Categories is a

word game Word games (also called word game puzzles or word search games) are spoken, board, or video games often designed to test ability with language or to explore its properties. Word games are generally used as a source of entertainment, but can add ...

where players attempt to list words that fit into particular categories, all starting with the same letter. Players start by deciding on a list of categories between them, such as "town" or "actor", and each writing that list on a sheet of paper. A letter of the alphabet is then chosen at random, and players have a set amount of time to write something for each category that starts with that letter. When the time is up, players swap sheets and score one another's attempts. An entry unique among the group is worth 2 points, whereas an entry shared with another player scores 1 point. The player with the highest total is the winner. For subsequent rounds, a different letter is chosen. U.S. president

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

is said to have been a fan of the game, one biography describing his family as playing it "endlessly".

Guggenheim

In the variant known as "Guggenheim", players write a list of categories down one edge of the paper, and five columns across it, each column headed with a different letter so as to spell a five-letter word.

Commercial versions

Game designer Richard Onanian's commercial game ''

Facts in Five ''Facts in Five: The Game of Knowledge'' is a trivia game for two or more players, designed in 1964 by Rick Onanian. The game is based on the parlor game Categories. Onanian got the idea for ''Facts in Five'' after reading in the newspaper supp ...

'' is based on a description of Kennedy playing Categories in a 1964 edition of '' This Week'' magazine. The 1988

Parker Brothers Parker Brothers (known by Parker outside of North America) was an American toy and game manufacturer which in 1991 became a brand of Hasbro. More than 1,800 games were published under the Parker Brothers name since 1883. Among its products wer ...

game ''

Scattergories ''Scattergories'' is a creative-thinking category-based party game originally published by Parker Brothers in 1988. Parker Brothers was purchased by Hasbro a few years later, which published the game internationally under its Milton Bradley b ...

'' is a reimplementation of Guggenheim, with a 20-sided die being used to generate random letters.

References

{{reflist Paper-and-pencil games Word games