Thoughts & Crosses – Crime Fiction Edition

Whilst wading my way through my last read I got the idea for adapting an existing game. Thoughts & Crosses as shown below, was a game I was given as a gift many Christmases ago, and it is one which my family all enjoy playing.

In the original version each player receives a copy of the grid in use for that round. Your typical grid may look like this.

One player then spins the wheel to find out what the letter is for that round. The players all then have a set time to think of a word beginning with that letter for each of the categories on the grid. The sand timer in the actual game bizarrely seems to run for 1 minute 9 seconds.

However, the tricky part, once the round has ended, is that players only get a point for each answer, if no one else has it. So it is a case of not just thinking of any answer for each category, but of an answer no one else might think of.

So with this premise in mind I wondered what would happen if you tried to change the categories to fit the theme of crime fiction. In the end this was the grid I came up with…

And here is an example of what a completed grid might look like. The letter in this case was ‘B’.

 

I decided to share this, so others could have a go at it, and I thought it might help to pass the time. More importantly, it is a game that doesn’t take long to play and can work remotely, as long as everyone has access to the grid. I would recommend giving yourselves longer than 1 minute 9 seconds, given the niche nature of the grid. Perhaps 3 minutes?

I’ve also included a link to a random letter wheel spinner: https://wheeldecide.com/wheels/board-games/scattegories-spinner/

The only suggestion I would make is that when it comes to some categories you might wish to have players reference which book they got the idea from. For example with murder methods, whilst no one is going to be querying an answer like ‘knife,’ as there are so many books where someone gets stabbed, if someone wrote down ‘xylophone catapulted at victim and they choke on it,’ it might be reasonable to ask which text they are thinking of!

If you have a go let me know how you get on. I hope no one gets X or Q! And if you have other ideas for a new grid category let me know and if we get 9 new ideas, I could make another grid and put it up.