4 Words 1 Question

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Game Features

Gameshow-like design and sound effects

Tons of flexibility – This game can go as short or as long as you’d like depending on how many rounds you have

25 rounds of gameplay already provided

All text is editable, so easily change or update the game as needed (I recommend searching prompts from the “5 Little Clues 1 Word” game on Google for more round ideas)

How to Play

Divide your class into teams. How many teams and how many students per team is up to you.

Each round, one student from each team stands up.

You will show them four words, one by one.

Their goal is to try to guess the secret word from the four words and make a question using that word, “Do you know anything about _______?”

To guess, I usually have the students standing raise their hand and I choose whoever put their hand up first to answer, but feel free to change this with whatever method works best with your class.

Once a student answers correctly, they get a point for their team.

The team with the most points at the end of the game wins!

Variations

Optional Rule: Students can make a guess before all four words are revealed. However, if I play this way, usually I give students only one guess for that round and if they guess incorrectly they’re out.

You can also make this into a writing game where each round the teams work together to figure out the answer and write it down on mini whiteboards. Then, any team who answers correctly gets a point.

User Submitted: Students are given 4 words, one at a time. After each word, they need to guess what the secret word is instead of a sentence. If they get it on the 1st word, they get 4 points, 2nd word, 3 points, and so on. (Thank you Paul Cooper for the suggestion!)

Runtime

(NOTE: The runtime for this game can VARY depending on how many rounds you have in the game. For example, I usually play about 20min and don't get through all 25 rounds.)

STUDENTS: 1 TIME: 11min FINISHED GAME?: Yes

STUDENTS: 10 TIME: 5min FINISHED GAME?: Yes

STUDENTS: 16 TIME: 15min FINISHED GAME?: Yes

I played this with my grade 3 middle schoolers as a quick warm up. I removed the part where they had to create a question, so I just required the mystery word. The first group to lift up their boards and have the correct answer, gets the point. Some rounds were quicker than others, but overall quick for us. Thoroughly, enjoyed it!!!

STUDENTS: 20 TIME: 40min FINISHED GAME?: Yes

Just played this with my second graders (middle school) and they loved it! Most of them are lower level so we played in teams. If they guessed right from the 1st clue they got 4 points, 2nd clue 3 points etc. It lasted almost the whole period but if your kids are higher level I'd definitely suggest adding a few more rounds.

STUDENTS: 22 TIME: 25min FINISHED GAME?: Yes

My students have enjoyed the game so much that I have started to add more slides. For my low-level classes I have them just guess the secret word, mid-level classes play the game as you designed and I have started the high-level classes on making there own (simple or complex) sentence or question using the secret word.

The runtimes in this chart are based on experiences from me and other teachers. If you had a different experience playing this game and would like to submit your own runtime feedback, please use the form below.