How to Play Telegrams

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

Telegrams is a pen-and-paper word game in which players use a given word as a skeleton, writing a complete message whose words begin with each letter of that word in order. The result is somewhere between a puzzle and a creative writing sprint, and the best telegrams are genuinely funny.

It is a natural fit for family dining tables, long journeys, and gatherings where you want something that needs no equipment beyond scraps of paper and a pen each. Because the judging is social rather than mechanical, it suits a wide age range and tends to produce the kind of loud disagreements that make a game memorable.

A little history

Telegrams belongs to the broad family of acrostic word games whose roots stretch back at least to Victorian parlour culture, when composing clever acrostics was considered a respectable drawing-room accomplishment. The specific format of writing a mock telegram around an acrostic appears in printed parlour game collections from the late nineteenth century. Beyond that, its precise origins are unclear, and no single inventor or date of first publication has been firmly documented.

Setting up

1. Seat all players around a table, or in any arrangement where each person can write privately.
2. Give every player at least one sheet of paper and a pen or pencil.
3. Agree before the first round whether players will choose their own seed words or whether one word will be chosen collectively for everyone.
4. Decide how rounds will be judged: by group vote, by a rotating single judge, or by awarding points for votes received.
5. Agree the number of rounds to be played, or set a time limit for the session.

How to play

1. A seed word is chosen. If players choose their own, each player writes a word of between five and eight letters privately at the top of their paper. If a shared word is used, one player calls it out and everyone writes it down.
2. Each player writes the letters of their seed word in a column down the left-hand margin of the paper, one letter per line.
3. Players now compose a telegram: a short, continuous message in which the first letter of each successive word matches the corresponding letter in the column.
4. The message must make grammatical sense and read as a plausible, if absurd, communication. Punctuation within the message is allowed and encouraged. Numbers written as words are permitted.
5. A time limit is agreed in advance, typically three to five minutes. When time is called, all players must stop writing immediately.
6. Each player reads their telegram aloud to the group, first announcing the seed word.
7. The group votes or the designated judge decides which telegram is best. The criterion is usually a combination of wit, coherence, and entertainment value, agreed before play begins.
8. Award one point to the winner of each round, or use whatever points system was agreed in setup.
9. Rotate who selects or announces the seed word each round. Play the agreed number of rounds, then tot up points.

Winning and scoring

The player with the most points at the end of the agreed number of rounds wins. Where a single judge is used, that judge awards one point per round to their chosen winner and cannot vote for themselves. Where a group vote is used, the player who receives the most votes wins the round and takes one point. Tied votes result in a shared point, or a tie-break round with a new seed word at the group's discretion. In casual play, the last telegram standing after a single elimination of laughs and groans is an equally valid finish.

The fine points

The most common dispute concerns proper nouns and abbreviations. Standard ruling: proper nouns count as valid words so long as they are genuinely part of the message rather than a cheat to cover an awkward letter. Abbreviations used as standalone words (such as OK or TV) are generally disallowed unless the group agrees otherwise before play. Articles and prepositions are valid words and count toward the acrostic like any other.

A second common argument is whether a telegram that does not quite make grammatical sense should be disqualified or merely penalised in voting. The cleanest ruling is to leave it to the judge or vote: disqualification is harsh in a social game and the voting process naturally punishes incoherence. Players who run out of time before completing every line should read what they have; an incomplete telegram can still compete, though it rarely wins.

How to win more often

• Choose a seed word with a good mix of common consonants and vowels. Words heavy in Q, X, or Z make coherent telegrams very hard for everyone.
• Draft your telegram as a single sentence or two before committing to paper. It is much easier to rejig the wording in your head than to cross out and rewrite under time pressure.
• Aim for absurdist specificity rather than vague wit. A telegram that references something concrete about the people in the room or the occasion almost always beats a generically clever one.
• Do not sacrifice grammar for a better word. A message that scans properly and reads aloud naturally will beat a more clever but clunky telegram in almost every vote.
• Save your strongest word for a letter early in the telegram, not at the end. Judges and listeners form their impression quickly, and a flat opening is hard to recover from.

Variations

Fixed Word for All

Instead of each player choosing their own seed word, the group agrees on a single word before each round and everyone writes their telegram using the same skeleton. This variant makes direct comparison easier and suits competitive play, since every player has faced exactly the same challenge.

Themed Telegrams

Before the round begins, the group names a theme: a wedding, a complaint to a hotel, a dispatch from a battlefield, and so on. Every telegram must fit the theme. Judging then rewards both acrostic skill and how convincingly the player inhabits the scenario, which adds a light role-play dimension to the game.

Longer Words

For experienced players, lift the ceiling on seed word length to ten or twelve letters, or allow players to use a short phrase rather than a single word, writing each letter of the phrase in sequence down the margin. This dramatically increases difficulty and tends to produce wilder, more surreal telegrams.

Speed Telegrams

Cut the writing time to ninety seconds and use only four-letter seed words. The compressed format rewards players who can free-associate quickly rather than polish carefully, and it keeps the game moving at a pace that suits younger or more restless groups.

Telegrams: frequently asked questions