Fishbowl
Fishbowl is three party games stacked on top of each other, played with the same clues each time. Everyone writes words into a shared bowl, then the room works through them in rounds: describe it without saying it, act it out in silence, and finally get it across in exactly one word. That last round only works because everyone already heard the clues twice — which is why one word can carry an entire inside joke by the end. Two teams, four to twenty players, everyone writing and guessing from their own phone rather than tearing up scrap paper.
- Players
- 4–20
- Playing time
- 25 min
- Ages
- 10 to adult
- Shared screen
- Helps
How it's played
The same bowl three times. Each round is harder than the last, and each one is only funny because of the one before it.
- 1
Say anything
Sixty seconds. Any words except the ones on the slip. Every clue your team gets goes back in the bowl.
- 2
Act it out
Same bowl, same clues, no talking. Knowing the bowl now beats being good at charades.
- 3
One word
Same bowl again. Exactly one word. It only works because everyone has heard every clue twice.
Fill the bowl
Every player types the same number of clues into their phone: a person, a thing, a phrase, an inside joke. Nobody sees anyone else's. The bowl is the deck, and your table made it.
Winning
Add up the three rounds. Most clues wins, though nobody has ever actually cared who won Fishbowl.
One turn, printed out
Sixty seconds of a round-three turn. Illustrative transcript.