RANDOM LETTER

Draw a letter, write one word per category and beat everyone to “Stop!”

1:00
6 categories
Ideas
Time

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What is the Stop game?

It’s the classic pen-and-paper word game: a letter comes up and everyone races to write a word starting with that letter for each category (name, animal, country, food…). The first to finish shouts “Stop!” and pens go down.

It’s also known as Name, Place, Animal, Thing, and it works like the board game Scattergories but with one letter for every category. In Spanish it’s “Stop”, “Basta” or “Tutti Frutti”, and in Brazil, “adedonha”. Here the site is the referee: this random letter generator draws the letter, shows the categories and, if you want, keeps time.

How to play

  1. Get your paper ready. Each player draws a table with one column per category and one for points.
  2. Draw a letter. The tile runs through the alphabet and stops on a letter. No repeats until every letter has come up.
  3. Write. One word per category starting with that letter, before someone calls “Stop!”.
  4. Stop! Whoever finishes first calls it and presses the button (if you set a timer, it goes off on its own). Pens down.
  5. Score and draw the next letter.

Example with B: name, Ben; animal, bear; country or city, Brazil; food, burger; color, blue; thing, book. One word in each category, all with the same letter.

How to score

  • 10 points for each word nobody else wrote.
  • 5 points if another player wrote the same word.
  • 0 points for a blank or a word that doesn’t count.

Many groups give 20 points to the only player who found anything in a category. Read the answers out loud category by category; if there’s a dispute, the majority decides. Whoever has the most points after the rounds you agreed on wins.

Category ideas

  • The classics: name, last name, animal, country or city, food, color, thing.
  • To raise the bar: brand, job, movie or TV show, celebrity, sport, singer or band.
  • For kids: fruit or vegetable, body part, toy, item of clothing.
  • For laughs: excuse for being late, something you’d take to a desert island, things grandma says.

Add your own in the panel: they show above the letter during the round and are saved for next time.

Frequently asked questions

How do you play Stop with a random letter?

Each player gets a sheet with one column per category. Press “Draw a letter”: the tile runs through the alphabet and stops on one letter. Everyone writes one word starting with that letter in each category, and the first to fill them all presses “Stop!”. If you choose a timer, it goes off on its own when time is up.

Which letters are left out?

By default Q, U, V, X, Y and Z don’t come up, like the 20 letters on the classic category-game die, because very few words start with them. For a challenge, turn on “Hard letters” in the panel.

How do you score the categories game?

10 points for each word nobody else wrote, 5 if someone wrote the same one and 0 for a blank or a word that doesn’t count. Many groups give 20 to the only player who found anything in a category.

What categories can I use?

The classics are name, last name, animal, country or city, food, color and thing. To raise the bar: brand, job, movie or TV show, celebrity or sport. In the panel you can remove them, add your own or tap one of the ideas.

How long is each round?

By default there’s no timer: the round ends when someone finishes and calls “Stop!”. For more pressure, choose 30 seconds, 1, 1:30, 2 or 3 minutes and the countdown calls “Stop!” on its own.

Do letters repeat?

No. The site remembers which letters have come up (they’re crossed out under the tile) and doesn’t repeat any until they’ve all been drawn. “Start over” brings them all back.

Is this like Scattergories?

It’s the same idea: write a word for each category starting with a letter. The difference is that here everyone uses the same letter for all the categories, as in Stop or “Name, Place, Animal, Thing”, and you can write your own categories.

Can I use it just as a random letter generator?

Yes. If you only need a random letter (for hangman, word games or a classroom activity), remove the categories and press “Draw a letter”. With “Hard letters” on, the whole alphabet is in.

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