Since the podcast episode with Celia Keenan-Bolger, where we extolled the joys of playing running charades, I’ve had several requests to explain the game. Here goes:

The rules of the charades part are the same. You’re giving clues without talking, trying to get your group to guess the title of some film/book/play/song/etc. (“Movie… three words…first word…sounds like…” etc.) The only difference here is that it’s a team game. 

The first thing that happens is everyone (minimum of eight people, I’d say) creates a list of ten clues. These are the lists that the teams are going to race against each other to finish. (If you’re confused, just hang in there. It’ll be clear in a minute.) While certainly not mandatory, some people like to create a theme list. For instance, titles that all have colors in them (Purple Rain, “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue,” The Green Bird), or titles with chronological numbers (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Two for the Seesaw, The Third Man, etc.), or all Joni Mitchell album titles (if you want everyone to hate you). Be creative. You don’t have to play that round. You get to watch everyone else scramble to get through your list. And if the concept of a theme intimidates you, don’t use one. Random lists are just as fun.

Once everyone’s lists are complete (keep them hidden, FYI), then divide the group into two or more teams. A team of 4 to 7 people is a good size, in my experience. Hopefully you have enough space to separate into teams in such a way that you can be guessing charades without letting the other team hear you. 

So, in our example game, my team is in the bedroom and Celia’s team is in the kitchen. Ted, who’s on my team, is going to give his list first, so he steps down from the team for this round and sits with his list in the living room, i.e. any place equidistant to both teams.

Each team sends an emissary, in this case Celia and myself, and Ted whispers to us the first title on his list: “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

OK, this is where the running happens, because it’s a race, remember? Celia and I RUN back to our respective teams, and we start giving clues for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Now, why Celia is so brilliant is that she often tries to convey the whole idea vs. breaking it down word by word. So Michael guesses it immediately, Celia says “Yes!” and Michael (i.e. whoever guessed the title correctly) RUNS to Ted and whispers “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” This step is important because: a) the listgiver needs to know that your team got the title right, and b) with several teams working on different titles at the same time, the listgiver needs to be reminded which clue you were working on. So, once Ted hears the right title, he whispers “Two for the Seesaw,” and Michael’s off to the kitchen to start the process again.

Meanwhile, in the bedroom, my team is stuck. Finally, just as Sara on the kitchen team is guessing Two for the Seesaw, David on my team gets One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. They race to Ted simultaneously. Sara wins by a hair, so she gets priority. David stands back and covers his ears, if necessary, because Ted’s going to give Sara the third title, and David’s about to get the second one. If David were to hear Sara’s title, then he would have to recuse himself when his team moved on to that title….

So the game continues like this until one of the teams has completed all ten titles on Ted’s list. They cheer, the round is over, and Ted returns to my team in the bedroom. Now someone on Celia’s team becomes the listgiver, and the process starts again.

Keep playing until everyone’s had a chance to be the listgiver.

FYI, the rules are identical if there are more than two teams. 

Don’t be daunted by the thought of doing fourteen or more lists. They go really quickly!

Have fun!