Games to play in Thai

Games are the cheapest listening practice there is: the words repeat, the stakes are low, and nobody minds if you are slow. These are games people play all over the world, written for playing them here — what you say to get into a round, and, more useful, what you will hear said across the table.

• Bingo in Thaiบิงโก bing-goo Everybody gets a grid of random numbers.
• Charades in Thaiใบ้คำ bâi kham One person is given a word and has to get their team to say it, without saying it themselves.
• Chess and makruk in Thaiหมากรุก màak-rúk Chess you already know, or know enough of.
• Hide and seek in Thaiซ่อนหา sâwn-hǎa One player covers their eyes and counts aloud while the others hide, then goes looking.
• Jenga in Thaiเจงก้า jeng-gâa A tower of flat wooden blocks, three to a layer, each layer laid across the one below — fifty-four blocks in a standard set.
• Petanque in Thaiเปตอง bpee-dtawng Heavy steel balls, a small wooden target ball, and a strip of gravel.
• Pool and snooker in Thaiสนุ๊กเกอร์ / พูล sà-núk-goe / phuun A cloth table with six pockets, a wooden cue and a set of numbered balls that you drive around with a white cue ball.
• Rock paper scissors in Thaiเป่ายิ้งฉุบ bpào-yíng-chùp Two hands, three shapes, thrown on the same beat: hammer, scissors, paper.
• Uno in Thaiอูโน่ uu-nôo A card game with its own deck: four colours, numbers zero to nine, a set of action cards that skip a player, reverse the direction of play or force the next person to pick up, and wilds that change the colour outright.
• Werewolf in Thaiมนุษย์หมาป่า má-nút mǎa-bpàa A group sits round a table and everyone draws a secret role.

Looking for something to play on your own instead? The practice section has drills and games you play against the site.