The Dictionary Game is a fantastic group game to be used as a fun icebreaker to make everyone in the room familiar with each other.
This is an amazing group game to play with all ages that gets the brains thinking by analyzing and inventing new ideas.
Features of Dictionary Game
| ★ Game Name | Dictionary Game |
| ★ Group size | medium to large |
| ★ Age | teens and adults |
| ★ Type | stationary |
| ★ Skill | acting |
| ★ Place | indoor and outdoor |
| ★ Time | up to 10 – 15 min |
| ★ Preparation | no |
| ★ Materials | dictionary, paper, and pen |
Aim of the game
The aim of the game is for the winner team to win most points by choosing the correct definition of a word or to fool the other teams to choose your group’s fake definition for the word.
So, the rounds happen as one player of any team selects and announces a word from the dictionary while the other groups write fake definitions for it. This player is called “the picker” and only he will have the right definition for the word.
Group size and age
The Dictionary Game can be played by 2 to 7 groups of 3 people. Groups bigger than that can make it confusing to focus on the word’s definition.
There’s no age limitation for this game, just make sure that kids are old enough to understand the words getting picked from the dictionary or try adapting the game by using known words for them. The purpose is to have fun.
Preparation and Materials
The preparations for the Dictionary Game is very simple. The only materials needed are:
- A dictionary
- Pencil or pen for each group
- Paper for each player (preferably identical pieces of paper)
How to play the Dictionary Game
- After the groups are formed, pass one paper to each team. Each turn will have a player as the “picker” and with the assist from the dictionary the picker will choose a word;
- The teams will create definitions for this word, even if they don’t know what exactly what it means. At this point, each team has from 5 to 10 minutes to write the definition. After that, the papers need to be blindly collected.
- Read the word aloud — the picker from the turn can be the person collecting and reading everything aloud — and then read all of the teams-written definitions for the word, even the correct one.
- The teams can discuss them and then each one of them has to choose the definition they believe is the correct one for the word.
- By choosing the right definition the team will get 1 point. If a team’s fake definition gets chosen by other teams, they get 2 points, since they fooled the other groups.
- Keep playing with other words and each turn needs a different picker from a different team. The team with most points at the end wins the Dictionary Game.
Alternative Variations
If you do not have enough people to form groups of 3 the Dictionary Game can be played by single players. At each turn a player will be the picker and at the end the player with most points wins the game.
On the Internet, the Dictionary Game has also a mobile app now, called Fictionary Game, and can be downloaded at any smartphone to be played in groups or as single players. The mobile app substitutes the use of pen and papers and the word for each turn is randomly selected.