5 Names - A Super Fun Game

I’m not sure who invented 5 Names, but we learned about it from our very dear friends, The Keatings.  This game is new and very exciting each time you play it, and best of all, it’s free!  I think it works best with 8 to 16 people.  Try it at your next family get together, and enjoy the fun!

Give each player 5 small pieces of paper, and have each person write a name on each of the 5 papers without letting anyone else see what you write.  It can be a real or fictional person, living or dead.  Personally, to keep it interesting and varied, I like to use 5 names from different categories, such as: politician (President Washington) or spouse (Martha Washington), actor (Harrison Ford) or character they played (Indiana Jones), cartoon or animated character (Snow White), family member (Jeff Silverberg), Person in the Bible (Moses), famous or infamous person (Gloria Albright), author (J.K Rowling), etc.

Break up into two teams. Put all the folded pieces of paper with the names on them into a hat or basket.  Choose a player on Team 1 to go first.  Have the other team give them 30 seconds on the clock.  The object is for the 1^st player to describe each name that he pulls from the hat (without mentioning the name to his team members) and have his team member guess the name.  They must say the name as it appears on the paper.  So, if the paper says, President Washington, George Washington will not work, they must say President Washington.  Once a name is guessed, the 1^st player moves on to see how many names he can get his team to guess in the 30 seconds.  The player may put or throw each paper on the floor in front of him, once that name has been guessed. When the other team yells, “Time”, player 1 must stop.  Gather up the papers and save them in a team pile to be counted later.  Now it’s Team 2’s turn. When the game returns to Team 1, pick a 2^nd player to see how many names he can get his team to guess in the 30 seconds. Etcetera.  Keep playing until all the names are gone.  Keep taking turns with your team members, so that everyone gets a chance to describe the names.  Then add up how many names (papers) each team has guessed to find the winning team.

Note:  It may occur that someone may pick a name to describe that he has no idea who it is, in that case, he may put the name back in the hat and pick another.  But if you pick a name and you know who it is, you must attempt to describe it.

Our family has played this game many times, and it is super fun and exciting and "new" each time.  I think it’s my favorite game.  Hope you have as much fun as we do with it!

For more amazing fun, play round 2 & 3.  For round 2 put all the names back in the hat, but this time when you pick a name to describe it, you may only say one word.  For round 3, charades only ~ no talking, only acting.  It's great entertainment!