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Quiz about Word Play
Quiz about Word Play

Word Play Trivia Quiz


A quiz for those that love all sorts of word puzzles and games. Whether you prefer to play in a team or individually, you might find your favorite in this quiz.

A multiple-choice quiz by mlcmlc. Estimated time: 3 mins.
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Author
mlcmlc
Time
3 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
389,373
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Easy
Avg Score
8 / 10
Plays
1286
Last 3 plays: Johnmcmanners (10/10), Triviaballer (9/10), MikeMaster99 (8/10).
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Question 1 of 10
1. One popular type of word game can often be found in a daily newspaper. Presented as a rectangle full of smaller filled and empty blocks, which of these puzzles does the player solve from Down and Across clues? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Which of these word-guessing games begins with a drawing of a gallows and a series of blanks which represent the number of characters to be guessed? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. This game uses a 4x4 tray, 16 cubic dice printed with a letter on each side, and a three-minute timer. Which game below is won by identifying the most and/or longest words that can be found displayed by the dice in the tray? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. Not for the faint of heart, one constrained writing techniques omits a letter throughout the composition. Which of these can be easily modified from a composition to a spoken game? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. Imagine a player confronted with a block of equidistant letters. To win, the player must find the hidden words. Which game does this describe? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. This game is often played on long car trips. For which of these games does each player add an additional letter to a word, and yet try to NOT complete a word? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. Which type of puzzle often uses a substitution cipher, presenting a challenge to the player to decrypt the text? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. Played with a 20-sided die, this game has each player write down words that fit into 12 selected categories. In which of these games do the other players determine whether an answer "fits" a specific category? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. This game is usually played in teams. One team tries to get the others to guess a word or phrase by miming. Which of these games often starts with a player miming the number of syllables to be guessed? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. This popular board game uses tiles with letters which are assigned specific point values. The letters are combined on the board to create words. Which of these board games can be played strategically to double or triple point scores? Hint



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Most Recent Scores
Sep 27 2024 : Johnmcmanners: 10/10
Sep 27 2024 : Triviaballer: 9/10
Sep 18 2024 : MikeMaster99: 8/10
Sep 04 2024 : Guest 69: 7/10
Aug 30 2024 : blam45: 9/10
Aug 29 2024 : Guest 69: 7/10
Aug 24 2024 : cms4613: 9/10
Aug 20 2024 : Guest 198: 9/10
Aug 20 2024 : chianti59: 9/10

Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. One popular type of word game can often be found in a daily newspaper. Presented as a rectangle full of smaller filled and empty blocks, which of these puzzles does the player solve from Down and Across clues?

Answer: Crossword

Though several forms of crosswords existed prior, Arthur Wynne is credited with the creation of a "word-cross" puzzle published in a 1913 "New York World" newspaper. His diamond-shaped grid is the predecessor of the crosswords we solve today.
2. Which of these word-guessing games begins with a drawing of a gallows and a series of blanks which represent the number of characters to be guessed?

Answer: Hangman

As play progresses each correct guess fills in one of the blanks. Each incorrect guess fills in part of the drawing. The person guessing wins if they can fill in all of the blanks before the drawing is completed.

Variants of the game can be played with a different picture, or the player guessing might be trying to complete a number sequence or a phrase.
3. This game uses a 4x4 tray, 16 cubic dice printed with a letter on each side, and a three-minute timer. Which game below is won by identifying the most and/or longest words that can be found displayed by the dice in the tray?

Answer: Boggle

The points for each player are ultimately determined by the length of the remaining words (after removing all duplicates for each player). Since its publication in 1972, there have been several variations published, including different sized trays and a Boggle Junior.
4. Not for the faint of heart, one constrained writing techniques omits a letter throughout the composition. Which of these can be easily modified from a composition to a spoken game?

Answer: Lipogram

This is a game that doesn't require a composition. Indeed, we used to play by pulling a letter from a Scrabble collection and then whoever could sensibly string together the most words in one or more sentences would win.

One example of a written lipogram is "Gadsby" a novel by Ernest Vincent Wright, a "50,000 word novel without the letter 'E'".
5. Imagine a player confronted with a block of equidistant letters. To win, the player must find the hidden words. Which game does this describe?

Answer: Word Search

For this type of puzzle the grids vary in size and thus difficulty. Some of these puzzles provide the words that the player is searching for. Some of the more difficult searches do not provide a list. Generally the rules allow that the words can be found horizontally, vertically or diagonally.

Some of the puzzle authors form them so that words can be found either forwards or in reverse.
6. This game is often played on long car trips. For which of these games does each player add an additional letter to a word, and yet try to NOT complete a word?

Answer: Ghost

Each time a player completes a word they earn a letter in the word "ghost"; once they have earned all of the letters in "ghost", they are eliminated from play. Though it can be played on paper, it's also a great car game because it doesn't need any equipment.
7. Which type of puzzle often uses a substitution cipher, presenting a challenge to the player to decrypt the text?

Answer: Cryptogram

Cryptograms often appear in newspapers; I first found them with the Sunday comic section puzzles. When using a simple substitution cipher, each letter has been swapped with its cipher. Many folk start by trying to solve the smaller words (one letter words are generally "A" or "I") and then solve the remaining words using letter patterns.
8. Played with a 20-sided die, this game has each player write down words that fit into 12 selected categories. In which of these games do the other players determine whether an answer "fits" a specific category?

Answer: Scattergories

Scattergories originally came to market in 1988. This game can be very challenging as it is required to think of 12 words constrained by the initial letter displayed on the die.

The game was adapted to become a game show hosted by Dick Clark in 1993.
9. This game is usually played in teams. One team tries to get the others to guess a word or phrase by miming. Which of these games often starts with a player miming the number of syllables to be guessed?

Answer: Charades

It's believed that the game of Charades started in France during the 18th century. The game has been played so often that there are many accepted sings that are commonly used. Some include tugging at an ear for "sounds like", or moving your hands farther apart could mean "more".
10. This popular board game uses tiles with letters which are assigned specific point values. The letters are combined on the board to create words. Which of these board games can be played strategically to double or triple point scores?

Answer: Scrabble

Scrabble® Brand Crossword Game was trademarked in 1948. Though interest grew steadily, it was rocketed to fame in 1952 when the president of Macy's placed a very large order for his store.

The game inventor, Alfred Mosher Butts, began developing the game when the architecture firm that he worked for laid him off in 1931 during the Great Depression. He calculated the letter frequencies based on several sources, including the "The Saturday Evening Post", "The New York Times", "The Herald Tribune" and a dictionary. His initial name for the game was "Lexiko". When he was re-hired by his firm, the game took a back seat and it wasn't until 1947 that James Brunot began producing the game and renamed it to Scrabble.
Source: Author mlcmlc

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor WesleyCrusher before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.
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This quiz is part of series this author's Adventures in Authoring #2:

Progressing through the Adventures in Authoring challenge gives the opportunity to write all kinds of quizzes. Here are some of the quizzes I created during the challenge.

  1. These Ten Tall Towers Average
  2. I'll Do That Easier
  3. Word Play Easier
  4. What's on Your Key Chain? Very Easy
  5. Let's Talk QWERTY Easier

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