Sport words for Alias — a set by level

Games, gear, competition. The loudest set: arguments about the rules are guaranteed.

A set about sport: disciplines, equipment, venues and everything that happens around a contest. It works even on people who never watch any — the basics are universal, and the rest explains itself through the action.

Who this set is for

Sport divides neatly into tiers: everybody knows football and a ball, while "relay" or "disqualification" already asks for attention. The set shines in a group where somebody plays or supports a team — those players explain with gestures and outrage, and those are the funniest rounds of the night.

Who this set is for

A group with at least one person who plays something or supports somebody. That player explains with gestures and indignation, and those are the funniest rounds of the evening. Nobody else is bored either: the easy tier rests on games everyone knows. A group entirely indifferent to sport, though, will stall on the middle tier.

Relay

Works through the handover: “you run your leg and pass the baton to the next one.” Does not work: “a team race” — the room says marathon, cross-country and simply running. The baton detail is what decides it: without it the word is indistinguishable from a dozen others.

Draw

Works through the outcome: “when nobody won and everybody is equally unhappy.” Does not work: “an equal score” — score drags the room towards points, the scoreline and the table, while the word you want stays off to one side.

Whistle

Works through the consequence: “after this everyone stops and looks at the referee.” Does not work: “a thing you blow into” — that leads to flute, pipe and balloon. Sports terms land fastest through whatever happens immediately after them.

Where groups go wrong

The fan explains as though everyone watched last night's match, and the group fails not on the difficulty of the word but on missing context. The second trap is describing a discipline by its rules: “the game where you throw a ball through a hoop” takes longer than simply miming a dunk. The third is arguing. This set invites debate about whether something counts, and a round turns into a discussion easily; agree in advance that a disputed word simply does not score, and carry on.

Put the action into words: "you kick the ball with these" reaches boots faster than any description.
For disciplines, name the surface: "this happens on ice", "this happens in water".
Explain the terms through their consequence: "after this the player is sent off".

Easy

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

football, hockey, tennis, basketball, volleyball, handball, boxing, wrestling, swimming, running, jumping, skis, skates, sledge, bicycle, ball, goal, net, racket, stick, puck, glove, helmet, kit, trainers, boots, gym, court, stadium, pool, track, rink, field, ring, coach, player, goalkeeper, referee, whistle, score, point, result, victory, defeat, draw, half, break, team, squad, club, fan, stand, ticket, medal, cup, champion, contest, tournament, match, game, training, warmup, exercise, squat, pushup, dumbbells, barbell, rope, hoop, skipping, bar, hurdle, distance, finish, start, stopwatch, record, olympics, relay, judo, karate, chess, draughts, darts, billiards, bowling, golf, surfing, sail, canoe, paddle, fishing, hunting, ice, sand, muscle, sweat, cheer, scoreline, trophy

Medium

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

aerobics, acrobatics, position, arbiter, athlete, badminton, trampoline, baseball, runner, biathlon, bobsleigh, breaststroke, throw, weightlifter, waterpolo, rowing, stamina, goalkeeping, gymnastics, kettlebell, gladiator, race, sculling, disqualification, longdistance, dribbling, sprint, standings, freestyle, defender, grip, qualification, curling, kickboxing, crossfit, athletics, skier, league, marathon, swings, javelin, forward, knockout, olympian, orienteering, penalty, championship, diving, midfielder, lift, tabletennis, swimmer, playoff, bout, foul, pressing, prize, medallist, jogging, pentathlon, rugby, recordholder, snatch, division, stretching, rollerblading, somersault, sambo, section, series, slalom, apparatus, sparring, sportsman, backstroke, stayer, jumper, opponent, superfinal, scoreboard, tactics, clean, treadmill, triathlon, trick, taekwondo, fencing, final, fitness, striker, freerunning, fitball, weights, freekick, junior, shot, warmdown, linesman, finisher, kettlebells

Hard

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

owngoal, adaptation, aerodynamics, cushioning, anaerobic, antidoping, arbitration, athleticism, outsider, allround, benchmark, biomechanics, verticality, vestibular, footwear, enduranceled, qualifying, recovery, handicap, hypoxia, glycogen, feeder, ego, readiness, decibel, deconcentration, hanggliding, detraining, dynamometry, discipline, dominance, dopingcontrol, draft, kitting, explosiveness, ergotest, drawing, competitiveness, zonal, isometry, individualisation, interval, cardiorespiratory, karting, kinesiology, coefficient, composite, counterattack, coordination, crossing, cupcompetition, lactate, legionnaire, leadership, limit, maximum, mesocycle, metabolism, motivation, ultraendurance, workload, normative, review, olympism, powerlifting, pedalling, overload, overtraining, periodisation, preparatory, planning, polyathlon, reinforcement, capability, progression, psychoregulation, rehabilitation, regeneration, regulations, reserve, resourcefulness, rotation, segmentation, strength, synchronisation, scouting, sportsmanship, stabilography, statistics, strategy, supercompensation, testing, toning, transfer, sessional, versatility, physiology, buoyancy, plyometrics, tapering