Myths & Legends Alias words — 300 words on gods and heroes

Zeus, the Minotaur, Thor and the Sphinx. A game where you get through the labyrinth without saying "bull".

A set for everyone who grew up on Greek myths and later met Thor, Anubis and King Arthur. Here are the Olympians and their Roman doubles, the Norse world of Asgard and Valhalla, Egyptian pharaohs and scarabs, Slavic gods and spirits, plus the heroes, monsters, magic objects and famous episodes everybody knows from books, cartoons and blockbusters.

Why mythology makes a great Alias theme

Myths are a language everyone shares: kids meet Hercules at school, adults meet Thor at the cinema, and Prometheus turns up in every philosophy class. Each name comes with a vivid story, so there is always something to explain with. The first level is what any ten-year-old knows: dragon, mermaid, trident, pyramid. The second holds the gods and heroes grown-ups remember by name. The third is for the real fans: Ragnarok, Charybdis, the Moirai and the words scholars use to talk about myth.

How to play with your group

Make a room on one phone and drop the link in the group chat — everyone joins from their own phone, no app and no sign-up. The set works in a history or literature lesson, at a kids' party on the easy level, and with grown-up friends where somebody definitely read the Greek myths as a child. Mix the teams so each has its own history buff: they will catch Persephone, the others will catch Thor from the films. Three rounds take about half an hour.

Minotaur

Works: "half man, half bull, kept in the labyrinth on Crete until Theseus killed it". The place and the killer rule out every other monster. Fails: "a Greek monster" — the team will run through the cyclops, Medusa and the hydra before they ever reach the bull.

Pandora

Works: "the first woman, who opened the box she was told never to open and let all the evils out — only hope stayed inside". The box gives it away. Fails: "a woman from Greek myth" — the team will guess Helen, Athena and Medusa first.

Ragnarok

Works: "the Viking end of the world: the wolf Fenrir swallows Odin and the gods fight the giants". An abstract word lands through one concrete picture. Fails: "the Norse apocalypse" — the team will say "doomsday" and "Armageddon" and never hit the word.

Where groups trip up

The first trap is the doubles: Zeus and Jupiter, Aphrodite and Venus, Ares and Mars are the same gods under two names. If you get the Roman one, say "the Romans called him" or name the planet. The second is look-alike monsters: the hydra, the chimera, Cerberus and the dragon all have several heads or breathe fire. Find the one detail: how many heads, what it guards, who beat it. The third is explaining through a film or a game — not everyone saw the same series. Tell the myth itself; there is always an action in it everybody recognises.

Explain heroes through their deed: who they beat, what they won, how they died.
Explain gods through what they rule and what they hold: thunder and lightning, trident and sea, bow and arrows.
For spirits and creatures, say where they live and what they do to people: "lures sailors onto rocks", "guards the gate of the dead".

Easy

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

god, goddess, hero, dragon, mermaid, giant, wizard, witch, fairy, gnome, elf, troll, unicorn, legend, myth, spell, amulet, treasure, sword, shield, spear, arrow, helmet, crown, throne, temple, island, thunder, lightning, sun, moon, fire, cave, labyrinth, serpent, wolf, eagle, owl, horse, bull, wing, gold, apple, thread, goblet, ring, chest, staff, hammer, trident, ship, storm, rainbow, ghost, mummy, pyramid, sphinx, pharaoh, Zeus, Hercules, Thor, Minotaur, cyclops, Medusa, Poseidon, Athena, Achilles, Odysseus, Troy, Olympus, Cupid, Mars, Venus, monster, king, princess, centaur, Pegasus, Apollo, Jupiter, Neptune, Odin, Loki, underworld, hydra, siren, werewolf, vampire, sorcerer, spirit, snake, spider, raven, magic, potion, curse, quest, castle, knight, phoenix

Medium

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

Hermes, Hera, Ares, Aphrodite, Artemis, Demeter, Hephaestus, Dionysus, Hades, Persephone, Prometheus, Pandora, Perseus, Theseus, Jason, Argonauts, Orpheus, Icarus, Daedalus, Narcissus, Echo, titan, Atlas, Cronus, Gaia, Cerberus, chimera, harpy, satyr, nymph, muse, oracle, prophecy, ambrosia, nectar, fleece, Arachne, Mercury, Minerva, Vulcan, Romulus, Remus, she-wolf, Janus, Saturn, Freya, Asgard, Valhalla, Valkyrie, rune, Viking, Fenrir, Ra, Osiris, Isis, Anubis, sarcophagus, scarab, Kraken, Midas, Sisyphus, Pluto, Aurora, Helios, Morpheus, Nike, Eros, Bacchus, Diana, Juno, Hector, Paris, Helen, Penelope, demigod, immortality, elixir, altar, sacrifice, Excalibur, Merlin, Camelot, Arthur, Atlantis, griffin, leprechaun, banshee, genie, Horus, Bastet, Perun, Baba-Yaga, firebird, Koschei, Grail, Pan, basilisk, Selene, Mjolnir, golem

Hard

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

Yggdrasil, Ragnarok, Sleipnir, Midgard, Jotunheim, Heimdall, Baldur, Tyr, norn, Fafnir, Sigurd, Erinyes, Moirai, Nemesis, Tartarus, Styx, Charon, Lethe, Elysium, Scylla, Charybdis, Chiron, Agamemnon, Cassandra, Andromeda, Medea, Oedipus, Galatea, Pygmalion, Hyperborea, Avalon, Thoth, Maat, Sekhmet, Ptah, Apophis, ankh, Duat, Veles, Mokosh, Svarog, Dazhbog, Stribog, Yarilo, rusalka, leshy, vodyanoy, domovoi, Triglav, Svetovid, Morana, cosmogony, theogony, apotheosis, metamorphosis, hubris, catharsis, archetype, totem, animism, polytheism, priestess, epic, saga, Edda, rhapsode, Aeneas, Aeneid, Iliad, Odyssey, Homer, Amazon, Hesperides, Pleiades, Dioscuri, Argus, Gorgon, Echidna, Typhon, Python, Ladon, Acheron, Hecate, Ganymede, Niobe, Actaeon, chaos, Eris, Hypnos, Thanatos, Mnemosyne, ichor, Asclepius, caduceus, Tantalus, Kupala, Hel, Freyr, Frigg, Laocoon