Tableau

What it feels like

Once upon a time, something happened to this group that none of you has ever forgotten. Tonight, you are going to stand very, very still inside it. Here's how it works. In a private turn, you each write down one moment this room would recognise. Then one of you steps out. The rest of you get thirty seconds to freeze into one of those moments, like a painting. No words. The guesser comes back, takes a good look, and picks which moment it is. The right moment is two points for the guesser, and one for everyone in the scene.

How to play

1. In a private turn, write one moment this group would recognise, like “the night the tent blew away”.
2. Each round, one of you leaves the room or covers their eyes. Everyone else gets a moment and thirty seconds to freeze into it. No words.
3. The guesser comes back, takes a good look, and picks which moment it is from four.

Scoring: 2 points to the guesser for the right moment, and 1 to everyone in the scene. Whoever wrote the moment scores 1 more.

You'll get prompts like

• “A moment this group would recognise straight away”
• “A time something went wrong on a trip”

Playing safely

Freeze in your own space: no lifting each other, no climbing on furniture, nothing breakable in a pose. The guesser waits somewhere safe, not on the stairs.

What you need

4 to 10 people and one phone, tablet or laptop to pass around — or everyone on their own phone in a room. Nothing to download, no accounts. The best lines can be sealed into your group's Almanac and come back in later games.

More games like this

• Tiny Joys
• Childhood Rooms
• The Tally
• Quiet Kudos
• Recipe Relay
• Campfire Legend