The Movie Game
Show Your Knowledge of Film, Movies, Trivia, Actors and Hollywood.
Play the movie game with your friends, your family-or even play against yourself!
Players: 1-infinity (probably no more than ten)
How To Play:
- Pick the last movie you watched (can be one you saw on TV.)
- Name another movie that has an actor in the first movie
- Continue until someone passes out. Great for car trips and beer drinking!
Detailed Rules:
Movies may only be used once. Once used they are "out" and may not be used again.
No writing down or recording what movies are played.
Movies that change titles may not be used more than once.
Remakes can be linked to each other providing that the actors are playing different characters.
No sequels (i.e. Indiana Jones) or franchises (James Bond) may be played back-to-back.
Movies that are cable-only, TV movies or direct-to-video do not count.
Movies that were released theatrically outside the U.S. may be played.
No TV shows or series may be used.
Movies based on TV shows may be played as normal.
No movies that have yet to be released may be played.
Reversing Flow:
When playing in a group of three or more, all sequels reverse the flow of play, once a movie in that franchise has been played. For example, if play is going to the left, you can name a James Bond movie (provided Bond has already been used once) and change the direction so play goes to the right. This can be done as much as you like provided that the sequels are not used back-to-back.
Actor Round:
Call out the name of an actor who is in a movie you just used. Everyone playing must name a movie with that actor in it going once around the table. If play reverses, then the round stops when it goes back to the original caller.
Etiquette:
- Players MAY ask for help from other players. Asking "Who's in it?" is acceptable and safer than guessing.
- Cooperation is encouraged to keep play flowing.
- If conversation turns away from play, asking "Where were we?" to resume is very acceptable.
Competitive Play:
- Strikes are awarded in competitive play for mistakes.
- If you catch your mistake quickly, (before your opponent says "That's a strike") then it doesn't count against you.
- Three strikes and you're out--you get to watch. If the game is good, play to five strikes.
- If you are stuck, you can ask for another movie or another link. Players should decide whether the person stuck is penalized with a strike or point deduction.
- IMDB is final judgment call on all questions.
Scoring and "Double Links"
Score one point per link, and five for a "double link" (two actors in the same movie), ten for a "triple", etc. This makes the four Christopher Guest mockumentaries (which all have ten or more actors in common) incredibly valuable--and that might unbalance the game.
What Counts? And What Doesn’t?
- Actors who only appear in “Special Editions” or “Directors Cuts” of movies COUNT and may be played normally.
- Just because an actor plays a different character in three different movies in a franchise does not mean you can connect through them. No exceptions.
- You cannot connect two movies through two different actors playing the same character.
- Voice actors of puppets, animated and CGI films COUNT.
- Animated characters who make cameos COUNT.
- Voice actors who play CGI characters in live-action movies COUNT.
- Actors playing "themselves" COUNT. That includes musicians and Ed Sullivan.
- Animal actors COUNT, provided it is the same animal movie to movie. Example: Bart the Bear appears in both The Bear and The Edge.
- Just being "on the soundtrack" DOES NOT COUNT.
- Cameo appearances and walk-on extras COUNT provided you know the name of the extra.
- Documentaries COUNT. Mockumentaries of course, count too!
- Actors appearing in a movie on television in another movie? They COUNT.
- Voice-over actors count for links. That includes dubbing actors like Vincent Cassell who does a lot of work dubbing English movies into French, etc. Also known as: the Totoro rule.
- Cameos that are deleted and included on DVD extras....COUNT.
What do you think about this article?
More in Film & TV
Latest Articles