Shenanigans requires one bowl per group. Each bowl will contain a selection of congressional concepts and terms printed on slips of paper. See Sample Terms for Shenanigans for examples. There are 3 rounds to this game. After each round, all the phrases are placed back into the bowls and the round starts with the same words once again.

How to play:

 Each team will sit in a circle.

 The teams are set so that every-other-person is on a team (e.g., team A and team B).

 One person must be the recorder and write down the teams’ scores at the end of each round.

Round 1:

 The first person starts with the bowl of phrases and when the teacher says "go," he or she chooses a piece of paper and must get his or her team to guess the phrase.

 The student may say anything (except the words themselves – i.e., the student cannot say “bicameral” or “legislature” if the phrase is “bicameral legislature”) to get his or her team to guess the phrase. The student may point or mimic as well as speak.

 Once the team guesses the phrase the student chooses another phrase and continues within the rules above to get his or her team to guess. Make sure to set aside the phrase that the team guessed. DO NOT place it back into the bowl.

 The student continues pulling out phrases until the teacher rings the bell (30 seconds).

 If the student has a scrap of paper in his or her hand when the bell is rung, it must be placed back into the bowl.

 After the teacher rings the bell, the bowl is passed to the next person and he or she repeats steps 1-5.

 This round continues until all the phrases are gone and the bowl is empty.

 Once the bowl is empty, each team must pass their slips of paper to one representative for their team who must count the number of phrases that his or team guessed correctly.

 The recorder must write down the number and then move on to round 2.

Round 2:

 Round 2 is played exactly like round 1, except instead of the student being allowed to say anything to get his or her team to guess the phrase, he or she may only say 1 WORD.  Note that all the concepts or phrases were heard in the first round so students should try to remember what is being said in round 1 and the hints being used.

 1 word means 1 word, no exceptions -- “um” counts as a word!

 After the student says his or her 1 word, the team must guess the phrase. If the team does not get the phrase, the student cannot say or do anything else to give hints.

 There is no acting, pointing, or mimicking in this round, only 1 WORD.

 Each team will get 30 seconds to guess and if the team guesses, the student chooses another slip of paper out of the bowl and says 1 WORD as a hint.

 The round ends when the bowl is empty.

 Follow steps 8 and 9 from round 1 and add up the totals from round 1 and round 2.

 Move on to round 3.

Round 3:

 Round 3 is played exactly like rounds 1 and 2 except that students are not allowed to say anything to get their teams to guess. Students must ACT OUT the phrase.

 Students are allowed to point or mimic, but they are not allowed to talk or make any noises at all!

 Once the team guesses the phrase, the student chooses another slip of paper and continues to act out the phrases until time is called by the teacher. If a person has a paper in his or her hand when time is called, it must go back into the bowl.

 The round ends when the bowl is empty.

 Follow steps 8 and 9 from round 1 and get a final total to determine which team wins the game.