Review games
Hot Potato Review
Students pass an object around while music plays.
Online classroom game
Pass the Bomb
The classic Pass the Bomb word game for the classroom. Show a challenge, light the fuse and pass a ball around. A hidden random timer ticks faster and faster until it explodes.
One challenge per line, like Name an animal or A word that rhymes with cat. Saved in this browser only. The share link carries your list inside it, so colleagues can open the same game without an account.
How to play Pass the Bomb
- Students sit or stand in a circle with a soft ball (the βbombβ).
- Show the challenge, for example βName a fruitβ, and press Light the fuse (or the space bar).
- Whoever holds the ball says an answer and passes it on. No repeats!
- The fuse burns on screen and the ticking speeds up, but the bomb can go off at any moment. Sometimes a twist pops up: Switch direction!
- When it explodes, the student holding the ball sits down or takes a letter of B-O-M-B. Playing in teams? Tap the team that was holding the bomb and every other team scores a point.
It is a fast-paced cousin of Hot Potato and Categories, and it is a great speaking game for ESL classes.
Keep playing
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Play it offline instead
Rules, variations and tips for similar games you can run with paper or nothing at all.
Review games
Categories
Pick a letter and a list of categories.
No prep
Word Chain
Each student says a word that starts with the last letter of the previous word: apple, egg, giraffe.
Questions teachers ask
Frequently asked questions
How long is the fuse?
It is random within the range you choose (short, medium or long), so nobody can count down. The fuse on screen shows the longest possible time, and the bomb can explode anywhere before the end.
What if a student cannot think of an answer?
Let classmates whisper a hint, or allow one βpassβ per student per round.