In the Manner of the Word

This is a game for when everyone is feeling relaxed after a long lunch, and is best suited to extraverts (especially version 1). Don’t bully shy people into it – let them be the audience.

1. One person leaves the room and those remaining choose an adverb (eg, madly, shyly, demurely – you can pick simpler ones for children), which the absent person has to guess. On coming back into the room, the guesser can either ask questions which the others have to answer in the manner of the word or ask a group of the other players to act out a situation, such as ‘robbing a bank’ or ‘cleaning your teeth’, in the manner of the word. Eg players could find themselves ‘robbing a bank’ – shyly 🙂
   
2. This way round it’s those who leave the room who have to think of an adverb and it’s for those remaining to guess.
   
   One or two players leave the room and think of an adverb. When they return the group then gives them situations to act out ‘in the manner of the word’, eg, milking a cow, picking someone up, being refused a drink in a pub.

Obviously, version 2 is less inhibiting as you have someone with whom to share the agony with if you want. 2 also tends to be funnier because you can match the situations to the participants.