Word chain

For the games in which one word is progressively changed into another, see Word Ladder and Word golf.

Word chain is an American game also known as Grab on Behind, Last and First, and Alpha and Omega,[1][2] is a word game in which players come up with words that begin with the letter or letters that the previous word ended with. A category of words is usually chosen, there is a time limit such as five seconds,[1][3] and words may not be repeated in the same game.[4] An example chain for food would be: Soup - Peas - Sugar - Rice.[1]

It is used as a tool for teaching English as a second language[5][6] and as a car game.[4]

The version of the game in which cities are used is called Geography.

Related games

A similar Japanese game is Shiritori, in which the word must begin with the last syllable, or kana, of the previous word. The game Antakshari (ant means end, akshar means letter), played in India, Pakistan and Nepal also involves chaining, but with verses of movie songs (usually Bollywood songs).

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Wise, Debra; Sandra Forrest (2003). Great big book of children's games: over 450 indoor and outdoor games for kids. McGraw-Hill Professional. ISBN 0071422463. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=wTuZMWvmUisC&pg=PA74. 
  2. ^ Wood, Clemend; Gloria Goddard (1940). The complete book of games (2 ed.). Garden City. 
  3. ^ Cullen, Ruth (2004). Brainiac's Gross-Out Activity Book. Activity Journal Series. Peter Pauper Press. ISBN 0880884487. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6UN1rAxGKJAC&pg=PA113. 
  4. ^ a b Rosenthal, Aaron. "Are We There Yet?". Street Directory. http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/15243/parenting/are_we_there_yet.html. Retrieved 8 December 2009. 
  5. ^ Sperling, Dave. "w-o-r-d c-h-a-i-n". Dave's ESL Cafe. http://www.eslcafe.com/idea/index.cgi?display:1097132895-19798.txt. Retrieved 8 December 2009. 
  6. ^ Hill, Monica (2005). "Fun Vocabulary Learning Activities". Harsh words: English words for Chinese learners. Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 9622097170. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=8KoKAIwRx6QC&pg=PA138.