Home >> Games & Cards >> TV Game Shows

How to Create a Word Countdown

Learning how to create a word "Countdown" game can give you an easy and fun game to play with your family or friends. "Countdown" is a British television program, which includes 15 rounds, during which the contestants have to compete to score the most points over number and word rounds. In the word round, nine letters are chosen by the contestants and then they have 30 seconds to make the longest word they can out of the chosen letters. Each player scores points dependent upon the length of their word.

Things You'll Need

Card
Pen
Timer clock
Paper

Instructions

- 1
  Make letter cards using the card and a pen. You can make the letter cards on paper, if you wish, and they can be any size you wish. Three inches tall by two inches wide is likely to be sufficient, however. Draw different letters on the cards. Each letter in the alphabet is included, but there are more of some than others. Include 13 "I" and "O" cards, 15 "A" cards, 21 "E" cards and five "U" cards for the vowels. Include one of each of these consonants, "J," "K," "Q," "V," "W," "X," "Y" and "Z." Add two "B," "F" and "H" cards, three "C" and G" cards, and four "M" and "P" cards. Finally, add five "L" cards, six "D" cards, eight "N" card and nine "R," "S" and "T" cards. Draw out the required number of each letter, and arrange them into "Vowels" and "Consonants." Randomize each pile.
- 2
  Ask the first player to choose nine letters from the pile. Technically speaking, the player who chooses the letter should state "Consonant" or "Vowel" and then somebody else should draw the letter and place it in a visible place, but the player could do this themselves if you wish. Choose nine letters and stand them up so that all of the players can see them.
- 3
  Set the timer clock to count down 30 seconds. Start the clock. See Resources for a "Countdown" style timer clock. Attempt to find words from the nine random letters that have been chosen. The aim of the game is to come up with as long words as possible. For example, if the game board displays "EDTIDNUSK" you could make the word "diet," but you would get more points for "untied" because it has more letters. Come up with the longest word possible before the timer runs out.
- 4
  Ask around the group to see who has the longest word. The players should state the number of letters in the longest word they were able to come up with. Ask the player who has come up with the longest word to say what it is. Ensure that the word can be made using the letters on the board, and then award points as required. Check the other players' words too.
- 5
  Award one point for each letter in the word. For example, a five-letter word gets five points, and an eight letter word gets eight points. If a player is able to come up with a nine letter word, they get double points, which would total 18, for using all of the letters.

TV Game Shows