Do you have a detective game?
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Do you have a detective game?
Detective stories always attract students, especially adult students. Does anyone have a detective game so that students can learn English and have fun?
Its not a detective game in this form but I am sure it could be adapted to become one.
I got it off this party games website.
It's a game called 'Psychiatrist'
Get the students in a circle and send one out - they are the psychiatrist.
When s/he is out of the room the rest have to decide on a mental illness they should have (e.g. they all pretend to be the same person). The psychiatrist is then called in and has to ask questions and monitor their reactions to find clues as to their illness.
Another is 'maffia' - for some reason very popular with Ss. Check online for a mirriad of versions.
Get a pack of cards - choose the card(s) that denote(s) who is maffia and who is a villager and mb who is the detective. The narrator then makes up a story where all the villigers have to go to sleep; then tells the maffia to wake-up and silently point to their chosen victim, then go back to sleep. Everyone wakes up and after finding out who was murdered and how have to decide on the suspected killer, vote on their guilt, kill and then find out if they were maffia. The repeat the steps for an agreed number of 'days.' Check the web for better explanations. There is a version where one Ss is a detective and has a private guess at who is maffia and an honest(
) yes or no from the narrator.
My upper elementary kids love Maffia, though I have a job getting them to speak english while playing it..
should have taught the basic vocabulary of accusation, guilt and denial
Only tried the 'psychiatrist' game once - and found that it is funny and good for english improvisation but quite dependent on the quality of the illnesses to amuse the Ss.
I'm sure its easy to come up with your own detective games along these lines.
EDIT: 'sleep' in maffia means that everyone must close their eyes until their role group name (maffia/villiger/detective) is told to 'wake up' by the narrator.
I got it off this party games website.
It's a game called 'Psychiatrist'
Get the students in a circle and send one out - they are the psychiatrist.
When s/he is out of the room the rest have to decide on a mental illness they should have (e.g. they all pretend to be the same person). The psychiatrist is then called in and has to ask questions and monitor their reactions to find clues as to their illness.
Another is 'maffia' - for some reason very popular with Ss. Check online for a mirriad of versions.
Get a pack of cards - choose the card(s) that denote(s) who is maffia and who is a villager and mb who is the detective. The narrator then makes up a story where all the villigers have to go to sleep; then tells the maffia to wake-up and silently point to their chosen victim, then go back to sleep. Everyone wakes up and after finding out who was murdered and how have to decide on the suspected killer, vote on their guilt, kill and then find out if they were maffia. The repeat the steps for an agreed number of 'days.' Check the web for better explanations. There is a version where one Ss is a detective and has a private guess at who is maffia and an honest(
) yes or no from the narrator. My upper elementary kids love Maffia, though I have a job getting them to speak english while playing it..
should have taught the basic vocabulary of accusation, guilt and denialOnly tried the 'psychiatrist' game once - and found that it is funny and good for english improvisation but quite dependent on the quality of the illnesses to amuse the Ss.
I'm sure its easy to come up with your own detective games along these lines.
EDIT: 'sleep' in maffia means that everyone must close their eyes until their role group name (maffia/villiger/detective) is told to 'wake up' by the narrator.
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Sally Olsen
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From Family Pastimes in Ontario, Canada you can get this game which is loads of fun.
"Our most popular adult and teen game. Players are Private Eyes, all working for Eagle Eye Agency, gathering clues in Big City to solve the mysteries. Shadow suspects, do legwork, gradually work up a case.
Everyone plays a key part. It's not who wins, but rather can we all solve the mystery? Thirty-nine original cases are provided. When you have exhausted these cases, you can extend the game by using the Mystery Maker Kit included to create more of your own cases. Your ingenuity is your only limit...
But what is special about the game is not only solving those mysteries, but also the co-operative sleuthing. Expect lots of dialoguing over Case Theories, Puzzling Clues, and even the final Solution. A big value game!
Includes: 18 x 22" board, clue sheets, dice, modus operandi cards, case files, solution envelopes, clue tokens, chart, various notepads. © 1982
Our customers say:
"Just as if you were working through ingenious mystery stories like Perry Mason, Nero Wolfe or Murder, She Wrote." — Warren, MI"
"Our most popular adult and teen game. Players are Private Eyes, all working for Eagle Eye Agency, gathering clues in Big City to solve the mysteries. Shadow suspects, do legwork, gradually work up a case.
Everyone plays a key part. It's not who wins, but rather can we all solve the mystery? Thirty-nine original cases are provided. When you have exhausted these cases, you can extend the game by using the Mystery Maker Kit included to create more of your own cases. Your ingenuity is your only limit...
But what is special about the game is not only solving those mysteries, but also the co-operative sleuthing. Expect lots of dialoguing over Case Theories, Puzzling Clues, and even the final Solution. A big value game!
Includes: 18 x 22" board, clue sheets, dice, modus operandi cards, case files, solution envelopes, clue tokens, chart, various notepads. © 1982
Our customers say:
"Just as if you were working through ingenious mystery stories like Perry Mason, Nero Wolfe or Murder, She Wrote." — Warren, MI"
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fluffyhamster
- Posts: 3031
- Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2004 6:57 pm
- Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again
Not a detective game per se, but gets students thinking and theorizing(and without the need to have a prepared list of suspects, their backgrounds and motives etc): tell a short story, then pose a question.
Some examples (try answering them before I give you the answers, eh!):
1) A man and a boy went to a party...it was getting late, so they left...the road home was dark...suddenly a cat ran in front of the car...the man swerved to avoid it, and ran into a tree...they were taken to hospital...the surgeon took one look at them and said 'I can't operate!' > Why couldn't the surgeon operate?
2) I met a beautiful girl the other day...got her number and arranged a date...we went to that posh new Italian restaurant...anyway, we were eating our main courses when this guy came up and told me to get out! > Why did he say that?
3) A girl staying at a motel in Barranquila suddenly started screaming in bed...she was DOA at the hospital... > WTF?!
4) Non-suicidal guy plummets to death sky-diving ('chute didn't open)...
Those last two I read about in the news.
You could also look at some of the solo playing games that might still be around...these range(d) from the 'Choose your own adventure' type (which you could adapt to group use if you were the 'Game-master') to stuff like 'Gumshoe' or 'Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective' (kind of similar to what Sally's descibed, in that they were chocka with "realia").
Some examples (try answering them before I give you the answers, eh!):
1) A man and a boy went to a party...it was getting late, so they left...the road home was dark...suddenly a cat ran in front of the car...the man swerved to avoid it, and ran into a tree...they were taken to hospital...the surgeon took one look at them and said 'I can't operate!' > Why couldn't the surgeon operate?
2) I met a beautiful girl the other day...got her number and arranged a date...we went to that posh new Italian restaurant...anyway, we were eating our main courses when this guy came up and told me to get out! > Why did he say that?
3) A girl staying at a motel in Barranquila suddenly started screaming in bed...she was DOA at the hospital... > WTF?!
4) Non-suicidal guy plummets to death sky-diving ('chute didn't open)...
Those last two I read about in the news.
You could also look at some of the solo playing games that might still be around...these range(d) from the 'Choose your own adventure' type (which you could adapt to group use if you were the 'Game-master') to stuff like 'Gumshoe' or 'Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective' (kind of similar to what Sally's descibed, in that they were chocka with "realia").