How to play Scattergories online with friends

How Scattergories works

1. Pick a letter. The box uses a lettered die; online, any random letter generator works.
2. Everyone gets the same list of categories, usually twelve, like a fruit, a band, something in a kitchen.
3. Start a timer, usually three minutes, and everyone writes one answer per category starting with the letter.
4. Read out the answers category by category. Any answer that matches someone else's is crossed out.
5. Score one point for each answer that is left. Most groups play three rounds with new letters and lists, and the highest total wins.

Groups argue about the edges, so agree two things before you start: whether adjectives count (“big banana”), and whether the group votes on doubtful answers. A simple majority vote keeps it moving.

Playing on a video call

Scattergories works well over Zoom, FaceTime, Discord or Teams, because all it needs is a letter, a list and a timer.

• The letter: the host picks one at random and says it out loud.
• The list: the host pastes twelve categories into the call chat, or shares their screen.
• The answers: everyone writes on paper, or in a note on their phone.
• Scoring: go round the call category by category. The host keeps the totals.

Online versions

Stopots is a free online Categories game from the makers of Gartic Phone, on the web and on phones. Everyone gets a letter and a list of categories, the first to finish presses STOP, and players vote on whether each answer counts. There are also plenty of free Scattergories style sites and generators that give you a letter and a list.

The weak spot of any online version is judging: a computer cannot easily tell whether “kumquat” is a fruit, so most rely on players voting.

Nichenaut: Scattergories without the arguments

Nichenaut is a free browser game that keeps the best part of Scattergories, the answer nobody else had, and drops the arguing. Everyone gets the same prompt and types one answer. Each prompt has a long list of accepted answers, so the game decides what counts, and rarer right answers score more. One person hosts and everyone joins on their own phone with a room code.

Some prompts even use a letter, Scattergories style:

• Name a food that starts with H
• Name a country beginning with S
• Name an animal beginning with A
• Name a city or town beginning with B
• Name a word beginning with Q
• Name a food that starts with M

And plenty are classic categories:

• Name a fruit
• Name a job or career
• Name a sport played with a ball
• Name something you'd find in a garage
• Name a streaming service
• Name a board game

Answers that are not on a list are checked by AI, strictly. Hosts can also turn on appeals, so the room can vote an answer in, much like a Scattergories table. Nichenaut is for players aged 13 and over, and there is a free iPhone app too.

Play a round with friends

Other games on the same idea

• Pointless: the BBC quiz where the right answer the fewest people gave wins. See our guide to games like Pointless.
• Krillion.io: a free daily browser game where rare answers score more. See games like Krillion.
• Boggle: letters rather than categories, but the same rule that a word only scores if nobody else found it.