How to Play Consequences

By Jaques of London · Est. 1795 · Updated 2026-08-17

Consequences is a pen-and-paper parlour game in which players collaborate on a story without seeing what anyone else has written. Each person fills in one section of a fixed narrative template, folds the paper to conceal their words, and passes it to the next player. When every section is complete, the papers are unfolded and the results read aloud to the group.

Its appeal is simple: the stricter each player keeps their contributions to the given prompt, the funnier the collision of unconnected ideas becomes. It requires no special equipment, no reading ability beyond that of the youngest player, and scales easily from a kitchen table to a large party. It is a staple of family gatherings, school trips, and rainy-afternoon entertainment.

A little history

Consequences has been played in British households since at least the Victorian era, and references to it appear in late-nineteenth-century parlour-game guides. The Surrealist artists of the 1920s adopted a version of it under the name Exquisite Corpse and used it as a creative technique, though that adaptation is distinct from the traditional British parlour game. Beyond those broad landmarks, the precise origins of Consequences are unclear.

Setting up

1. Give every player a sheet of paper and something to write with.
2. Agree on the standard narrative sequence before the first round begins (see How to Play for the full sequence).
3. Decide how many rounds you want to play: one round per player is a common starting point.
4. Choose who writes first, or simply have everyone start simultaneously on their own sheet.

How to play

1. Every player writes an adjective describing a person or character at the top of their sheet, for example 'enormous' or 'nervous'.
2. Each player then writes a name for that character: a real person, a fictional figure, or an invented name. This is the first character.
3. Fold the paper down so the writing is completely hidden, leaving a small blank strip visible, then pass the sheet to the player on the left.
4. On the sheet received, write 'met' (or assume it is implied), then an adjective and a name for a second character.
5. Fold and pass again.
6. Write where the two characters met, beginning with 'at' or 'in', for example 'in the supermarket car park'.
7. Fold and pass.
8. Write what the first character said to the second, introduced with 'He said' or 'She said' or 'They said'.
9. Fold and pass.
10. Write what the second character said in reply, introduced the same way.
11. Fold and pass.
12. Write 'And the consequence was...' followed by an outcome or event.
13. Fold and pass one final time.
14. Write 'And the world said...' followed by a one-line reaction or moral.
15. All players unfold their sheet completely and take turns reading the full story aloud from top to bottom, inserting any missing connective words so the narrative flows.
16. Repeat from step 1 with fresh sheets for as many rounds as agreed.

Winning and scoring

Consequences is traditionally played without scoring or winners. The reward is the laughter produced when the stories are read aloud. If your group wants a competitive element, players may vote after each round for the funniest completed story, and the author of the winning sheet earns a point. The player with the most points after all rounds are played wins. There is no single authoritative scoring system: any simple tally agreed before play begins is equally valid.

The fine points

The most common dispute is whether players may peek at previous contributions before writing their section. The standard ruling is no: the fold must fully conceal everything written above it. If a player accidentally sees earlier text they should ignore it. A second common question is how much of the fold to reveal when passing: convention is to leave only a tiny portion of the preceding line visible if continuity requires it (for example, leaving the last word of a sentence exposed so the next player knows where to continue), but many groups prefer total concealment and find the discontinuity funnier.

Some players challenge whether a contribution is 'in the spirit' of the prompt, for example writing a full paragraph where a single name was expected. The practical ruling is to keep each section brief: one word, a short phrase, or at most one sentence per prompt. Long contributions slow the game and reduce the surprise factor. If a player finishes their section before others, they should wait quietly without hinting at what they wrote.

How to win more often

• Be specific rather than vague: 'the frozen-food aisle of a motorway service station' lands harder than 'a shop'.
• Resist the urge to be deliberately absurd. Straight-faced, realistic contributions produce the biggest laughs when combined with everyone else's.
• Vary the register of your contributions across rounds: grandiose language in one round, mundane detail in the next.
• Keep your section short. A single sharp phrase beats a sprawling sentence that is hard to read aloud smoothly.
• When reading aloud, commit fully and read without editorial comment. Let the text speak for itself: interrupting to say 'this is funny' kills the joke.

Variations

Picture Consequences

Instead of words, players draw. The first player draws a head and neck at the top of the paper, folds it over leaving only the base of the neck visible, and passes it on. The next player draws a torso down to the waist, folds, and passes. Subsequent players add hips and legs, then feet. The finished figure is revealed at the end. This version works particularly well with younger children or mixed groups where writing speed varies.

Exquisite Corpse (text variant)

Rather than following the fixed story template, each player simply continues a piece of prose or poetry from the last word or line left visible after the fold. There is no prescribed structure: the text can go anywhere. This version, associated with the Surrealist movement of the 1920s, produces stranger and often more poetic results than the traditional narrative format.

Celebrity Consequences

Players agree beforehand to use only real, well-known public figures for all character slots. The named people must be genuinely recognisable to every player in the group. This variant tends to produce more pointed comedy but can date quickly and should be steered away from anything cruel if children are present.

Shortened Three-Section Version

For younger children or very short sessions, reduce the sequence to just three sections: a character name, where they went, and what happened there. Three passes per sheet keeps the game moving fast and prevents younger players from losing interest during a long series of folds. The results are less elaborate but the pace is better suited to mixed-age groups.

Consequences: frequently asked questions