Now the first and most important rule of this game is in the title. The yardsticks are never, ever to be used as swords. In fact, I had to tell the kids to start dueling just to get the cute picture above.

This vocabulary game or review game is a modification of the Flyswat Vocabulary game. We actually started playing this game this year because I didn’t want my walls scratched up, and I needed a quieter game. So, I made this up!

To prepare for this game, you just need some review questions or practice test questions for concepts that can simply be selected. This could be vocabulary words, historical dates, ellipses graphs, Spanish words, anything! You write one word or answer on each sheet of colored paper, and then lay them flat in a random order. I also use my game line, where students must stand behind.

To play the game, divide the class into two large groups, and have each team send up one “dueler.” The yardstick-is-not-a-sword must remain tip down on the floor until the clue has been read and the teacher says the magic word “go.”

The play of the game is simple really. The teacher reads a clue, and then the two students compete to be the first one to touch the correct answer with their yardstick. Once a student chooses a word, if he is right, he gets the point. If he is wrong, he is suspended until his opponent makes a choice. If both students are wrong, the teacher then provides an additional clue and play resumes.

The team with the most points wins! It is that simple! Teams can coach their duelers as much as they want, but they shouldn’t yell their answers because the other team will steal. This game takes about 20-30 minutes to play, and your high school students will love it! Remember the yardsticks-are-not-swords!

Play with your words,

D’Lee, AKA Mrs. P

PS: You may notice playing cards around the room. Today we chose our teams by choosing a card. I use this method a lot for randomly mixed teams.