Guess the Song
A line of a song is broken up word by word; each player hides their word in an answer to any question, and the guesser tries to hear the song.
The group takes a well-known line and hands out its words: the first player gets "we", the second "wish", the third "you". The comes back and starts asking anybody anything, and the answer has to be given so that is heard without catching the ear.
Hiding is easy while the word is ordinary. The trouble starts with prepositions and with rare words: "we" slips into any answer at all, while "merry" has to be led up to from a distance — and it is on words like that that the guesser usually catches on.
Answers need not be true — lying is allowed — but they may not be long: the more words around it, the plainer it is that one of them does not belong, and the duller the listening.
Rules of Guess the Song
Setup
A guesser is chosen and leaves.
The rest settle on a well-known song and take one line from it. The words of that line are shared out in order: the first player gets the first word, the second the second, and so on.
The line is chosen long enough for there to be a word for everybody.
Questions
The guesser comes back and puts questions to the players — any questions, in any order, to whomever they like.
Answers
The player answering must work the word they were given into their answer, in the form it has in the line.
The answer must make sense and be short. Lying is permitted: whether an answer is true plays no part.
The answerer's task is for the word to sound natural and not stand out. It should not be stressed, preceded by a pause, or have the sentence built around it.
Guessing
The guesser listens for words standing where they do not belong. Collecting them in order, they name the song.
End of the round
Right, and the round is over; another player becomes the guesser.
Wrong, and the group names the song themselves.
Instead of a song
A line of a poem, a proverb or a line from a film is set the same way. One rule holds: everybody must know it, or the guesser will not recognise it even with every word collected.
Worth knowing
How many words a player gets depends on the length of the line and the number of people: usually one, but a short line or a large group is shared out otherwise. How many attempts the guesser has, and whether they may ask for an answer to be repeated, is laid down nowhere. The requirement that an answer be "not too long" is likewise a matter of agreement.
Glossary of terms
- The guesser
- The player working it out. They leave the room while the line is shared out and know neither the song nor who has which word.
- Your word
- The word from the chosen line given to a particular player. It has to appear in their answer, whole and unaltered.