How to Play the Telephone Game

Reviewed by Ashton Wu

Last Updated: September 5, 2023

The game of telephone is a classic icebreaker and party game. It's easy to set up and a lot of fun to play. You and your friends will try to pick a word or phrase, “pass it on” by whispering it to someone next to you, and have fun seeing how much it changed during the game. All you will need to play is a couple of friends, a word or phrase, and a quiet whisper.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Playing the Telephone Game

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1
Get everyone in place. To best enjoy the game, you will need at least 5+ people, although it can be played with 3+. Although the game of telephone is simple to play, you will need to arrange the players in a way that supports the game. Have everyone stand in either a line or a circle. Players should be spaced far enough apart that they won't overhear the word when it isn't their turn.
- Proper position is important when playing telephone. If people aren't in some sort of order, they won't know when it's their turn.
2
Start the game. Choose a person to start the game. This person will think of a word and whisper it to the person next to them. The word should be an uncommon one as the idea is to see how much it changes by the game's end. Once the term has been told to the next person, they will whisper it to the person next to them.
- Alternatively, choose a word with three or more syllables, such as extraterrestrial, planetarium, or encyclopedia.
- Base the difficulty of the word on the age of the audience. What might seem difficult for a 5-year-old would be easy for a 12-year-old.
- If this is for school, consider using one of the vocabulary words that you are studying. You can also use a term from a science class.
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Players continue listening to the word and repeating what they think they heard to the person next to them. This is done until the last person in the line or circle is told the word.
Once the last person hears the word or phrase, they will say what they think they heard out loud. This is compared to the original word that the game started with. This is the moment when all the players get to learn just how much the word or phrase changed through their “telephone line”.

Part 2

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Playing The Telephone Game Well

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1
Say a word or phrase only once. An important rule for the game of telephone is that you can only say a word or phrase one time. Repeating the phrase will only help to clarify it, going against the point of the game. Only allow those playing one chance to whisper the word or phrase on their turn.^{[1]
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- This will force the players not only to speak clearly but to also listen carefully.
2
Pick a unique word or phrase. The fun of the telephone is to see how much a word changes throughout the game. Picking a simple or familiar word will make the game too easy, allowing the word to be heard clearly. Instead, it's a good idea to pick a difficult, long, or unique word to use when playing telephone.^{[2]
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- Choosing the word "dog" is probably a poor choice, even for young children. Something like "bayou" might be a better choice.
- Using the word "misanthropic" could be a challenging choice, and suitable for older children.
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Let only one person know the word. It's important that no one but the person starting the round of telephone knows the word being used. If other players know the word, they will be able to repeat it easily.^{[3]
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- Always keep the word a secret to ensure that it ends up being changed by the game's end.
- Sometimes, the word doesn't get changed at all by the last person. This means that the players are really good at listening (and honest about not changing the word).
4
Always whisper. You will need to whisper a word or phrase to a person during the game of telephone. Whispering helps in two ways; keeping the word a secret and making it hard to interpret correctly.
- Keeping the word quiet can make it more likely that it will end up being misheard and wildly different from the starting phrase.

Part 3

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Adding Variations to the Telephone Game

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1
Play in teams. Playing telephone in teams can add a fun competitive edge to the game. Teams will each play the game in the same manner, with one person starting the game off and the players whispering it down the line. However, one player is chosen to whisper the same word to both teams. The goal is to see which team can end the game with the word being closest to the original.^{[4]
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- Words that are closer will generally sound more alike or be a variation of the original word.
- Words that are farther apart from the original will generally have wildly different sounds and meanings.
- For example, you may start with the word "benevolence". One team ends the game thinking that the word was "beneficent", while the other team got "detriment". In this case, the team who said "beneficent" would be closer to the original word and win the round.
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Try the “rumor” variation. In this version, players are required to make changes. Even if you hear the phrase correctly, you must add one or two differences. This will result in huge changes to the original phrase the game started with. For example:^{[5]
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- If you started out with "Mary had two white cats," the next person might say: "Mary had two black dogs." The third person might say: "Mary had one black-and-white dog."
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Increase the difficulty. If you are finding that your team is able to keep the word or phrase close to the original, you can try making the game harder. Try picking new words or phrases that are more difficult to hear correctly. Keep some of these tips in mind when trying to make the game of telephone a bit more difficult:
- Pick longer words or phrases. The more you say, the harder it will be to pass on to the next person. You might try using "Squirreled" or "Can you can a can as a canner can can a can?".
- Pick words that aren't often used. For example, "magnanimous" isn't said often and may cause players to mishear it.
- Use random words that don't have context. For example using “tower, nose, zircon” would make it much more difficult to guess what was said without the context that normal phrases would have.

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Question

What if we went down the line and the word never changed?

Community Answer

Just start the game over again. If this keeps persisting, mix up the order of the players. Also, make the word or phrase more difficult.

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Question

How do people cheat in telephone?

Community Answer

They can change the word on purpose or they can try to hear what the first person whispers.

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So isn't this quite similar to Chinese whispers?

Community Answer

Yes, they are the same game given different names. I believe that Chinese whispers is Commonwealth English, while the Telephone Game is American English.

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