Girl Guide Taboo card game

Last term the Guides held a board game night bringing out the classics such as snakes and ladders and my personal favourite, Taboo. The girls had a great time playing Taboo (the game of unspeakable fun!) so I decided to make them a Guiding version that they could play during Patrol time.

If you have never played this game before, don't worry, the rules are very simple!

Preparation:

Print and cut out the Taboo cards (download available below). Make sure to laminate them so they will last!

Equipment needed:

Timer/stopwatch

Taboo cards

Aim: To provide your Patrol with relevant clues so that they guess your taboo word (the word in blue at the top)!

How to play: 

1. Have a Guide select a Taboo card.

2. Her aim is to have her Patrol guess the word at the top of the card (in blue section). She must do this by providing clues about the word, without using this word nor any of the taboo words (the ‘do not say’ words at the bottom of the card).

3. Variations of the words listed are also not accepted eg. If the word is camping, you may not use the word camp in your clues.

4. Set a timer at 1 minute and have the girls do their best to provide clues.

5. The other Patrol members may call out their guesses. 

6. If anyone correctly guesses the word, she earns that card as a point.

7. Move clockwise around the group so everybody gets a turn, not just those good at guessing the answer.

Example of what you could say if you drew the Thinking Day card (see card below):

"This is a special occasion celebrated by our unit and our fellow girls in uniform all over the globe. It is an annual event and gives us the opportunity to reflect and remember people in other countries. Sometimes we hold a party, perform a flag ceremony, dress up or even raise money to donate to others on this day. The date of this occasion is early in the year and happens to be an anniversary for two of the most important members of our organisation."

As you can see, this game is perfect for someone like me who always uses too many words and tends to babble! You need to say everything you can think of, hoping that your Patrol will be able to guess what you are talking about! Remember you cannot use any of the words listed on your card - this includes the words in the acronyms once they are expanded. 

For more detailed instructions and variations of play go to: http://www.chesapeake.edu/students/activities/TabooRules.PDF

The cards are available as a download at the bottom of the post. There are three files - a generic Girl Guide edition (example above) along with two other versions with terminology specific to Girlguiding UK and Girl Scouts of America (see examples below). I have also included two blank pages of cards on the first download so that you can create your own cards!

Example cards Girlguiding UK edition:

Example cards Girl Scouts of the USA edition:

Download: Taboo Card Game: Girl Guide edition

Download: Taboo Card Game: Girlguiding UK

Download: Taboo Card Game: Girl Scouts of the USA

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for new cards or see anything that needs to be edited! Thank you and enjoy!!

Special thanks to Sunny2nd, ker-stee and akl on the Guiders forum for their input in creating this resource!