How to Play Basta

Pick 5 categories and write them down on paper or the dry erase board. Examples of some topics are food, animals, countries.

Cut up letters of the alphabet and mix them in a bag or shoebox.

Have a person pick a letter, without looking. The letter picked represents the letter that must be used in that round of play. For example, if you pick the letter "A" any answer to any category must begin with that letter. If the category is Animal, you could write "antelope," if the category is fruit, you could write "apple."

Allow each person or team to take about 3 minutes to write down an answer to each category without letting the other people or teams see their answers.

Yell "basta!" after time is up. Each person or team reveals their answers. If any team duplicates an answer they get 50 points. If their answer was original they get 100 points. For example, Teams "A" and "C" pick antelope as their answer, but team "B" chose anteater. Team "A" and "C" will get 50 points, while team "B" will get 100.

End the game when a certain amount of points (should be determined when game starts) are reached by a player or team.