Be a Celebrity (Or Just Act like One)

The beauty of the game Celebrity lies in its simplicity. All you need are pens, paper, a watch, and a little bit of creativity. It’s a great game to play while camping or backpacking, or while sitting in your living room with a group of friends. It can get competitive, it can get silly, but it is always fun.

The game begins like this: every person writes three to five celebrity names on a slip of paper, which they keep secret. The definition of who a celebrity is can vary, but in general, it should be someone famous that over half of the crowd will know. For instance, celebrities can be rockstars (Ozzy Osbourne, Gwen Stefani, Elvis Presley), politicians (Condolezza Rice and Bill Clinton are always favorites), historical figures (Annie Oakley, Thomas Jefferson), and even fictitious but well-known icons (Ronald McDonald, Rainbow Brite). Celebrities that are only famous to you, like “my first kitty, Buttons,” are not allowed. 

After everyone has written their celebrities on a scrap of paper, the pieces are folded in half and put in a bowl, hat, or similar container. Then people are split into teams. Teams should be a minimum of two and a maximum of four or five.

Round #1

During the first round, a player (or caller) from the first team picks a name from the bowl. Using any descriptor of the celebrity except for the person’s name or letters in their name, they try to get their teammates to guess the celebrity. For instance, if the player picks the name “Ozzy Osbourne,” they might say, “lead singer of Black Sabbath; used to bite the heads off rats onstage; had a reality show on MTV ...” As soon as their team correctly guesses the celebrity, the caller moves onto the next name. This continues for one minute and the number of celebrities they guess is the number of points they receive.

After one minute, the next team goes, trying to guess as many celebrities as they can in one minute. This continues until all the names have been picked from the bowl. Then the teams move onto round two.