Select 4 or 5 categories - either general (I normally use countries, sports, animals, food and drink and names) or areas from the textbook that is in use - and then divide the board into three - assigning each area with a point score (100, 200, 300 - etc...). Divide the class into teams, or get them to work individually and ask them to select a category and a score.
Countries Sports Animals F&D Names
____________________________________________
1
0
0
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2
0
0
____________________________________________
3
0
0
____________________________________________
During your preparation time, think about the easiest and hardest answers for each category and the level of the students and consider how many possible answers there are for each letter of the alphabet (in the case of sports: Archery, Basketball, Cricket, Diving, Equestrian, etc).
If a team or individual is unable to answer or gives a incorrect reply, then that letter remains in that point range until someone answers correctly. If a stalemate situation ever occurs - give correct answers and encourage the students to repeat them a few times, so as they will remember them.
This game is lots of fun, and my students always want to play.
For variation, you can draw a soccer park or basketball court on the board and assign areas in the same way.
Submitted by Stephen John Morrison