Game: Ghost

Ghost is a word-building game for two players. All you need is paper and pencil (and probably a dictionary!).

• We pick a small word/fragment to start with.
  • Let’s use CAR
  • This fragment needs to be the beginning of at least one word, so don’t pick PLT or XGA!
• At each turn, the player adds one letter to the end of the fragment.
• The fragment must still be the beginning of a real word. BUT you don’t want to form a full word.
  • CAR to CARA works since there are words like “caramel” and “carapace” but “cara” isn’t actually a word.
  • CAR to CARZ doesn’t work since there are no English words that begin with “carz”.
• The first player to finish a real word loses.
  • If I add a P to form CARP I lose, since “carp” is a real word.

When a player loses a round, they earn the next letter from the word GHOST (just like the basketball game HORSE). The first person to complete GHOST loses!

The Goal Is Higher!

But, as with all enrichment, the goal isn’t just to play a game. It’s to teach students to think. My real learning objective would be for students to inductively come to a winning strategy. What “moves” help you to win? What leads to failure?

I’d have them analyze already-complete games and look for patterns (analyze is the key to Bloom’s. Where were the critical mistakes? Can they develop a strategy guide for advanced learners? Can they write a beginners guide that isn’t too overwhelming?