The Name Game – Friday Fun

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Its school holidays here in Queensland, two long weeks which often generate challenges for parents. The greatest challenge for me is keeping my nine-year-old busy, so I’ve resorted to some of the old games I played as a child to keep him entertained. The deck of cards came out, as did board games like Guess Who, and Monopoly. But there was one game that has captured both our imaginations, long after its initial introduction.

It’s a word game. My sister and I called it the ‘Name Game’, and would play it continuously throughout the holidays. We would each get a piece of paper, draw columns, and place a topic at the top of each column. The first topics would always be “boy’s name” and “girl’s name”, and then others would follow – animal, place, thing, and even car, flower, or movie. Then one of us would think through the alphabet, while the other would yell, ‘stop’. The letter the stop fell on was the first letter of all the topics we had to name.

I’ve internet searched this game and some call it the Boy/Girl game, while others say it’s a word game – whatever its correct title, its lots of fun. And Tully and I took it to a whole new level. Rather than have the first one finished as winner of that letter, we decided to make the winner the most creative answer. This had some imaginative and hilarious results.

I have also concluded that this game can be very inspiring. Both Tully and I fell upon some magnificent options for future character names--we discussed geographical places, both real and imagined, and laughed over the ‘things’ we could come up with (have you ever tried to think of a ‘thing’ beginning with the letter X that wasn’t an X-Ray or Xylophone?)

Because I found this simple but creative game so much fun--and surprisingly helpful--I thought we could share a round as a Friday fun challenge. So the most creative, interesting, and fun answers to one of the letters below will win a $20 Amazon voucher.

NO GOOGLING IDEAS PLEASE – this is all about getting the creative juices flowing!

Rules: Using one of these letters: W, X, Y, Z, state your best and most creative:

-          Boys Name

-          Girls Name

-          Animal (either a species or a specific breed)

-          Place (of any kind, real or fictional)

-          Thing (basically anything not living)

The most creative will win (as judged by an impartial judge—my son, Tully.)

My Effort:

Boys Name – Walter Nathaniel (also known as a Coral Trout fish.  Old NQ fisherman’s term apparently ;-) )

Girls Name – Wilhelmina

Animal – Wobbegong (a carpet shark)

Place – Woop Woop, (Aussie fictional place - could be anywhere, but generally the middle of nowhere!)

Thing – Whirlybird (device attached to the roof to draw hot air out)

Now it’s your turn!

Entries close midnight Queensland time, Monday 13^th July . 

Author - Rose Dee

Rose, who holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree, was born in North Queensland, Australia. Her childhood experiences growing up in a small beach community would later provide inspiration for her first novel, 'Back to Resolution'.
Her novels are inspired by the love of her coastal home and desire to produce exciting and contemporary stories of faith for women.

'Beyond Resolution' and 'A New Resolution' are the second and third books in the Resolution series.

Rose’s debut novel 'Back to Resolution' won the Bookseller’s Choice award at the 2012 CALEB Awards, while 'A New Resolution' won the 2013 CALEB Prize for Fiction.

She has also released 'The Greenfield Legacy', a collaborative novel, written in conjunction with three other outstanding Australian authors.

Rose resides in Mackay, North Queensland with her husband, young son, and mischievous pup, Noodle.

Visit Rose at: http://rosedee.com/