How to Play MASH

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

MASH is a pen-and-paper game for two players in which one player's fictional future life is revealed through a simple counting-out process. The acronym stands for Mansion, Apartment, Shack, and House, the four housing options that give the game its name, though players typically add several more categories covering career, partner, number of children, car, and wherever else imagination takes them.

Its appeal is straightforward: it costs nothing, needs only a scrap of paper and a pen, and produces results that feel just surprising enough to be funny. It is a staple of classrooms, long car journeys, and sleepovers, and it transfers easily to any setting where two people have a few minutes and something to write with.

A little history

The precise origin of MASH is unclear. It was widely played in playgrounds and classrooms across the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia from at least the 1960s onwards, and most accounts of its spread are anecdotal. The acronym itself and the core counting-out mechanic appear to have evolved through oral tradition rather than through any single documented source. Some researchers link its fortune-telling structure to older paper-folding and counting games, but no authoritative record pins down a specific inventor, date, or country of origin.

Setting up

1. Sit side by side or across from each other so both players can see the paper.
2. The player whose future is being told is called the Subject; the other player is the Writer.
3. The Writer draws four columns across the paper and writes a category heading at the top of each. Standard categories are: Home (MASH options go here), Partner, Job, and Number of Children. Add or swap categories by mutual agreement before play begins.
4. Under the Home heading, write the four options: Mansion, Apartment, Shack, House.
5. For every other category, the Subject calls out three options they genuinely want, and the Writer adds a fourth option of the Writer's choosing. The Subject must not veto the Writer's choice.
6. All options are now written on the paper and visible to both players. Do not begin counting until the spiral is complete.

How to play

1. The Subject closes their eyes. The Writer begins drawing a tight clockwise spiral in a spare corner of the paper.
2. The Subject says 'stop' whenever they choose. The Writer immediately stops drawing and counts the number of rings in the spiral from the centre outward. This number becomes the Count. If the spiral has fewer than three rings, redraw it; a Count of less than three makes the game unplayable.
3. Both players note the Count. The spiral is now discarded and plays no further part.
4. The Writer places a finger at the very first option listed on the paper (the M of MASH) and begins counting through every option on the sheet in order, going left to right across each row, then moving to the next row, cycling back to the top when the bottom is reached.
5. When the running total reaches the Count, that option is crossed out and eliminated. Continue counting from the next remaining option, skipping all crossed-out entries.
6. Every time a category is reduced to exactly one surviving option, draw a circle around that option. It is now locked in as part of the Subject's fate. Continue counting through the remaining uncircled options only; circled options are skipped as well.
7. When every category has exactly one circled survivor, counting stops. The Writer reads the Subject's fate aloud using all the circled options in a sentence.
8. Players swap roles for the next round if they wish.

Winning and scoring

MASH has no winner in the competitive sense. The game ends when every category has been reduced to one surviving option, and the Writer reads the resulting fate aloud. The entertainment comes from the combination of outcomes rather than from any score. If players wish to add a competitive layer, they may agree beforehand that certain outcomes (typically the ones the Subject most wants to avoid) count as a loss, and tally results across multiple rounds.

The fine points

The most common dispute concerns whether circled options should be counted through or skipped. The standard ruling is that they are skipped entirely once circled, keeping the pace of elimination consistent. A second dispute arises when the Count lands exactly on an option that is the last remaining in its category: the correct ruling is to cross it out as normal, then immediately re-enter the game by placing the circle on whichever option was most recently passed over in that category. If no option was passed over because the category had exactly two remaining and the Count hit the first, circle the other one.

Players sometimes disagree on how to handle a Count of one, which would eliminate every option it lands on immediately without meaningful play. Redraw the spiral if the Count comes out as one or two. A Count of three is the workable minimum. There is also occasional confusion about whether the Writer's forced fourth option must be realistic: house rules vary, but the most entertaining version allows the Writer to choose anything, however absurd, provided it fits the category in the loosest sense.

How to win more often

• When adding your three genuine options, include one outcome you are fairly neutral about. This gives the counting process more room to reach an outcome that surprises you, which is the point of the game.
• As the Writer, place your forced fourth option strategically. Putting an undesirable option last in a category means it survives longer in the count cycle, which slightly increases its chance of being the final survivor.
• Count carefully and out loud. Mistakes in the count are the most common source of arguments and they compound quickly once several options are eliminated.
• Agree on all categories and options before the spiral is drawn. Changing a category mid-game creates disputes about whether earlier eliminations were fair.
• If you are playing multiple rounds, vary your genuine options rather than repeating the same three each time. The counting process is fixed once the Count is set, so your only real input is in the setup.

Variations

Extended Categories

Players agree on six or more categories before the game begins, commonly adding options such as pet, holiday destination, or salary. Each extra category adds time and increases the chance of a memorable combination. Keep the four-options-per-category rule (three from the Subject, one from the Writer) regardless of how many categories are used.

Fixed Count

Instead of using the spiral to generate the Count, both players agree on a number between four and ten before play begins. This removes the randomness of the spiral entirely and suits players who prefer a more deliberate pace. It also makes the game faster to teach to younger children who find drawing and counting the spiral confusing.

Themed Round

All categories and their options are constrained to a single theme chosen before setup, such as fantasy, space exploration, or a specific film or book series. The Subject still picks three options per category and the Writer adds one, but everything must fit the theme. This version works particularly well for groups with a shared interest and produces more cohesive, story-like results.

Competitive MASH

Both players each take a turn as the Subject in the same session, using the same Count generated from a single shared spiral. The player whose resulting fate is judged (by a mutually agreed standard set before play, such as most desirable or most ridiculous) to be the better outcome wins the round. Tally wins across an agreed number of rounds to find an overall result.

MASH: frequently asked questions