Circle Of Death Grammar Game

A year ago I was brainstorming ideas that I could use with my professional students in our talk sessions. Sometimes it's not easy to get people talking, especially when it's the middle of the day and they are thinking about whatever needs to get done in the afternoon. I like to use as many games as possible as discussion topics are often monotonous and tiresome.

I took the idea for this exercise directly from a drinking game, I admit. I created two versions: the upper-intermediate/advanced version, and the pre-intermediate/intermediate version. The version I'm sharing in this post is my upper-intermediate/advanced version.

To play this game, you need a group (4+) and a traditional deck of 52 cards, jokers included.
The deck is passed from player to player and one at a time, they draw a card. Depending on what they draw, they must complete a task (see list below). They earn and lose points depending on how correct their answers are, and the game can be played indefinitely, as long as you can renew the deck and keep them talking. I use this game during a one-hour long talk session.

There are two types of tasks: grammar-related and amusing tasks. That keeps it light and fun. And as always, students of all ages love competition -- they will really enjoy giving and taking points from each other.

I recommend having enough print-outs of this game for every other student so that they can consult the list when they draw their card.

Without further ado, here are the rules for the Circle of Death Grammar Game for adult learners of ESL, upper-intermediate/advanced level:

Circle of Death Grammar Game

Rules:

Sit in a circle, each player draws a card and completes the corresponding action.

Evens – Questions on the right

Odds – Questions on the left

Correct answer = +5 points

Incorrect answer = - 5 points

2's : Ask a question to the person on your right using a superlative.

3's : Ask a question to the person on your left using “ever” .

4's : Ask a question to the person on your right using a regular past tense verb of your choice.

5's : Ask a question to the person on your left using an irregular past tense verb of your choice.

6's : Ask a question to the person on your right using the future tense.

7's : Ask a question to the person on your left using “would”.

8's : Ask a question of your choice to the person of your choice.

(Now for some fun..)

9's : You become the rule master. You can make any rule for the table to follow. Failure to follow the rule results in the loss of 10 points. 

10's : Stand up and mime an animal. The first person to guess correctly gets 10 points.

Jacks : “Categories” – Choose a category and each player must say a word in the category. The first player who can't think of a word in the category loses 10 points.

Queens: “7's” : Going in a circle, each player must count by 7 (7..14..21..etc) and the first player to make a mistake loses 10 points.

Kings: “Truth?” Ask the player of your choice a truthful question. +5 for asking and +5 for answering.

Aces: The teacher makes a rule for all of the players to follow. Failure to follow the rule results in the loss of 10 points. 

Joker: You can choose to add ten points to your score or to subtract ten points from the player of your choice.