How to Play Ghost

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

Ghost is a spoken or written word game for two or more players requiring nothing but a shared vocabulary and, in its written form, pen and paper. Players build a letter string one character at a time, each trying to keep a valid word in progress without being the one who finishes it. The tension is simple and immediate: every letter you add narrows your options.

It is a fixture of long car journeys, classroom breaks, and family gatherings precisely because it needs no equipment and scales instantly from two players to a full room. The game rewards both breadth of vocabulary and the ability to bluff convincingly about where your letter is supposedly heading.

A little history

Ghost is a traditional word game whose exact origins are unclear. It has been played in English-speaking countries for well over a century and appears in early twentieth-century accounts of parlour and travel games. The game is widely documented in American and British game-playing literature from at least the 1930s onwards, though no single inventor or publication has been reliably identified as its source.

Setting up

1. Agree on a dictionary to use as the authority for disputed words, or nominate a trusted adjudicator.
2. Decide how many lives each player starts with. Five is standard; fewer speeds the game up for younger players.
3. Decide on a minimum word length if you wish. Many groups rule that words of three letters or fewer do not count as completions, preventing trivial one- or two-letter traps.
4. Choose a starting player by any agreed method. Play then proceeds clockwise.

How to play

1. The starting player says aloud (or writes down) any single letter. They must have a real word of the agreed minimum length in mind that begins with that letter.
2. The next player adds one letter, placed at the end of the current string. Again, they must be thinking of a genuine word that the current string could begin.
3. Play continues clockwise, each player adding exactly one letter per turn.
4. A player loses a life if they complete a word of the agreed minimum length or longer. The round ends immediately.
5. A player also loses a life if another player challenges them and they cannot name a real word that the current string could begin. If they can name such a word, the challenger loses a life instead.
6. A player loses a life if another player challenges them and their stated word is found to be invalid (not in the agreed dictionary).
7. After a life is lost, the losing player starts the next round with a fresh single letter.
8. Each life lost earns the player one letter of the word G-H-O-S-T in sequence.
9. A player who has accumulated all five letters, spelling GHOST, is eliminated from the game.
10. Eliminated players may interact with remaining players in the Superghost variation (see Variations) but in standard play they sit out.
11. The last player remaining who has not been eliminated wins.

Winning and scoring

A player wins by being the last person who has not spelled out the full word GHOST. Each life lost adds one letter: G, then H, then O, then S, then T. Spelling GHOST in full eliminates that player. With only two players, the first to be eliminated loses and the other wins outright. With three or more, play continues until only one active player remains.

The fine points

The most common dispute concerns what counts as a valid word in progress. The standard ruling is that the current letter string must be a genuine beginning of at least one real word of the agreed minimum length, not a word in itself if it is below that length. Proper nouns, abbreviations, and hyphenated forms are almost universally excluded unless the group agrees otherwise before play begins. If a player adds a letter that leaves no valid continuation possible, they may be challenged immediately; if no valid word can be shown, they lose the life without a challenge being needed in some house-rule sets, though the cleaner standard is to require an explicit challenge.

Timing of challenges matters. A challenge must be made before the next player adds their letter in standard play. Once the following player has gone, the moment to challenge the previous addition is lost. Where a player completes a word accidentally, having genuinely intended a longer word, the loss of life still stands: intent is irrelevant. The string is what matters, not the plan behind it.

How to win more often

• Steer the string toward letter combinations that are easy to extend for you but difficult for the player after you. Consonant clusters and uncommon endings are useful tools.
• Keep a mental list of words that begin with common two- and three-letter strings. The player who knows more valid continuations can bluff convincingly and challenge confidently.
• Challenge when you genuinely doubt your opponent, not as a fishing exercise. A failed challenge costs you a life, so only challenge when the string looks truly impossible to continue legitimately.
• Be cautious with common word endings. Adding -ING, -TION, or -ED to a string that already forms a root word is a common way to hand the round to your opponent, who will simply complete it.

Variations

Superghost

In Superghost, players may add their letter to either end of the string rather than only the right-hand end. This dramatically increases the complexity and the number of valid continuations, making the game significantly harder and more suitable for strong spellers. Challenges work identically: the string must be embeddable in a real word of the agreed minimum length.

Reversed Ghost

Players add letters only to the left-hand end of the string, building the string backwards. The same rules for completion and challenge apply. This variation catches many experienced players off guard because habitual word-building instincts work against you.

Team Ghost

Players are divided into two equal teams and alternate turns by team rather than by individual. A life lost is assigned to whichever player made the losing move, but a team is eliminated only when all its members have been ghosted. This format works well with larger groups of six or more.

Timed Ghost

Each player has a fixed number of seconds, typically five or ten, to add their letter. Failure to add a letter within the time limit counts as completing a word and costs a life. This removes the ability to stall and makes the game considerably more frantic, which suits younger players or groups who find standard play too slow.

Ghost: frequently asked questions