ll feel like I’m helping, even in a small way.

I’d love to hear what you think or what you’re doing to survive quarantine for COVID-19. There are tons of other free games and printables on my site if you’re looking for more to do!

Follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, or Facebook to stay updated on when I offer the next discount code. You can also sign up for my email list (look in the sidebar). And I hope you all stay safe (and sane) during this crazy time!

Wow, what a crazy time in the world! The COVID-19 virus has affected all of us, sometimes in drastic ways. As far as me and our family, my kids are out of school and we’ll be spending a lot of time at home together, as I’m sure many families will.

I hope this website can be a good resource to anyone stuck at home looking for a way to entertain or pass the time. Being intentional about the time we spend together as families may even turn a life-changing experience like this into something positive: we can create fun memories and laughter together as we play and spend quality time.

One of my favorite game types is an escape room, a kind of immersive puzzle where players are locked in a room and have to work together to escape. There are all different types of escape rooms; you can go places and pay to play, you can download kits, you can buy boxed games. As I was thinking about COVID-19, I realized that a DIY escape room at home might be just the thing to do if you’re stuck at home. Escape rooms are fun, they use teamwork, and they’re out of the ordinary.

I write and sell DIY escape room kits. They take some reading and prep work, but the goal is that for the players, the escape room feels like a commercial escape room does. During this crazy time when games might save our sanity and even bring us closer together, I want to give away my escape room kits for free.

Over the next four weeks, I’ll be offering a coupon code to get each of my escape rooms free of charge. Today I’m starting with Color Crisis, an escape room written specifically for children ages 8 to 12 (but it can be fun for even adults, too!) If you visit the page and click the Buy Now link, use the discount code ESCAPECOVID to download the kit for free. It will be on sale for the next week, and then I’ll switch to another kit.

Follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, or Facebook to stay updated on when I offer the next discount code. You can also sign up for my email list (look in the sidebar). And I hope you all stay safe (and sane) during this crazy time!

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and twice a year the leaders of the church gather to deliver spiritual messages to the 15 million members worldwide and to the whole world. At the head of our church we have a prophet, just like the prophets in the Bible, like Noah or Moses, and apostles, just like the twelve apostles in Jesus’ time. (You can find out more here.)

The weekend of spiritual messages is called General Conference, and it’s a wonderful time in our house. We prepare in advance and we try to make it fun and special for our kids (since there’s 8 to 10 hours of instruction, which our kids may or may not make it through…) And to prepare, I’ve made some printables that I now share with you!

General Conference Apostle Trivia

Part of the preparation we like to do with our kids is help familiarize them with the prophets and apostles of the church who will be speaking to us. To help with that this year, I made a little trivia game. It would be great to play in seminary classes or with youth of the church, too. Just download and print; instructions are in the printable.

☆ Download General Conference Apostle Trivia

General Conference Bingo

Another thing we try to do during General Conference is to keep our kids quiet during the sessions, or, even better, keep them paying attention. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has some great material for kids during General Conference, like coloring pages and note-taking packets. This year I also made a General Conference Bingo board (which might be just as fun–and useful–for keeping adults engaged).

To play, print each person a copy of the blank board. Before Conference, everyone can use each empty square to write something that might happen during General Conference: a speaker, a topic, the color or pattern of a tie, a song or hymn, whatever you and your family/friends want. (Depending on how competitive you are, you might want to preview each other’s boards and make sure you all approve of each other’s choices.) During Conference, watch and listen carefully, and when something happens on your board, mark it off! First player to five in a row, or blackout, or however you want to play wins (but everyone who watches Conference is a winner!)

☆ Download General Conference Bingo

General Conference is this weekend. And anyone can watch it! It’s broadcast online. If you’re interested in wonderful messages about Jesus Christ, you should check it out! To fellow members of the Church, I hope you enjoy your Conference weekend!

Did you know it’s Harry Potter’s birthday today? We are well aware of it at our house. This summer I read my older two the first three Harry Potter books and they’ve been hooked. All of us together and both of them individually have read the books multiple times. We’ve been doing all sorts of Harry Potter play and pretend.

They’re even going to be Harry and Hermione for Halloween this year (we’re going to dress up our two-year-old as Dobby), and their costumes came in the mail the other day. Now my son wears his robe and his glasses all day and insists we call him Harry. It’s fine by me, though. He’s actually very polite and grateful when he’s pretending to be Harry Potter. He keeps saying things like, “The Dursleys would never let me do that” and “I can’t believe how nice everyone is here.”

One of my kids’ favorite Harry Potter activities is Harry Potter trivia. And my son is pretty good! He’s stumped us sometimes. So I came up with my own super hard Harry Potter trivia that I’m happy to share with you! There are only questions from Books 1 and 2, but there are two versions, one with just the questions and one with the questions and the answers. So quiz yourself or quiz your friends, and let me know below your score! (Or let me know if I missed anything or got an answer wrong.)

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Book 1) Trivia
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Book 1) Trivia Answers
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2) Trivia
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2) Answers

Good luck, Harry Potter fans!

I’m excited to release a new escape room today! It’s called Seafloor Escape! Go check it out!

This one has been in production for a long time, folks. I first tested it one and a half years ago. It’s gone through a lot of changes, but I think that just makes it more polished than ever and I’m really excited about the final product!

If you’re familiar with my other escape rooms, Seafloor Escape is more like Science Lab Breakout than Space Pirates. Like Science Lab Breakout, Seafloor Escape uses the Internet and doesn’t require a host to play a role in the room. In fact, there’s a fun little Easter egg from Science Lab Breakout in this new room! I hope you enjoy it!

Feel free to contact me with questions through comments on this post or the main post, or feel free to email me. Thank you for your time!

My husband wasn’t thrilled he had to illustrate this first sentence:

Here’s another:

Here’s a good one:

And finally:

Hello readers! I’m working on new posts, but in the meantime I thought I’d share a real-life example of a game I’ve already posted about.

This past summer my family took a road trip. At some point in the car my two kids learned the game would you rather. We played it with them, but the best was listening to them play it with each other. I don’t know if they fully got the concept. Here are some of their scenarios:

• Would you rather get your leg eaten by an alligator, or have your entire self eaten by a crocodile?
• Would you rather be an LED light that’s your favorite color, or be a burnt-out light bulb that has smoke coming out of it?
• Would you rather eat 200 pieces of cheddar popcorn in one day, or only eat one piece of cheddar popcorn for the rest of your life?
• Would you rather be burned by sulfuric acid or explore Carlsbad caverns and get to go off the path?
• Would you rather go on an airplane with a bunch of bunnies that would come and cuddle with you, or go on an airplane with a bunch of alligators that would eat you?

Tough questions, right? Feel free to provide your answers. I love the way my kids’ minds work.

I have some exciting news! I’ve been wanting to post this for a long time.

For a while I’ve been working on a massive update and overhaul of the word lists I have on the online Word Generator and in the iPhone app. I’ve wanted to add more words and more categories and recently, I finished!

I released all of the new words in a giant printable word bundle here. But, personally, I wouldn’t print the word lists. I’d just use the app! It’s cheaper and easier.

So, good news for all you Android users, because my wonderful husband has been super hard at work, and now the Android app is finally ready! My wonderful husband also added all of the new words and categories to the iPhone app.

Here’s the details of everything the app has:

• 9 categories
• 75 lists
• Over 22,300 words!

It’s really exciting because it’s something my husband and I have both worked a ton on. So, if you have the app already, update it to get all those new words! If you haven’t downloaded it, do! And if you would, please thank my husband for all his hard work. He does it all in his free time! So contact me or comment below and I’ll pass your thanks along.

Happy New Year and I hope you all enjoy the new words!

Merry Christmas!

I hope you’re having a happy holidays! One of the best ways to feel the Christmas spirit is to follow the example of Christ and serve others. Our family has been using Light the World as a guide for serving others this Christmas season. It’s an advent calendar with simple ideas of service each day. There are daily inspiring videos and suggestions. I encourage you to check it out and maybe add it to your Christmas traditions this year!

Service is the best way to feel the Christmas spirit, but one other way is quality time with family and friends. And what better way to spend quality time than with fun Christmas party games?

I’ve been looking for a Christmas game to share, and finally I decided to make a Christmas word list for the game three deep (follow the link to learn how to play). It’s a great game for a big group. Hopefully your holiday season includes getting together with friends or family you love, and just maybe playing a few fun games while you’re at it! Three deep is a great one to try out: indoor, loud, fun, quick, easy, hilarious.

Christmas Three Deep Word List

Also, here’s a roundup of all of the Christmas games I’ve posted in the past (mostly creative ways to do gift exchanges):

• 12 Days of Christmas gift drop off
• Christmas pictionary word list
• Christmas gift pass
• White elephant gift exchange
• Mystery gift pass

Merry Christmas, all! Thank you so much for reading, really, and I hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

So another update: I had my baby! We are now a family of five. Our youngest, Grace, is just the best. We all love her, her cute chunky cheeks, and her giant smile. Of course, life with a new little one can be pretty busy/hard/tiring. I’m sorry for the lack of recent posts!

Right now I have one thing to offer you: a new themed Don’t Eat Pete board. (If you haven’t heard of the game before, visit the link.)

Here in Texas where we live, it’s rodeo time! And it’s a big deal, y’all. (Side note: Despite living a good deal of my childhood in Texas, I never could feel natural saying y’all, and I envy all my friends and siblings who do. I wish I could say it. I think it sounds so much better than “you guys.” But I feel like a total poser when I try.)

Last year I made this Don’t Eat Pete board for my son’s preschool rodeo day. (Yes, a lot of the schools have a rodeo day. Like I said, it’s a big deal.) So now I share it with you! For my son’s school, I made a big poster-size version, but I’m including an 8.5 x 11 paper version you can print:

If you want to make a bigger one, here’s the file I used. You can print all the pages on 8.5 x 11 paper, then cut out each square and cut around the words “Don’t Eat Pete.” Glue the papers to a poster or foam board so it looks like the paper above. You can laminate the pages first if you choose. (Might be a good idea, considering the candy that will be put on them.) On mine, I glued the instructions on the back.

Use it to celebrate the rodeo with all your little cowgirls and cowboys. Let me know if it was useful to you! And happy rodeo, y’all! (OK, at least writing it feels a little more natural than saying it.)

Have you been caught up in the Pokémon Go craze? At the very least you’ve probably heard about it – the insanely popular mobile app game where you walk around and catch Pokémon in the real world.

I admit that I downloaded it and started playing. I can’t resist checking out a new game! And I’ve got to say that it’s fun and slightly addicting (we’re talking level 8). But it would be a lot more fun if:

• I lived on a college campus or in the heart of a big city where I did a lot of walking.
• I didn’t live in suburbia in one of the hottest and most humid parts of the United States in the heat of the summer.
• I wasn’t pregnant.
• I had watched or played Pokémon when I was younger and had known of at least one Pokémon other than Pikachu.

Still, it’s fun. And being motivated to hatch those Pokémon eggs has helped me stick to my weekly walking goal.

Well, if you’re way into Pokémon Go, maybe you’re finding yourself with some down time at a Pokéstop with a lure waiting for Pokémon. What could be better in such an instance than a round of Pokémon Go pictionary, charades, or catchphrase? The printable list at the end of this post has strips with the names of all the Pokémon in Pokémon Go. Depending how much of the Pokédex you’ve completed, the game might be hard. Feel free to pick and choose which Pokémon you want to include. But wouldn’t it be fun to act out a Rattata? Or draw a Zubat? Or describe a Pidgey while your friends guess? Seriously, this could be almost as fun as Pokémon Go itself. (Okay, not seriously.) But if for any reason you find yourself needing a printable list of Pokémon names, here you go!

Pokemon in Pokemon Go

The 2016 Summer Olympics are almost here! This year I can say that I’ve personally met one of the Olympians. How cool is that? If you have a break during your Olympics-watching this year, maybe you’d like to play a little Summer Olympics pictionary, charades, catchphrase, or another game. The word list at the end of this post will help you out! Just cut up the words along the strips and play. This word list will also shortly be added to the online word generator.

If you and your friends or family want some extra Olympic game fun, try some easy trivia to test your Olympic knowledge. How many items can you name in each of the below categories? You can play competitively with a friend or group by choosing one category and taking turns naming items in the category. The first player who can’t think of an original item loses. You can also play cooperatively by playing as a group and counting everyone’s answers together. If you play, post a comment with how many items your group could name. I’ll shower you with praise and accolades (because when I tested my own Olympic knowledge with my husband I didn’t do very well).

• Summer Olympic sports
• Winter Olympic sports
• Past Olympians
• Movies about the Olympics
• Locations of past Olympic Games

I hope you enjoy watching the Olympic Games and cheering on your favorite countries and Olympians!

[pdf_thumbnails_link id=”4059″]

Summer Olympics Word List

Hi readers!

Quick life update: I’m pregnant! Our baby #3, a girl, is due in November. Life of course has been a little abnormal for the past few months. (Meaning that I’ve been way lazy about posting and working on this blog, which explains why the artwork for this post is a lemon and has absolutely nothing to do with the content.)

My husband and I do have some new content and website/app improvements coming soon though! In the meantime, here’s an update on the games (of all types) my family and I have been playing lately. My four-year-old son Carson is starting to get old enough to really take an interest in games, and it’s been a lot more fun for everyone.

The links to Amazon in this list are affiliate links, meaning if you purchase something from Amazon after you click one of the links, our website will get a small portion of the proceeds. Thank you for your support!

• 20 questions. Carson has been way into this, especially with movies. It makes it easy because he really hasn’t seen that many movies at his young age.
• Pokémon Go. Yes, I’ve been swept up in the craze. Sort of. It’s hard to get super into it when you’re pregnant and it’s hot and humid outside and you don’t walk anywhere except in an air conditioned gym. Carson likes it maybe more than me. He loves holding my phone and watching for Pokémon to pop up.
• Uno, and the variant, Uno Spin. These are nice because Carson and my three-year-old daughter Annelise can both play. They can’t hold the cards in their hands so they lay them all out on the floor. Admittedly this takes away some of the strategy, but it’s still a fun game.
• Nuts about Mutts, a card game similar to Uno. (Created by the family of one of my friends, isn’t that cool?) Annelise likes this one better than Uno because of the adorable dog illustrations. What three-year-old girl wouldn’t?
• Spaceteam. Okay, this is hilarious. My husband and I have played together several times. It’s an iPhone game, but one that you play cooperatively with a partner by shouting technobabble to each other out loud. Kind of stressful, but also kind of ridiculous, which makes it really fun.
• Ticket to Ride. Carson and Annelise think they’re old enough to play this game, though we just make up our own rules. I think they just like the little toy trains.
• What’s My Job? This “game” is one my mom played with me and my siblings when we were little. Basically the kids ask, “What’s my job?” and you tell them a job to do and they do it. Great game, huh? Oft played at our house to complete chores and get the house clean.
• Pictionary. I’m so happy that we can start playing one of my all-time favorite games together as a family! Both kids really enjoy it, but Annelise mostly just likes to use her turn to draw whatever she wants for as long as she wants. Oh, well.

I hope you’re enjoying your summer with some quality family time, too! Watch for more posts coming soon!

Presidents’ Day is coming up! I wanted to post a Presidents’ Day game this year so I did some research into the holiday, and it was a lot more complicated than I thought! Wikipedia has the full story if you’re interested, but basically it’s not really standardized who exactly we celebrate on Presidents’ Day. The holiday is officially George Washington’s birthday (even though the holiday never falls on his actual birthday…). Abraham Lincoln’s birthday is also in February so he is often celebrated on Presidents’ Day, too, but it is sometimes used as a day to celebrate all American presidents in general. The name varies from state to state. I had no idea! Did you? How does your state celebrate Presidents’ Day?

Well, before I did all that research, I made a version of Who am I? for Presidents’ Day (you can head over to that post for instructions). The Presidents’ Day version has cards with names of American presidents on them and, I admit, would be pretty dang challenging for most people. I’d probably be awful at it. But if you’re a U.S. History class or if you and your friends are history buffs, you’d probably be great at it!

Presidents’ Day “Who Am I?” game

But after doing my research on Wikipedia, I felt bad for not keeping with the roots of the holiday and celebrating George Washington (and Abraham Lincoln) in particular. So I made another game, a matching game.

At a recent birthday dinner for two of my friends, a third friend put this game together. She made a list of  little-known facts about each birthday girl and read them all out loud in no particular order. We all had to write down which friend we thought the fact was about. It was a lot of fun when we played that way, all sitting around the table at our restaurant and laughing as we got to know the birthday girls in new ways.

This Presidents’ Day version may not produce as many giggles, but it’ll definitely keep you thinking! I don’t think it will be easy. (It definitely wouldn’t be for me!) To play, print out the printable. Read the facts out loud to your group. An answer sheet is included for players to write their answers on. There’s also a key so you can read the correct answers at the end of the game. The player with the most right answers wins! I think this would be a great game to play in school as you’re learning about the presidents of the United States, especially Washington and Lincoln. There are 32 facts, 16 about each president. If some of them are too hard or if there are too many for your age group, just leave some off and have students make their own answer sheet.

Presidents’ Day game: Name that president

To complete your Presidents’ Day celebrations, don’t forget to check out my Presidents’ Day pictionary list.

Happy Presidents’ Day and happy playing!

When you’re a little kid, before the days of complicated relationships and crushes, Valentine’s Day is a pretty fun holiday, right? You get candy and fun little notes from classmates and maybe a gift from mom and dad. Nothing not to love, right?

In honor of our littlest kids, and because I have a preschooler, I made a Valentine version of Don’t Eat Pete. (Visit the link if you need to learn how to play.) It’s one of the best games in the world – or at least that’s what I thought when I was five.

And, oh, you should definitely use conversation hearts instead of M&Ms for this holiday version.

As I was making the 8.5×11 version of the Don’t Eat Pete board, I actually thought it would be really cute to make smaller versions that young kids could give out as Valentines to classmates. I think they would make some especially cute preschool class Valentines.

There are 6 super-mini Don’t Eat Pete boards to each 8.5×11 sheet. There are two pages, so print front-to-back. The back has instructions and a place to address the card. I’d recommend printing on cardstock. Then cut along the dotted lines, pair with a box of conversation hearts, and your child has a cute, unique Valentine to give out. You could even laminate them.

So happy Valentine’s day, and know that I love and appreciate all of you readers!

My husband has been working hard to get version 2.0 of the Game Gal game words app up and ready to go. Today it was just released in the app store! Go download it if you haven’t! It’s got more word lists than before, an updated look and feel, and most importantly it’s fully compatible with iOS 9.

Thank you all for your reports, comments, compliments, and patience!

Sincerely,

Paige, the Game Gal

*************

Hi Game Gal readers,

As you may have noticed, the word generator app is broken in iOS 9. I am aware and I appreciate all of your feedback and kind alerts.

My husband is working on the latest version of the app right now, which we hope to have up soon, within a few weeks. It is super sad that we haven’t updated the app since we first added it four years ago, and I guess it was about time that it started to show! Unfortunately, this blog and especially the iPhone app are things that my husband and I do in our free time. Considering that we have two young kids and that my husband is launching his own business, we haven’t had a ton of that wonderful “free time” stuff lately. But we want to offer a better version of the app, and we want to keep it ad-free. So if you’ll bear with us we hope we can get this new app to you by Christmas!

Thank you again for all of your support!

Sincerely,

Paige, the Game Gal

Happy Winter! Here’s a list of pictionary words related to winter and snow. Even though, where I am, winter doesn’t exactly mean snow. We’re enjoying weather in the low 60s today. Happy winter nevertheless!

Winter pictionary word list

Halloween is almost here!

I’ve probably posted more Halloween party games than I’ve posted for any other holiday, so I wanted to do a quick roundup of all the Halloween posts I’ve done.

List of Halloween games and Don’t Eat Pete: Halloween version

This post lists some games that you can easily adapt to be Halloween party games, like the candy bar game or Halloween celebrities. It also has a free Halloween Don’t Eat Pete printable (with faces like the one pictured).

Halloween costume I spy bingo

This is a great little I Spy bingo game you can play at a Halloween party or anywhere you can see some people dressed in costume. You just make (or print off) a bingo board with each of the squares filled with costumes you might see. Then keep your eyes open Halloween night and see if you can cross everything off! Free printable included!

Boo! Halloween doorbell ditch

A Halloween tradition involving giving treats to neighbors. You need to start a few weeks before Halloween and you need to be a little organized about it, but it’s a great way to spread some Halloween cheer to your neighbors, friends, or community!

Halloween pictionary words

What more do you need for an awesome Halloween party? This post has a free printable list of Halloween words.

Mummy

A perfect party or classroom activity where you race to wrap players in toilet paper, making them into mummies!

Mafia and Murder 1: Winks version and Murder 2: Hand-squeezing version

These three creepy (but mostly fun) “murder”-themed games would be great Halloween party games. They’re all fun big group, indoor games.

Skittles

It involves candy. How can it not be a Halloween game? Basically you try to cram as many skittles in your mouth as possible.

Star Wars pictionades

Just because it’s a new game I came up with all on my own! And Star Wars is kind of Halloweeny, right? Just because of all the awesome costumes? Star Wars Halloween costumes are the best (yes, that’s me and my family!).

Dream home sweepstakes

Road trip treats

Gift shopping

People watching

Ice cream swap

I’ve been meaning to add some extra printable pictionary word lists for a while now and I’m finally getting around to it! These are just additional lists, just like the originals, but with completely new words. I’m also adding them to the printables page.

Happy drawing!

Pictionary words – Easy 2

Pictionary words – Medium 2

Pictionary words – Hard 2

For the grand old Independence Day this year, I wanted to do something new and fun. So I created a kind of Fourth-of-July-scavenger-hunt-BINGO-game-of fun. Yay!

Now let me explain how to use all of these free printables. First there’s the BINGO boards. I made 10 of them, all unique, so you can play with up to 10 players. Well, for classic BINGO, everyone does need a unique board. But for this new scavenger hunt BINGO, I don’t think duplicate boards should be as much of a problem, so I think you could play with 20 or 30 or…well, you get the idea.

So print off your BINGO boards and make sure each player has one. Now a typical BINGO game would work with someone randomly drawing one of the items on the board and showing it or reading it aloud. If you have that square on your board, you mark it off (or put a special-edition-pack-of-red-white-and-blue-M&Ms piece on it, hehe). When you get 5 squares marked off in a row, either diagonal, horizontal, or vertical, you yell “BINGO!” and you win the game.

You can certainly play this game that way. But I wanted to add a twist; enter scavenger hunt BINGO.

For this twist, you need larger printed versions of each picture on the BINGO board:

Print and cut these pictures out and then hide them all over your playing area. This could be in a house, in a workplace, at a family reunion, all over a park – as big or small an area as you want. And you can hide these as hidden or exposed as you want to, depending on the age of your players. You might tape them to walls or the ceiling or place them on the fridge or in potted plants. You might tape them to the inside of cupboards or inside drawers. Get creative!

Now players are free to roam the playing area and mark off pictures as they see them. From then, the same BINGO rules apply. You could have a home base station where the facilitator of the game waits for winners to run back with completed cards. Then you could give out prizes to the first few winners.

I’m thinking this game could either be played all at once, kind of like a race type scavenger hunt, or throughout the duration of a party, a workday, or even a family reunion, played more casually. The game could even last more than a day if you hide your cards really well. (I might suggest laminating the hidden pictures for better durability or longevity.)

The one rule is players cannot move, hide, or tamper with the hidden pictures in any way; they need to be there so future players will be able to find them and mark them off. (But you could suspend that rule and make it more cutthroat, wua-ha-ha-ha.)

I’ve never played this so I’m anxious to see how it goes! I think it would be ideal for a fun Fourth of July get-together or the last day of work before the holiday. Just a great way to celebrate America! Oh, and these BINGO board pictures aren’t just fireworks and hot dogs (though there are those). They’re legit, with pictures like Common Sense, a crate of tea, and the Declaration of Independence, to remind you of the forming-a-more-perfect-union part of our great American past.

Finally, I made a version of the pictures that’s slightly smaller if that would come in handy for you.

And that’s it! I hope you enjoy! Leave a comment with questions if you have them, and if you play, let me know how it goes! Happy Fourth!

Did you know the Atlantic hurricane season started on June 1? Where I live, hurricanes can be a real danger, and my family has had to evacuate several times.

Last summer I had a newborn and was stuck in the house and needed a project to work on, so my husband challenged me to get our evacuation kits and emergency supplies in order. It was a great project for me, and now we’re prepared – except we need to go through our 72-hour kits again and replace the three-month-old onesies with 18-month clothes and the baby food with table food. But going through old 72 hour kits is the best, isn’t it? It’s almost like finding treasure or opening a time capsule: What did you put inside? What did you forget about? What yummy food is there to eat because it will expire soon? We’ve been planning on doing it for a few days now and are looking forward to it.

Anyway, one of the things I made for our evacuation kit was a list of games to play in the car, since we’d probably be there for a while and having something to keep us occupied would be nice. (I’ve heard horror stories about a three-hour drive taking three times as long in a traffic-filled hurricane evacuation.) In honor of this year’s hurricane season and because it’s applicable, I wanted to share our evacuation game list here. It’s just a list of car games in different categories: talking games, paper games, running-around-at-a-pit-stop games. Most of the games are explained in posts on this blog; some I haven’t gotten to yet.

I don’t know if anyone’s really going to use this, but if you do and have questions or are confused by something, just let me know! I can post a better version if people are interested.

Evacuation Game List

Be prepared and stay safe!

Happy summer! Where I live tomorrow is the last day of school! Always a big deal, right? My kids aren’t school-age yet so I guess it’s not a huge deal at our house, but still, we’re excited for the summer. Number one thing we’re excited for? Probably the beach! It’s fun (albeit slightly scary) to have a two-year-old and a one-year-old who love the beach so much.

Anyway, it’s about time I posted a list of summer pictionary words. Below is a list of summer words to use for pictionary, charades, catchphrase, or any other fun games you might be playing to celebrate the end of the school year and the beginning of summer! This list has also been added to the printables page. Enjoy!

Summer pictionary word list

And I hope your last day of school is as exciting as this and your summer is as awesome as this (yes, I just linked to two Disney Channel Originals). HAGS!

In April 2013 my daughter was born, and a few weeks later I was diagnosed with postpartum depression. It’s lasted a long time (over a year). The worst of it was at the beginning, and I’m so grateful that those days are past, but it’s still been an up-and-down ride for a while now. That’s why blogging has kind of taken a back seat.

I didn’t know anything about depression, really, before I got it. All I had were misconceptions. So I wrote a post at our family blog about my depression and what it was like. I would love for you to read it. If you’ve gone through depression or are going through it, I like to think it will help. If you haven’t, I like to think it will help even more. I try to explain very clearly what depression is like and give some analogies. If you don’t know someone going through depression now I’m sure you will someday, so if you don’t know anything about it (or think you do but maybe you don’t know a ton), I highly encourage you to read it.

Thank you for being patient with me and especially for all your comments on my posts. I can’t tell you how much they all mean to me, all of the thank-you’s and stories of how the games worked for your class or your family. I love hearing about it! And now that I am feeling better and better (even if not all the way there yet), I’ve got some posts in the pipeline that should be coming soon.

Read about my experience with postpartum depression.

Happy Thanksgiving! This is one of my family’s favorite holidays. Time together with family, good food, and taking time to think about what we’re grateful for: it’s a wonderful combination for a holiday.

I try to post a different game or variation for each holiday, and for Thanksgiving this year I thought it would be fun to do a Thanksgiving version of celebrities. Quick, click the link to learn how to play so you can read about the Thanksgiving version!

OK, read it? Good. I think this would be best with a large group (around 15-20 people). The Thanksgiving spin is, instead of having players write down celebrities’ names, have players write down something they’re grateful for. I made a printable you could use to do this easily. Just cut up and pass out the slips:

Try to encourage players to use their creativity and write down unique or specific answers. (For example, the game won’t be very fun if everyone writes my family, even if it’s what we’re all grateful for most.) Here’s some answers that might be more suitable for the game:

• chocolate chip cookie dough
• Annelise’s high-pitched laugh
• my latest favorite song, “Zorbing” by Stornoway
• weekly date nights with my husband
• beds with clean new sheets
• going to wedding receptions
• hearing Carson tell airplane stories
• Mom’s homemade cinnamon rolls
• Shelby’s free babysitting
• Amazon two-day shipping

(All things that I’m grateful for this year. :))

At the bottom of the slips to print out, I typed “Don’t be boring!” to encourage all your players to write down good responses. (You can cut that part off if you want, though.)

After you collect all the responses, fold them up, put them in a bowl, and play just like you would play celebrities. As you play you can find out who wrote down what and perhaps have some conversations on what you’re all grateful for (in between uncontrollable laughter, of course).

I haven’t played this variation yet (I’m planning on playing it this year), so if you play, let us all know how it works and if you made any adjustments! Happy Thanksgiving and I hope you all enjoy the holiday!

Funny story: When I was making this word list, as I was finishing I turned to my husband and asked, “Do most people associate s’mores with fall?” He made a face and shook his head. “People go camping in the summer,” he said. “Not the fall.”

“Oh,” I replied. See, I grew up close to the coast where leaves stay green all year long and in the winter the temperature rarely drops below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. S’mores are a classic fall food to me because when fall comes and the weather starts to cool down (you know, from the upper 90s where it was all summer), my family starts to have bonfires at night where we sit out and talk and roast marshmallows. We usually had a bonfire at our yearly Christmas or New Year’s party. Ah, the benefits of living somewhere warm. But I guess in many parts of the world, when fall and winter come, you don’t head outside for a bonfire.

SO, anyway, I took s’mores off the fall pictionary words list for all you people who grew up somewhere that actually has a traditional fall. But if you’re like me and you have good memories of s’mores in the winter, leave a comment! Am I really the only one?

Below is a list of fall/autumn-related words to use for pictionary, charades, catchphrase, or any other fun games you and your family or friends or students might be playing this year! This list has also been added to the printables page. Enjoy!

Fall/autumn pictionary word list

Happy almost New Year’s! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. I love Christmas and the Christmas season so much, it’s always kind of sad when Christmas day ends. But then there’s always New Year’s to look forward to. I don’t know how exciting my New Year’s will be this year; we’re actually moving to a new state in early January (very last-minute). I think my husband and I will do something low-key at home, in between packing and cleaning… I did already decide on my New Year’s resolution: reading the scriptures as a family every day. What’s your New Year’s resolution?

Anyway, the holidays are a great time of year: delicious food, being with family, and (of course) games. And games are my specialty! I wanted  to make a pictionary/charades/catchphrase word list for New Year’s Eve. I was doubtful that I’d find enough words, but, even though it’s a short list, this should be good for at least one round of New Year’s pictionary or charades. Or maybe for a twist you could even try New Year’s celebrities!

New Year’s Eve word list

Then don’t let your fun and games end there: for tons of other free word lists, check out the printables page, or find even more pictionary, charades, and catchphrase words on my free online word generator (and if you love the word generator, download the app). Then for a list of some of my favorite party games, check out my New Year’s post from last year. Finally, feel free to browse my blog by game type using the top menu or even use the search feature to find the perfect game for your party. Whatever you’re looking for, I hope I can help you have a fun-filled holiday!

And I’d love to hear any comments, suggestions, or questions. Happy New Year’s!

I got some feedback that the list of easy catchphrase words on the word generator was a little short in length. So I’ve been working on expanding it. I’m now happy to say that the catchphrase easy word list is twice as long as it used to be! I also made a second printable list of some of the new words. The printable is included below, on the catchphrase original post, and on the printables page.

Catchphrase Words – Easy 2

Making these word lists takes time, but it’s actually been a lot of fun for me. I’m really happy to hear that they’ve been helpful to other people, too! And I appreciate any feedback on the length or difficulty of the word lists, so thank you!

P.S. The chef pig artwork has nothing to do with more easy catchphrase words, I know…but I wanted to get this post up and it was some artwork I had on hand. Still pretty cute though, right?

Do you have a Halloween party planned? Well, hopefully I can help! Last year I made a Halloween pictionary word list, and this year I thought it would be fun to do something for a slightly younger crowd, so enter…Halloween Don’t Eat Pete! 

8 x 11 version – Poster-sized version

You could call it “Don’t Eat Igor” if you want to give it an extra Halloween twist. If you’d like to play, just download the printout (it’s free), brush up on how to play Don’t Eat Pete if you don’t remember, then get M&Ms, Reeces Pieces, or candy corn and play! Bonus: You can choose to print it poster-sized (see above) if you want a full-sized board.

And, as another treat, here’s a list of some other games that you could easily convert into Halloween party games.

• Hangman – Just choose Halloween-themed words
• Celebrities – You could play with Halloween characters. Make a list ahead of time or have everyone write down a favorite (Igor, Dracula, Frankenstein and/or Frankenstein’s monster, the Ghostbusters, the Wicked Witch and/or Elphaba, Casper, the Sanderson Sisters, Jack Skellington, the Great Pumpkin, Harry Potter, Voldermort, Edward Cullen…)
• Charades, catchphrase, or pictionary – Be sure to use this Halloween word list!
• Clothespins – Play at a Halloween party and make words like “Halloween” or “pumpkin” the forbidden words
• The candy bar game – Have players put on and take off pieces from a Halloween costume (witch’s hat, long silk gloves, etc.)
• Glow in the dark dodgeball – A kind of “spooky” game already
• Mystery gift pass – Just use Halloween-themed paper and candy or Halloween party favors as gifts
• Newspaper – Assign everyone a Halloween character or word instead of a state or name
• Hot or cold – You could hide Halloween candy
• What if? – Have players write down questions themed around Halloween

Just a few ideas! Hope they help! Happy playing and happy Halloween!

I’ve got something really really exciting to share with all of you.

It’s an app! Yes, my wonderful husband has been working hard for many months (in between graduating, starting a new job, and moving, I might add) to make an awesome app of the word generator. Just like the word generator, the app gives you lists of words in all sorts of categories to play pictionary, charades, catchphrase, or any other game you want. The holiday word lists are even included!

The app is called “The Game Gal’s Word Generator,” and for now it’s available in the App Store for iPhones and iPads, but watch for other versions (Android) coming soon! And the best part is…they’re all free! So if you like using the word generator but wished you could use it on the go, look no further! Just visit the app store, download the app, and start playing games with your family and friends. I just hope that I can encourage some good quality fun with all of this. So enjoy, and if you have any suggestions or comments, I’d love to hear them!

Download the Word Generator App here!

And really, a huge huge thank you to my husband for all of this. If you like the app, thank him! He did it all and was incredible to do so.

Happy spring! I love springtime so much. Winter is great, but personally, after Christmas is over I’m just looking forward to when everything will be green again. And the wonderful season of spring is finally here.

If you’re looking to play pictionary or charades to celebrate this beautiful season, maybe just in time for Easter, hopefully this printable word list of springtime-related words below will help you out. Just click the link and print! These words have also been added to the word generator if you want to use the word list online without printing.

Happy spring and happy playing!

Springtime pictionary list

There’s also a link to the page in the right sidebar. I’ll be adding more printables as they’re added to the site. Hope it helps!

With Presidents’ Day on Monday, some of you might be looking for some pictionary words to celebrate the presidents of the United States of America, especially George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. So I’ve got something for you! This isn’t a list of words per se, but actually more of a timeline of events that have to do with American presidents (Washington, Lincoln, and a few notable others). My husband and I have played timeline pictionary before, and it was actually a lot of fun. Kind of like song pictionary, you have to be creative and think outside the box. It becomes a game of creativity and, all right, raw drawing skill, more than speed. And I like that.

So here’s what you do: download this printable list, cut along the lines, and then take turns drawing strips of paper. Each slip contains a historical event, like “Abraham Lincoln was born (1809).” Then do your best to illustrate the event and get your team to guess! I’d modify the rules of pictionary a little for this and not require guessers to say exactly what’s written on the paper word-for-word; just a “Abraham Lincoln’s birthday!” or even “Abraham Lincoln as a baby!” might do. However flexible you want to be. You also might want to lengthen or do away with the time limit. And be creative! For the Abraham Lincoln one, for example, I might draw a log cabin, a woman in a bonnet and dress, and a cradle with a baby, maybe even one wearing an Honest Abe top hat. Maybe you could even try this list with charades (but let me know how it goes, because I haven’t tried it yet).

And if you want to brush up on your historical facts, too, maybe you could offer bonus points to the person who names not only the event but the year.

So Happy Presidents’ Day! I hope you enjoy your Presidents’ Day pictionary and your day off!

Presidents’ Day pictionary list

I’ve got something cool, new, and awesome that I’m excited to introduce.

Ta-da! It’s a new search feature! My super awesome and smart husband programmed it for me. And this search feature is so cool because it’s more like a “find-the-perfect-game-for-me” search. Say you’re throwing a party for 10 eight-year-olds in a nearby park, and you’d like an active game for them to play so they can run around and burn some energy. This new search feature is exactly what you’re looking for – you enter your requirements and I give you a list of games that might work for you.

And where do you find this search feature? It’s at the top of each page, right underneath the site name. See it? In that little box that says “Search for the perfect game…”

It’s super easy to use, too! Just click the box and it expands. Check any of the boxes that apply to the game you’re looking for. If a category doesn’t apply or you don’t care either way, just leave all the checkboxes in that category blank.

Then just click “Search” and a list of games will appear below! Cool, huh? If an initial search doesn’t bring you quite what you’re looking for, you might find that playing with the checkboxes some might help you find a game that works for you.

So there you go! I’m really excited about this feature and hope it helps a lot of people out. Finally, I would really love any feedback anyone has on the feature! If it’s not working like you expected, if you’re confused, or if you just have input, I’d seriously love to hear it. I’m always looking to make this site better.

Happy game playing!

Happy Valentine’s Day! Valentine’s Day is a fun holiday because it’s all about showing others that we love and appreciate them. Plus, chocolate. Can’t go wrong, right?

This Valentine’s I’ve had a lot of fun working on some cool things for you guys. First, there’s a classic word list of Valentine’s Day related words for your pictionary, catchphrase, or charade-playing pleasure.

Valentine’s Day pictionary words

But, since I discovered there really aren’t a whole ton of Valentine’s Day related words, I tried to think of something else to add. First, here’s a simple list of some Valentine’s Day sayings, the type you find on conversation heart candies. I don’t know if they’d be super good to play pictionary with, but they might be good for catchphrase, or if you just need a printable list of some Valentine’s Day sayings.

Valentines Day sayings

Finally, I remembered that over Christmas break, my sisters and I played pictionary with the Christmas song list I made. We all really enjoyed it, even more than playing with the regular Christmas word list. So I thought, I’ll make another song list! And since it’s Valentine’s Day, you know they’ve gotta be classic love songs. Oh, yeah.

Valentine’s Day love songs

Since drawing songs might be a little harder than regular pictionary, you might want to make the rules a little more flexible: allow the occasional word or number, don’t have a time limit, etc. Do what works best for you! You could also use the song list to play a classic game of love-song name that tune. Ooh, maybe you could even play pictionary where players have to guess by actually singing the song! Hey, did I just make up a new game? I might have to post on that soon… Anyway, however you decide to play, I hope you’ll enjoy!

All of these word lists have already been added to the word generator, so you can find them there, too!

And, finally, as one extra Valentine’s Day treat to show you all how much I appreciate you coming to my site, I made some original printable Valentines! Just click the text or the picture to see them full-size and print.

Printable Valentines

Happy Valentine’s day, all!

Update: I’ve created a new post with a New Year’s Eve pictionary word list. Check it out here!

Happy New Year’s, everyone! It’s been a wonderful Christmas break, and I hope you’ve all enjoyed your family and friends with parties, games, and food. For New Year’s Eve, every year my family throws a huge New Year’s party with lots of family friends. It’s great; we play games with prizes, chat, eat, have a big confetti fight at the countdown, and end the night with a tasty, warm breakfast.

If you’re planning or attending a New Year’s party this year and have come here looking for some game ideas, you’ve come to the right place! First, I know pictionary and charades are big party games (and for good reason; they’re a blast). I’ve got lots of word lists for these games if you need them! The pictionary and charades posts have printable word lists at the bottom, or you can go to my online word generator. If you want to use the word generator for a game that’s not listed (or even one that is), check out the lists under the Any Game option on the Game drop-down.

Second, if you’re maybe looking for a new game, my blog has tons! Feel free to browse by game type (in the right sidebar). You can also visit the home page to see my most recent posts and browse backwards from there. Also, below I’ve listed some of my favorite party games for different age groups. Just click each game’s link to learn how to play. And happy New Year’s, all!

Games for teens to adults

• Four on the couch — A strategic memory game for big groups
• In the manner of the adverb — A fun twist on charades
• Spoons — A fast-paced card game
• Corporation — A fun guessing/memory game, also good for getting to know each other
• Winks 2 — A high physical contact (basically wrestling) game
• What if? — A funny and creative answer-silly-questions-and-read-them-aloud game

Games for kids

• The candy bar game — Candy’s involved. Need I say more?
• Sock — A rougher indoor game, but not too rough
• Celebrities — A fun mix between charades and catchphrase
• Newspaper — An easy fast-paced game that can be easily adapted to be a get-to-know-you game (also good for teens or adults)

Games for anyone

• Three deep — One of the most hilarious big group games I’ve played!
• Clothespins — You could easily put a New Year’s twist on this game; just make the forbidden words “New Year’s” or “resolution” or something
• Signs — A quiet game, but it can get really fun
• One hundred — A very easy to learn, fast-paced game
• Paper telephone — A hilarious game that encourages creativity. Good if you like drawing (or even if you don’t).
• Telephone charades — A mix between silent acting and the game telephone

I just wanted to say a big thanks to all of you! This past weekend set a new record high for Game Gal visitors (up 270 percent!). I guess the holidays are a big time for games, families, parties, and fun. This site started out as just a hobby, but I’m glad I have been able to help you out with word lists and game ideas.

I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays! I’m working on more games to posts, more word lists, and we have a little surprise for everyone coming soon! So stay tuned.

Merry Christmas! Christmas is definitely my favorite holiday. Last night was Christmas decorating and hot chocolate drinking night at our house. Now we have a tree up and everything!

So another holiday, time for another word list! Here’s a printable list of Christmas words you can use to play pictionary, charades, catchphrase, or another game. And as a bonus, there’s also a printable list of Christmas song titles you could use to play name that tune. Just take turns drawing a song title, singing or humming the song, and getting others to guess. Or, if you’re up for a challenge, play Christmas song title pictionary. I dare you. (I tried to stick to well-known Christmas songs…and resisted the temptation to add “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays,” the hit Christmas song from *NSYNC. Oh, yeah.)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the holidays and have fun with family and friends! This time of year can be so crazy and hectic, but I really think it should be about remembering our blessings, focusing on the real meaning of Christmas, making others happy, and spending time with those we love. Hope I can help!

And merry Christmas!

Christmas pictionary word list

List of Christmas Songs

(Oh, by the way, these lists have both been added to the word generator if you’d rather play online than print them off.)

Just for fun, here’s a few things I’m grateful for this Thanksgiving:

• My husband and son
• My family and my husband’s family (all of whom we get to see this Thanksgiving – whoopee! It’s gonna be a party!)
• Chocolate chip pumpkin pie cookies
• New things to learn
• Microwave popcorn
• The TV show The West Wing
• Kind friends who give good advice
• Smiles
• This video:

If you’re looking for some more help feeling that Thanksgiving spirit, maybe this printable list of Thanksgiving words will help. Use it to play pictionary, charades, catchphrase, or another fun party game this year.

Thanksgiving pictionary word list

Wow, sorry for the long break in posts! I have a good excuse, though; I had a baby. And he’s the best! And I love, love, love being a mom.

Well, fall is in the air! Today I think it actually kind of sort of snowed for the first time. Yikes! It was more like half-rain slush, and it definitely didn’t stick, but still.

If you’re like me, the changing weather has you thinking of the first holiday of the new season: Halloween! It’s time to think of costume ideas (especially fun for me now that I have a cute three-month-old to dress up), make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, carve jack-o-lanterns, and buy candy! What an awesome holiday. And if you want to spend some of your October celebrating by playing a good game of pictionary or catchphrase, well, I’ve got just the thing for you. A custom, printable Halloween word list! Just click the link below, print it, cut it, and use it for any of your Halloween game-playing plans. Oh, and these words have also been added to the word generator, if you want to use your computer to play.

Happy Halloween and enjoy!

Halloween Pictionary Word List

Happy Fourth of July! Whether your weekend plans include barbeques, family reunions, or fireworks (or all three), maybe you’d like to celebrate Independence day with a good game of pictionary, catchphrase, or charades. To help, I’ve created a printable Fourth of July word list! Just click the link below, print out the list, cut along the dotted lines, and enjoy! The first page contains more common, easy words, while the second page contains some harder words.

Also, I’ve added the word list to my word generator if you’d rather access the words online than print and cut them out. Just choose “Holidays” for the game and “Fourth of July” for the category. Watch for more holiday word lists coming soon!

Use the words for whichever game you want! Hope you have fun, and happy Independence Day!

Fourth of July Pictionary Word List

A word generator for games! I think that people have found the word lists in the Pictionary post helpful, so I thought it would be neat to make longer word lists. And now with the help of a very tech-savy husband, the Game Gal has a generator that will give you these words to play games like pictionary, catchphrase, or charades. Just choose which game you’re playing and a category word list, click “New Word,” and voila! The word generator will give you one word at a time to act out, draw, or guess. Head on over and check it out!

Click here to go to the game word generator

You can use the word generator on a computer, laptop, iPad, or iPod as you play games like pictionary, catchphrase, or charades. Give it a try! And I’d love to hear how it goes—let me know in a comment what works for you and what doesn’t.

Happy playing!

So if you’re planning a family reunion, throwing a party, entertaining bored kids, or just getting together with any group of people looking for some fun, I hope you can find the right game here. Enjoy!