MASTER WORD

Does anyone remember Mastermind? A boxed game I never saw in a state less than what could be described as ‘a bit tatty’, which saw you putting coloured pegs in a sequence to try to guess what was hidden by the other player, who would tell you only how many of the pegs you got correct, but never whether they then matched the sequence? If so, you’ve got a head start on Master Word. A really fun little game that gets everyone talking, one player will have a word given to them, with the prompt given to the others. They must then write three words on cards in an attempt to narrow down what the word may be. For example, the clue may be character, so you may write ‘active’ ‘male’ and ‘book’. Markers are then provided for how many would answer yes, in this case, (arguably) two are correct here. In the next turn, another attempt is made – but which was the wrong one? Do you waste precious guesses in repeating them to try to isolate which ones are correct? Or move on and try to work out a semblance of a guess? The game usually ends up with a deeper than necessary discussion of what the clue giver may have meant – sure, we know it’s no to a book, but is that because it’s not a book created character, or that they’ve never been seen in a book? – and with it, conversation is easy and fun, and automatically injects a little humour. As a party game, it works, because everyone can contribute something, even if it’s an argument against the choices being made. It sounds simple, until you’re five rounds in and baffled. In this case, the character above was Mickey Mouse – but you knew that already, right?