Have you ever played “Boy, Girl, Animal Place, Thing, Total?” (I’m gonna abbreviate that to BGAPTT for your sake and mine). You haven’t? Gosh you’re missing out. Let’s get you up to snuff.
BGAPTT Objectives
The player with the most points (after playing an agreed number of rounds) wins!
Of course, you could build in other mini-objectives like copping a perfect score in a single round or my personal favorite, comprising a spelling list for my 9-year-old using all his misspelled answers (sorry, not sorry). Well, as an educator, you see where this could go.
Gameplay
You’ll need to get a sheet of paper and a pen/pencil. Rule up your paper as in the image below.
The game consists of a series of “rounds”. For each round, players record answers under all of the categories (boy, girl, animal, place and thing) that begin with a particular letter of the alphabet.
To determine which letter is featured, one player mentally recites the alphabet. The player to his/her immediate right says “stop” at random. At this point in the mental alphabet, reciting is halted and the last letter to be thought becomes the featured letter of that round.
Each player must get a turn to “choose” the letter using this process. Each player must also have a turn to yell “stop”. We find this method makes for the least amount of bacchanal.
For each round, the individual who selects the letter, also tells competitors when to start and stop writing. Nobody is authorized to write anything once the command is given to stop. Pencils down!
Repeat the process for each round (you can feature a letter only once during the course of the game).
BGAPTT Scoring
Players share their responses for each category with the group. Unique answers are awarded 10 points, shared answers are awarded 5 points, incorrect submissions and blanks are worth 0 points. Write the allotted points next to your answer.
At the end of each round scores are tallied to determine the total; this sum is recorded in the “total” column.
Once you have completed the predetermined number of rounds, sum your “total” column. The player with the most points is the winner!
Modifications
My husband insists that “TV Show” is a bonafide category in the original version of the game. I shan’t subscribe to his brand of chain-up, however; one can include any category that might interest their band of merry-makers.
“TV Show”, “movie” and “food” are all categories that I’ve experienced and enjoyed in a battle for BGAPTT supremacy.