What it is: Yet another time-killing game with an alphabet theme

Best for: A small group of players, good for young children as long as they have some knowledge of the alphabet

What you need: Nothing!

How to play: I guess our family has been in a lot of time-killing situations lately, because we came up with this game and have played it many times.

First, choose a topic or theme. You could do something like fruits and vegetables, or names, or places. But we’ve had more fun with things like Zelda or Mario or Harry Potter, video games or movies or books that have been built into a large franchise. Because the more content you have to work with, the better luck you’ll have.

Next, think of something in your topic that starts with the letter A. Say we’re using Zelda as our topic. The letter A might be Akkala. Then move on to letter B (Beedle), then C (chuchu).

(Yeah, our family is super nerdy.) And so on until you get to the letter Z (Zelda, duh!). Can you make it to Z without skipping any letters? How long does it take you? Work together as a group and find out!

Oh, the one rule we’ve tried to stick to is, we’re not allowed to look things up online because that would be too easy (unless we’re really stuck on Q or X). Sometimes you might need to get creative and use adjectives with your nouns, and that might be OK!

Our kids get excited about this, probably because it involves their favorite books, games, and movies. Sometimes they choose a topic my husband and I aren’t as familiar with, so we let them do the thinking, but it’s still been a fun family activity.

What topics would your family have fun with?

Variations: For other alphabet brainstorm time-killing games, check out alphabet chant or first letter/last letter, or, if you are in the car, alphabet car I spy or the alphabet game. You can also find a ton of other talking time-killing games perfect for families or small groups by using the game finder feature on my site. Just check the boxes “killing time,” “none” under equipment, “talking only,” and any other age or group number requirements you might have. Have fun!

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