Book words for Alias — genres, libraries, writers

Bookmark, fairytale, librarian and epilogue. For people who read before bed.

A set about books from every side: what is inside them, how they come to be and where they live. Genres from the fairytale to the dystopia, the parts of a book from the cover to the footnote, the writer, the editor, the library and the bookshop. No titles or author names — so everyone plays, not only those who read the same thing.

Who this set is for

Anyone who went to school knows the first level: fairytale, poem, cover, dictionary. Then come blurb, edition and dust-jacket — words everyone has seen with a book in their hands, but not everyone can name. The third level — allegory, iamb, bookplate — is for people who read with a pencil or once sat a literature exam.

Who this set is for

A book club, teachers, literature students and anyone whose shelves at home have run out of room. The easy level plays well with children and teenagers — and reminds them that reading can be fun. Put the hard one where at least one person remembers school literary theory without peeking.

Bookmark

Works: “the strip you slip between the pages so you do not have to hunt for your place tomorrow.” An action everyone has done. Does not work: “a thing for a book” — the room names the cover, the shelf and the lamp before the word you want.

Footnote

Works: “the tiny star in the text that sends your eyes to the very bottom of the page.” Everyone remembers that eye movement. Does not work: “an extra explanation of the text” — note, preface and commentary all fit, and the room guesses at random.

Allegory

Works: “in a fable the fox is not a fox but a sly person.” One familiar example instead of a term. Does not work: “a literary device with a hidden meaning” — correct, but the room goes through metaphor, subtext and symbol and never reaches the word.

Where groups go wrong

The first trap is book titles and author names. “Like in that book about the boy wizard” feels like a shortcut, but players who never read it drop out of the round. Explain the thing itself, not an example from your shelf. The second is literature terms explained with a textbook definition. The room is not sitting an exam: quote a line that uses the device instead. The third is the parts of a book: cover, spine and endpaper blur together unless you show where they are. Hold an imaginary book and run your finger along it.

Show the parts of a book with your hands: "what you see on the shelf when the book stands sideways" is the spine.
Explain genres through what the reader feels: "you are scared to switch off the light" beats "horror".
Illustrate literary terms with a familiar line, not a textbook definition.

Easy

Familiar words that land on the first clue. For warming up, for kids and for mixed groups.

book, page, cover, author, writer, reader, library, librarian, shelf, fairytale, poem, poet, novel, story, hero, character, plot, ending, chapter, alphabet, letter, word, sentence, paragraph, line, text, picture, illustration, bookmark, textbook, dictionary, encyclopedia, magazine, newspaper, comic, album, notebook, pen, pencil, paper, diary, adventure, mystery, dragon, princess, wizard, witch, knight, pirate, treasure, map, riddle, fable, moral, bookshop, volume, font, comma, title, contents, language, storyteller, legend, myth, rhyme, fairy, giant, mermaid, lullaby, proverb, tongue-twister, essay, quill, ink, scroll, bookworm, bedtime, spelling, imagination, villain, castle, dwarf, monster, detective, spy, reading, series, part, drawing, joke, autograph, ghost, nursery, goblin, prince, cartoon, homework, elf, beginning, troll

Medium

Takes a few sentences and some imagination. The default setting for an ordinary evening.

genre, prose, poetry, verse, novella, anthology, collection, memoir, biography, atlas, catalogue, almanac, publisher, editor, proofreader, translator, translation, edition, hardback, paperback, dust-jacket, binding, spine, blurb, preface, foreword, afterword, epigraph, footnote, quotation, manuscript, draft, printing, bestseller, review, critic, prize, pseudonym, climax, twist, prologue, epilogue, monologue, dialogue, metaphor, simile, rhythm, stanza, sonnet, ballad, ode, limerick, haiku, tragedy, comedy, drama, satire, parody, dystopia, fantasy, thriller, horror, romance, saga, epic, chronicle, narrator, signing, fiction, whodunit, cliffhanger, flashback, setting, theme, dedication, index, appendix, copyright, royalties, deadline, ghostwriter, spoiler, fanfiction, audiobook, classic, sequel, prequel, original, episode, intrigue, motif, symbol, illustrator, recital, brochure, booklet, pamphlet, bookcase, reading-room, novelist

Hard

Rare or abstract words. More failed rounds, and more laughing at them.

allegory, hyperbole, oxymoron, allusion, archetype, subtext, leitmotif, narrative, exposition, denouement, iamb, pentameter, acrostic, palindrome, anagram, realism, romanticism, modernism, symbolism, futurism, classicism, baroque, bookplate, folio, codex, parchment, papyrus, lithograph, engraving, woodcut, censorship, samizdat, plagiarism, compilation, trilogy, personification, metonymy, inversion, refrain, quatrain, couplet, elegy, idyll, pastoral, treatise, epigram, aphorism, parable, folklore, bibliophile, antiquarian, bibliography, philology, literacy, canon, omnibus, abridgement, foreshadowing, pagination, typeface, italics, serif, glossary, erratum, typo, marginalia, dog-ear, frontispiece, endpaper, watermark, calligraphy, scribe, hieroglyph, cuneiform, press, typesetter, protagonist, antagonist, pathos, catharsis, hubris, nemesis, picaresque, utopia, alliteration, onomatopoeia, neologism, archaism, dialect, grotesque, satirist, patron, imprint, galley, epistle, vellum, illumination, chapbook, rhetoric, lexicon