The Classics
What everyone grew up playing
Boy's Name, Girl's Name, Surname, Animal, Bird, Colour, Fruit, Vegetable, Object in the Room
No category this round
?
Spin the alphabet or tap a letter below to start.
Timer off
The alphabet
26 of 26 still in play. A used letter locks until the board clears.
Space spin / A to Z pick a letter / R clear the board
How to play
One letter, one category, everyone writing at once. The arguments that follow are the point of the game. Four steps and you are playing.
Draw a letter
Hit spin and the board rolls to a letter, or tap one yourself. That letter is then locked out for the rest of the cycle, so nobody plays the same letter twice.
Take a category
Let the app draw one from your chosen packs, lock a single category for the whole alphabet, or switch categories off and agree on one out loud.
Write, then call stop
Everyone writes an answer starting with the letter. The round ends when the timer runs out or when the first person finishes and calls stop.
Score the answers
Read them out. Ten points for an answer nobody else wrote, five if you clashed with someone, nothing for a blank or a bluff. Tap the buttons on the scoreboard as you go.
Fifty categories in six packs
Switch whole packs on or off before you start, and the random draw only pulls from what you left on. Play the classics with children, or turn the curveballs loose on a table of adults and watch the scoring descend into a debate.
Around the World
Places, people, borders
Country, City, Capital City, River, Mountain, Language, Nationality, Famous Landmark
Food and Drink
Best played hungry
Food, Drink, Snack, Something Sweet, Something You Braai, Kitchen Item, Restaurant, Spice or Herb
Screens and Sound
Pop culture arguments start here
Movie, TV Show, Song, Musician, Actor, Book, Cartoon Character, Video Game
Home Ground
Zimbabwe edition
Zimbabwean Town, Local Dish, Shona or Ndebele Word, Local Musician, Local Brand, School in Zimbabwe, Street Slang
Curveballs
Where the table gets loud
Reason to Be Late, Something Cold, Something in a Hospital, Sport, Job Title, Car Brand, Something That Smells, Something You Fear, A Terrible Gift, Something in Your Pocket
Scoring
The usual rule: ten points for an answer nobody else wrote, five if you and someone else landed on the same one, nothing for a blank. A wrong answer that survives the table costs you nothing, which is why reading them out loud matters. The scoreboard has buttons for all three, and it reorders itself as the lead changes.
The same game under a dozen names
Nearly every country has a version of this, usually learned at school on the back of an exercise book. If you grew up calling it something else, this is the same game.
- Name, Place, Animal, ThingIndia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and much of Africa
- Stop the BusBritain, Ireland and southern Africa
- Categoriesthe United States and Canada
- Tutti FruttiArgentina, Chile and Uruguay
- BastaMexico and Central America
- Petit BacFrance
- Stadt Land FlussGermany and Austria
- City Country RiverGreece, Poland and the Balkans
Questions
What is Alphabet Arena?
It is a free random letter picker for the word game where a letter is called, a category is called, and everyone races to write an answer that starts with that letter. It runs in your browser with no sign up and no install.
How does it stop the same letter coming up twice?
Every letter you draw is locked out of the board. Once all 26 have been used the board clears itself, the cycle counter goes up, and the full alphabet is back in play. So a cycle never repeats a letter.
Can I set my own round length?
Yes. Alongside the 30, 60, 90 and 120 second presets there is a custom option that takes any length from 5 seconds to an hour. The clock starts the moment a letter lands and beeps through the last five seconds.
Will it remember our scores if I refresh the page?
Yes. Players, scores, used letters, the cycle number and your settings are saved in your browser and restored on refresh, and after closing the browser too. Nothing is uploaded anywhere, so the save is per device.
How many people can play?
As many as fit round the table. Add each player to the scoreboard and it ranks them live as you award points. Everyone shares one screen, so you only need one phone or laptop.
What categories can we play?
Around fifty across six packs: the classics like animal and fruit, places, food and drink, film and music, a Zimbabwe pack, and curveballs like a reason to be late or something in your pocket. Turn any pack on or off before you start.
What about the letters nobody can answer?
There is a switch that benches Q, X and Z. The board drops to 23 letters and the cycle wraps on the ones people can actually play.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. The board reflows down to a phone screen with tap targets big enough to use quickly, and it works offline once the page has loaded.