Scattergories lists: categories for adults

Good Scattergories lists give everyone the same twelve categories and the same letter, and the points go to the answers no one else thought of. The lists here are written for adults, and they leave out films, songs, shows, bands, teams and brands, so nobody at the table loses for not knowing the right title. Some categories ask about the world, and some ask about the people playing. You can print this page or read the categories aloud from a phone.

An example: the letter is S, and the category is "something you'd say to a guest who stays too long." When the sand runs out, Yuna holds up her sheet with both hands and starts to read, laughing before she gets to the end: "Sorry, I have an early start tomorrow." Arjun throws both hands in the air. He has written the same words, almost to the letter, so neither of them scores. "That's my line," he says. "I say that to you every single time." At the end of the table, Bettina laughs at him, pencil still in her hand. Her answer is "Shall I call you a taxi?", and nobody else has it.

How one Scattergories round works

Each player needs paper and a pencil, and the table needs one list and a timer. Pick a letter by opening any book at a random page and taking the first letter of the first word you see. Start the timer, and everyone writes one answer per category, each starting with that letter. When time is up, pencils go down and you read your answers aloud one category at a time. An answer scores a point only if nobody else wrote the same thing. Play three rounds with the same list and a new letter each time, then add up the points.

Scattergories lists 1 to 12

Each list has twelve categories. Use one list for a whole game, or a new list every round.

List 1: At home

1. Something you'd find in a junk drawer
2. Something people keep for years and never use
3. A sound a house makes at night
4. Something that gets lost under the sofa
5. A job around the house nobody volunteers for
6. Something you could fix with tape
7. A houseplant that's hard to kill
8. Something stuck to a fridge door
9. A reason to get up in the middle of the night
10. Something you'd find in a garage
11. A thing that's never where you left it
12. Something kept by the front door

List 2: In the kitchen

1. Something you'd spread on toast
2. A soup
3. A food that tastes better the next day
4. A dessert you'd order even when you're full
5. Something you'd sprinkle on top
6. A food you eat with your hands
7. Something forgotten at the back of the freezer
8. A kitchen tool you use once a year
9. Something you'd put in a sandwich
10. A food you learned to like later in life
11. Something to bring to a potluck
12. A food that's hard to eat politely

List 3: Errands and outings

1. A place where you have to wait your turn
2. Something you'd see at a farmers market
3. A place to spend a rainy afternoon
4. Something on a street corner
5. A job you see people doing outdoors
6. A sound you'd hear downtown
7. A good place to meet a friend
8. Something people do on a bus
9. A building with a lot of stairs
10. Something you'd pick up on the way home
11. A reason to cross the street
12. A place that's busiest on Saturday morning

List 4: Travel and weekends away

1. Something you always forget to pack
2. A place to sleep that isn't a bed
3. Something you'd see from a train window
4. A reason a trip runs late
5. A snack for a long drive
6. A country you've never been to but talk about a lot
7. Something you'd find in a hotel room
8. A word you'd learn first in a new language
9. Something on a postcard
10. A way to get across water
11. Something that goes in a beach bag
12. A souvenir you'd actually use

List 5: Nine to five

1. Something you'd hear on a work call
2. An excuse to leave a meeting early
3. A job you'd try for one week
4. Something in the office kitchen
5. A word that makes an email sound busy
6. Something to do on a lunch break
7. A job that starts before sunrise
8. Something that breaks at the worst moment
9. A reason to stay late
10. A job with a uniform
11. Something you'd bring on your first day at a new job
12. A skill you'd list on a job application

List 6: Outdoors and nature

1. Something you'd find on a beach
2. Something that grows taller than a person
3. Something you'd hear on a camping trip at night
4. A kind of weather that keeps you indoors
5. Something that floats
6. Something you'd see on a hiking trail
7. A flower you could pick for a friend
8. Something that stays green all year
9. Something you'd find under a rock
10. A place to swim that isn't a pool
11. Something that comes out after rain
12. Something you'd pack for a picnic

List 7: Fur, feathers and shells

1. An animal you'd let sleep on your bed
2. An animal that would make a bad roommate
3. Something with feathers
4. An animal that lives on a farm
5. Something that lives in a shell
6. An animal that lives in a tree
7. An animal that's faster than you
8. Something with more than four legs
9. An animal you'd like to be for a day
10. Something you'd see at an aquarium
11. A name for a goldfish
12. An animal smaller than your hand

List 8: Words and talk

1. A word that's fun to say
2. A way to say hello
3. A compliment you'd give a cook
4. A word that sounds like the thing it means
5. A nickname for a friend
6. Something you'd say to calm someone down
7. A word you always spell wrong
8. Something you'd write in a birthday card
9. A word with more than ten letters
10. A reason to say sorry
11. Another way to say "very good"
12. Something you'd whisper

List 9: Getting ready to go out

1. Something you forget when you leave the house
2. Something you'd wear to a wedding
3. Something in a gym bag
4. A reason to go back home five minutes after leaving
5. Something you'd wear on a rainy day
6. Something with buttons
7. Something on a bathroom shelf
8. A color you'd paint a front door
9. A hairstyle
10. Something you'd iron
11. Something you'd keep in the car
12. A thing you check before a night out

List 10: Free time

1. Something you could learn in a weekend
2. Something you'd collect
3. A game you can play without a board
4. Something to make with your hands
5. A reason to stay home on a Saturday night
6. Something to do on a long train ride
7. A sport you've never tried
8. Something people do at sunrise
9. A craft you'd try once
10. Something to do on a day off in the middle of the week
11. Something you'd learn from a neighbor
12. A way to spend a free afternoon

List 11: The people at the table

1. Something the person on your left would order for dessert
2. A word that describes the player across from you
3. Something you borrowed from a friend and kept
4. A place your friends would find you on a Sunday
5. Something a friend always forgets
6. A reason to call a friend at midnight
7. Something your group laughs about every time
8. A job the host would be good at
9. Something you'd text a friend with no context
10. Something you'd make for a friend who just moved
11. A plan your friends talk about and never do
12. Something a friend talked you into

List 12: Odds and ends

1. Something that comes in pairs
2. Something with a lid
3. Something you can fold
4. Something that rolls
5. Something that ticks
6. Something at the bottom of a bag
7. Something that's hard to open
8. Something with a handle
9. Something that bends
10. Something you'd wind up
11. Something that melts
12. Something louder than it looks

Scattergories categories for adults

These are about grown-up life: rent, work, chores and plans. Mix them into any list above, or play them as a list of their own.

1. Something you'd find in a first apartment
2. A reason to call the landlord
3. Something you'd never say in a job interview
4. A chore worth paying someone else to do
5. A dull thing you secretly enjoy
6. Something on a long to-do list
7. A thing you'd still do if nobody paid you
8. Something to argue about with a roommate
9. Something hidden in the fine print
10. Something you'd say to get off a long phone call
11. A grown-up task you put off for months
12. A reason to cancel plans

The best rounds often come from categories about the players themselves, like List 11. Here are six more, and the table votes when an answer needs a judge:

• Something the host keeps in the fridge
• A word the person on your right says a lot
• A place someone at the table has lived
• Something someone here is secretly good at
• A job someone here would hate
• Something everyone at the table has done at least once

Christmas Scattergories lists

Christmas list 1

1. Something you'd hang on a tree
2. Something that sparkles
3. A cookie to bake in December
4. Something at a Christmas market
5. A name for a new reindeer
6. Something on a holiday table
7. A job that gets busy in December
8. Something that comes in a tin
9. Something you'd see on a snowy street
10. Something that smells like Christmas
11. A reason to be late for a holiday dinner
12. Something you'd do on a snowy afternoon

Christmas list 2

1. A name for a snowman
2. Something red you'd see in December
3. Something you'd find on a mantelpiece
4. A tradition your family keeps every year
5. Something to eat on Christmas morning
6. A word that rhymes with "snow"
7. Something you'd knit
8. Something an elf would be good at
9. Something to do on the day after Christmas
10. Something that runs on batteries
11. A sound you hear at a holiday party
12. Something you'd pack for a trip home for the holidays

Halloween Scattergories lists

Halloween list 1

1. A name for a black cat
2. Something in a haunted house
3. A sound that makes you jump
4. Something a witch keeps on her shelf
5. A costume you could make tonight from things at home
6. Something that glows in the dark
7. A creature that comes out at night
8. A word that means scared
9. Something that creaks
10. A name for a ghost who's afraid of the dark
11. Something a vampire would avoid
12. Something with fangs or claws

Halloween list 2

1. Something you'd hear in an empty house at night
2. A snack for a Halloween party
3. Something you'd wear with a cape
4. A place to hide in a dark house
5. Something that flies at night
6. A spell a witch would cast on a Monday morning
7. Something you'd tape to a window
8. A word that rhymes with "fright"
9. Something orange that isn't a pumpkin
10. Something a skeleton would say
11. Something to do at a costume party
12. A name for a haunted house

Games like Scattergories

• Pictionary. Same table and same timer, but you draw the answer instead of writing it, and pictionary words has the lists to draw from.
• Charades. Everyone stands up and acts, with no paper at all, and charades ideas for adults has a full bowl's worth of ideas.
• Word games with nothing at all. When even the pencils have gone missing, games to play with no equipment has word games you play out loud.
• Stop the bus. This is the same idea with pen and paper, and it goes by other names in other places. Everyone writes a word for each column, like a name, a place and an animal, and the first player to fill a row shouts "Stop the bus!"

For a pairs quiz with the same paper and pens, things that go together has lists of pairs and sets of three.

The first word that comes, or the word nobody else will write

Give two friends the letter B and "something you'd find in a junk drawer." One writes "batteries" in two seconds and moves on. The other sits with the pencil in the air, because batteries is what everyone will write, and finally puts down "a birthday candle from three years ago." Both are good ways to play, and they usually score in different rounds. Typeza sees personality type as part of that. Eight of the 16 types:

• Harmonizer writes the first cozy answer that comes and laughs when it matches everyone else's.
• Analyst thinks about what the others will write and goes one step around it, to the answer nobody saw coming.
• Inspector checks every answer against the letter and the category, and calls the vote when a word stretches the rules.
• Commander fills the sheet fast with the first word that comes and defends each one loudly when it's challenged.
• Strategist leaves a few lines blank on purpose and spends the last seconds on one answer nobody else will think of.
• Entrepreneur plays for points, picks which categories are worth the hunt and fills the rest in a hurry.
• Organizer answers all twelve in order and keeps the score sheet for the whole table.
• Encourager writes the most unexpected answer instead of the safest one, and picks it in a second.

Take these as tendencies, since many people play both ways in one evening. They're a bit of fun for game night and never advice about anyone at your table.

See which kind of player your friend is

One of you writes the first word, and the other holds out for the rare one. Type is often part of why. Typeza names the relationship type that links you and a friend. The free friendship compatibility test is where it starts. Afterward, send your link to the friend who wrote your answer almost word for word.

Questions people ask

What is Scattergories?

It's a boxed word game from 1988, based on an older pencil game called Categories. Everyone gets the same list of categories and the same letter, and has a few minutes to write one answer per category that starts with that letter. You only score for answers that no one else wrote.

What are the rules of Scattergories?

Every answer has to start with the round's letter. An answer that matches another player's scores nothing for either of you. If someone challenges an answer, the whole table votes on it. A game is three rounds, and if two players tie, play one more round with a new letter.

How long is the timer in Scattergories?

The boxed game sets the timer for up to three minutes a round. A shorter timer makes the game harder.

What are good categories for Scattergories?

The best ones have many possible answers for most letters, like "something you'd find in a junk drawer" or "a reason to cancel plans." Categories about the players, like "a word the person on your right says a lot," get the biggest laughs.

Sources

• Wikipedia, "Scattergories". First published in 1988; lists of 12 categories; a timer of up to three minutes; zero points for a duplicate answer; a vote on a challenged answer; games played in sets of three rounds; based on the traditional game Categories.

Written by Virko Kask, founder of Typeza
Written with the help of AI tools.