In need of a game to keep all ages entertained? Stop the Bus is a great choice. Here are the rules:
Setup
- Materials needed
A piece of paper and a pen per player. This works best with at least three people, and can be played with a mix of ages.
2. Have each player pick a category
The MacKenzie family usually started with ‘boy’s name’ and ‘girl’s name’, but these can be as broad or as specific as you like. Young children might pick categories like ‘animal’ or ‘colour’ but if you’re playing with all adults go for ‘song title’ or ‘Game of Thrones character’.
3. Split your paper into columns — one for each category, plus two extra
Gameplay
1. Ask one player to silently recite the alphabet. If they get to Z, they start again at A until someone shouts ‘STOP THE BUS’
2. Whatever letter the player had reached is the letter all players’ answers have to start with
If the player had mentally reached ‘S’ before told to stop, they announce to the group that the first letter of all answers must be S.
3. Each player aims to write down one answer to each category beginning with the chosen letter
In the example above, each player would try to find a boy’s name, a girl’s name, an Agatha Christie character and a type of puzzle all beginning with S.
4. The first player to fill every category shouts ‘STOP’
All players must stop writing, even if they have categories they haven’t thought of answers for.
(I’m still thinking about that Agatha Christie character…)
5. Scoring
If a player has a unique answer (one nobody else in the group also wrote down), they get two points. Shared answers receive one point. Blank spaces receive nil points.
6. Repeat
Start again with a new letter of the alphabet.
6. Winning
When out of letters or out of time, add up the score column and whoever has the most points wins the game!