** Tip: Password! is a great game for History, Social Studies, Math, Vocabulary, and Science. The example included is for history, but the game can easily be adapted by simply changing the content of the written “passwords.”

Created by: Project H volunteer designers, in collaboration with educators in and around the San Francisco Bay Area

A password relay – quickest team to decode their passwords in a row wins!

Age group: Grades 3-8, Ages 7-13

Number of students recommended: 25 students

Subjects/skills learned: Core subjects (math concepts, science questions, history, social studies, vocabulary, etc.), descriptive language/communication, creative thinking.

Object of the game: The team that guesses each of their team’s members “passwords” in a row, wins.

Setup: The teacher will write a “password” on one side (the backside) of each tire. A “password” could be a historical figure, a number, a vocabulary word, a date, etc. All of the passwords should be written on the tires facing the same direction (on the backside of the tires). Divide the class into five teams of five, and have each team line up in front of one row of tires.

Game Play: When the teachers says “Go!”, the games starts. The first student from each team sits on the first tire, look at the password (written on the backside of the tire), then turns around and gives clues to the next student in line on their team. They cannot say any form of the “password”, but must give clues for the next students to guess the “password”. When the next student guesses correctly, that student will then run to the second tire in their row, look at the “password”, then turn around and give clues to the student on the first tire. When that “password” is guesses correctly, then the third student in line runs to the third tire, looks at the “password”, turns around and gives clues to the student on the second tire, trying to get them to guess the “password”. This repeats until the last “password” is correctly guessed. It is a “password relay”. Once the last password has been correctly guessed, the team yells, “Password!” to show that they are finished.

Game Conclusion: This repeats until the last “password” is correctly guessed. The first team to correctly guess all of their “passwords” in a row – wins!

Examples: The first student from Team #1 runs to the first tire, sees that the word is “Thomas Jefferson”, then turns around to the next student in line on the team and says “He wrote the Declaration of Independence”. The second student correctly answers, “Thomas Jefferson!” and runs to the second tire. The second students looks at that word and sees that it is “Washington, D.C.” – then turns back to the student on the first tire and says “the capitol of the United States”. Then the third student runs to the third tire and the process repeats until all five passwords have been guessed correctly.

Tips and Variations:

• Have teams switch tire rows and replay the game (this way, the “passwords” don’t have to be changed).
• Increase the level of difficulty by having predetermined words as “off-limits”.
• Increase the level of difficulty by limited the amount of clues to 5 words.
• Increase the level of difficulty by non-allowing words to be used as clues, only non-verbal communication. Try using emotions or adjectives as passwords in this scenario.
• Increase the level of difficulty by having predetermined words as “off-limits”.
• Decrease the level of difficulty by having everyone on the team guess the “password” together.