Blockbusters
Blockbusters is a word game which first appeared on
children's television in Britain several years ago, but
which quickly became popular with adults as well. Whilst
it is a fun activity in itself, it can also be useful for
practicing vocabulary that the class has been learning.
The game consists of a board with 20 hexagons in a
honeycomb arrangement (see picture).
Each hexagon contains a letter which represents a word.
The game master (teacher) gives a clue and two teams of
students try to guess the word. The team which guesses
correctly wins the hexagon which is then filled with the
team's colour. A team wins a game by making a complete
connection of hexagons from one side to another (green)
or from top to bottom (red). Part of the attraction of
the game is that simple, common words are often used and
so speed of lexical retrieval becomes important.
Blockbusters can be played using either
the blackboard (see picture here) or computer screen (go to download page here). The following
discussions assumes you are using the blackboard.
Preparing the Game
Draw the blockbuster board on a large piece of white
paper (approx. 80cm x 100cm). Create about 20 coloured
hexagons from thin cardboard (10 red and 10 green).
Prepare a list of words for each letter that is being
used on the blockbuster board, including any words the
class has been studying. You will probably need about ten
words for each letter. When choosing words, select a mix
of easy and difficult ones. If you have time, prepare the
clues for the words so you do not have to make them up
during the game when the pressure is on. A list of words
and clues are available at <
http://www.geocities.com/kgu2001/download/questions.txt>.
Playing the Game
Attach the blockbuster board to the blackboard at the
front of the class. Put scotch tape on the back of the
coloured hexagons and rub on a little chalk so that they
can be easily removed from the blockbuster board. (If the
board is magnetic, buy magnet strips from the stationers
and stick these to the back of the hexagons.) Divide the
class into four teams: A, B, C, D. Team A plays B and
team C plays D in the semi-finals, and the winners go
through to meet in the final. The losers meet in the
play-off. This means four games need to be played which
is about the maximum for a one hour class.
Start the first game (A vs. B) by selecting a letter at
random and giving the clue for the word. For example, if
the letter is "A" and the word is
"Ambulance", you might say "A vehicle that
takes you to hospital after an accident". (Keep the
clues simple since speed is part of the game.) Take the
first person to raise their hand and elicit an answer. If
it is correct, their team wins the hexagon. If incorrect,
give the other team one chance to answer. Since this is
the first hexagon, the team that answers correctly
becomes the red team and they have to connect from top to
bottom. The other team becomes the green team and they
need to connect from side to side. Since the red team
needs less hexagons to make a connection, it is an
advantage to win the first hexagon and become the red
team.
Stick a red hexagon on the blockbuster board over the
letter. Now ask the team which answered correctly to
select the next letter. Again, give the clue for the
letter and put a coloured hexagon over the letter for the
winning team. Play continues like this until one team
makes a connection. Sometimes the game can be brief with
one team streaking down or across the board without much
opposition. Or the game can swing from team to team with
one team being one hexagon away from winning only to have
the other team "block" their path. The first
team then has to "snake" around the blocked
hexagon to make a connection. (Example: One team wins
letter C in the figure and becomes the red team. They
then win L and H and are one hexagon away from winning.
They choose letter E but the green team wins this to
"block" the red team. Green now chooses V and
wins and then chooses S. Red team wins this and then
chooses wins P and G to clinch the game.)
Play the other semi-final, then the final and play-off to
determine the winning and losing teams. The winning team
gets a prize, the losing team has to sing a song!
A few rules
Once a letter has been won by a team and covered with
their colour, it cannot be chosen by the other team.
After a person raises a hand, they have five seconds to
answer. Only accept the first answer from a team, even if
another member shouts out the correct answer afterwards.
When a team answers incorrectly or cannot answer within
five seconds, hand the clue over to the other team and
give them one chance to answer in five seconds. Students
must give the exact word form with good pronunciation to
win the hexagon (although I sometimes relax this rule
depending on the class). If no team can guess the word,
choose a new one.
A computer version of this game can be
downloaded from <
http://www.geocities.com/kgu2001/download.htm>.
