What Scattergories is
A letter, a list of categories, and ninety seconds. Anything somebody else also wrote is worth nothing — so the safe answer is the wrong answer.
“Dog” under animals arrives in two seconds and is worth nothing the moment anybody else writes it. Every row is therefore a bet on how far from the obvious you can push and still have an answer the table will accept.
Deciding what counts is part of the game rather than a row you have to have afterwards. When the writing closes every list goes up at once, doubts are raised with a name attached, and everyone votes in sealed ballots — an answer falls only if the votes against it outnumber the votes for it.
The die carries no J, Q, U, V, X, Y or Z, because a full list on Q is a punishment rather than a round. Leading articles come off before the letter is read, so “A Beautiful Mind” is a B and dies on an A round.
How to play Scattergories
- One letter is drawn. Every answer you write has to start with it.
- “A”, “an” and “the” don’t count as the first word.
- Fill in as many of the categories as you can before the clock runs out.
- Match somebody else’s answer and you both score nothing. Be strange.
- The table can challenge anything that smells wrong, then votes on it.
- A point per answer left standing.
How to win at Scattergories
Second thought, not first
The answer that arrived instantly arrived on everybody else’s phone at the same speed.
Fill every row
A strange answer you might lose to a challenge still beats the guaranteed nothing of a blank.
Proper nouns split a table
Films, towns and people scatter far more reliably than common nouns, which everyone reaches for in the same order.
Doubt the plausible ones
The answers worth challenging are the ones that sound almost right, not the jokes the whole table will strike anyway.
Mind the article
The letter is read after “a”, “an” and “the” are stripped, so “The Rock” is an R.
One sceptic is not enough
A tied vote leaves the answer standing, so raise a doubt only when you can take somebody with you.
Questions about Scattergories
What counts as a duplicate answer?
Case, punctuation, accents and leading articles are all folded before the comparison, so “The Rock”, “rock” and “ROCK.” are one answer and score nobody. “Rock” and “Rocket” are two, and both stand.
Who decides whether an answer is allowed?
The table. Anyone can doubt an answer that is not their own, everyone else casts a sealed ballot, and the answer is struck only if the votes against it strictly outnumber the votes for it.
Which letters can come up?
Nineteen of the twenty-six — J, Q, U, V, X, Y and Z are left off, exactly as the physical die leaves them off. Each round draws a different one, so three rounds are never all S.
How does it play with two people?
The jury disappears. Nobody may vote on their own answer, so head to head a challenge is settled by the one person who raised it — challenge the way you would want to be challenged.
Is Scattergories free?
Yes. Every game on Table Party is free, with no accounts, no adverts and nothing to buy.
How many people do you need for Scattergories?
Between 2 and 12. Below 2 there are not enough of you for the game to work.
Do we need to download anything?
No. One person opens the site and starts a room; everybody else joins by typing the room code on their own phone. Nothing to install, nothing to sign up for.
Can we play Scattergories over a video call?
Yes. Share the room code in the chat and play with the call running — everything private stays on each player’s own phone.