Telephone 
Also known as: Chinese Whispers, Grapevine, Broken Telephone, Whisper Down the Lane, Gossip, Secret Message
Relaxing games Icebreaker games Junior youth games Circle games Large group games
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How To Play Telephone
A classic and fun party game for all ages!
1. Get players to sit in a circle facing inwards.
2. Pick a player to start. Tell this player to come up with a sentence or phrase and then whisper (or "pass it on") to the person next to them.
3. They must only whisper it once, even if the player next to them asks to hear it again.
4. Each player will then whisper it to the next player around the circle.
5. When the final player receives the whisper they must say what they heard out loud to the whole group. The starting player can then say what the initial phrase was and the group can marvel out how well they did in keeping the phrase correct, or laugh at how much it changed!
Find out more about the naming of this game
Themes
gossiping
Submitted by Joel on 23 May 2011 12:00:00
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Okay this is called telephone... jus sayin
LOL...no kidding...Who the heck changed the classic telephone game to "Chinese Whisper"? Not liking the implication/stereotype especially since the theme/lesson of this game is gossiping.
Hmm... well that's interesting. I've always grown up hearing "Chinese Whispers" used, but I've just had a look on wikipedia and see while it's got many names, Chinese Whispers is considered offensive in America and isn't used much. However in Australia, it's the common name for it.
"In the United States, "telephone" is the most common name for the game.[2] The name "Chinese whispers" reflects the former stereotype in Europe of the Chinese language as being incomprehensible.[3] It is little-used in the United States and may be considered offensive.[4] However, it remains the common British English name for the game.[5]"
A good lesson to learn, I think I'll change it to Telephone on the website.
ive lways known this game to be called gossip...
This is a GREAT game for youth groups. Depending on how you play (introduce) the game it is not offensive. Try using a Bible theme - maybe "Jesus said ..."