Act It Out Game

The Act It Out Game (best for 4-8 players; moderately easy for beginners)

(previously called the Patterns/Anti-Patterns Game)

1. Appoint one player as timekeeper. Have the timekeeper lay out 12 cards dealt at random so that all players can see them. 
2. Youngest person starts and turn passes to the left. Each turn lasts one minute.
3. On their turn, each player begins to 'act out' one of the 12 displayed patterns  i.e. behaving & talking in a way that exemplifies 1 of the 12 displayed patterns. They cannot say any of the words in the title of the pattern in doing so (if they do, their turn immediately ends). The 'acting' has to be authentic as if you were in a real-life facilitation setting. So if you’re acting out ‘circle’ you might say “let’s arrange all the chairs so everyone can see everyone else”, but you can’t say “a round shape is a…”
4. The remaining players attempt to identify which pattern is being exemplified. 
5. If someone guesses incorrectly, the actor continues without responding and the person guessing incorrectly cannot guess again on that turn. 
6. When someone guesses correctly, the actor stops, acknowledges the correct guess and both the actor and correct guesser receive a point (timekeeper keeps score). 
7. The actor can then immediately start acting out a pattern exemplifying or contradicting another of the 12 displayed patterns to get more points until the timekeeper signals that their minute is up. You can switch to a different pattern if you're struggling.
8. Once the minute is up, the timekeeper removes the card(s) correctly guessed and replaces them with fresh cards, 
9. Turn passes to the left. NB: On the timekeeper's turn to act, the player to their left acts as timekeeper.
10. After each player has had 3 turns, game ends & player with the most points wins. 
11. Any actor who gets 8 or more points on their turn has to act charades-style (i.e. speaking no words) on their next turn to act. If they get 8 or more points again, on their next turn they have to draw the patterns, Pictionary-style. Inspiration: Cranium, Pictionary, Charades