Questions

  • QUESTIONS is a game for two players, played by speaking. The aim is to hold a conversation consisting of questions; which could have also been called a 'quesversation'.
  • How to play? The first player asks a question, and the second player has to reply with another question. The two players have to keep the conversation going, using only questions. No repetitions, grunts, or long pauses are allowed, and the questions must make reasonable sense. A player who cannot think of a question, repeats a previous question, or utters a statement loses one point. If you lose three points, the other player is the winner.
  • To emphasize, the aim is not to quick fire a series of un- or not so related questions, but to actually build up a conversation – which might sound a bit different then a conventional one, of course.
  • A brilliant example comes from Tom Stoppard’s play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

ROSENCRANTZ: We could play at questions.

GUILDENSTERN: What good would that do?

ROS: Practice!

GUIL: Statement! One-love.

ROS: Cheating!

GUIL: How?

ROS: I hadn't started yet.

GUIL: Statement. Two-love.

ROS: Are you counting that?

GUIL: What?

ROS: Are you counting that?

GUIL: Foul! No repetitions. Three-love.

...

GUIL: What's your name? 

ROS: What's yours?

GUIL: I asked first.

ROS: Statement. One-love.

GUIL: What's your name when you’re at home? 

ROS: What's yours?

GUIL: When I’m at home?

ROS: Is it different at home?

GUIL: What home?

ROS: Haven't you got one?

GUIL: Why do you ask?

ROS: What are you driving at?

GUIL: (With emphasis) What's your name?! 

ROS: Repetition. Two-love.

GUIL (seizing him violently): WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? 

ROS: Rhetoric! Game and match! (Pause.) Where's it going to end? 

GUIL: That's the question.

 

Partial source: The Oxford A to Z of Word Games (T.Augarde)