Whole and half ghost word game
Whole and half ghost is a very fun word game that is enjoyed by both children and adults, perfect for a family dinner or party. I learned it in church as a teenager and played it at a dinner with my siblings a few months ago and both of them said they really enjoyed it. We had a lot of fun.
By: Carl Grinde | June 25, 2025
Updated June 27, 2025
Whole and half ghost word game
The game is best suited for a group of 5 to 8 people, but you can of course be fewer or more. You have to build words. One person thinks of a word without saying it, but he/she only says the first letter of the word, for example s because he/she thought of stove. The person to his/her left continues to build with the letters that have been said so far, i.e. s. He/she then thinks of strong and therefore says t. So far we have s and t. The next person to the left must continue to build with the letters that have been laid down so far, st and he/she thinks of stay so he/she says a. Then we have the combination sta. The next person thinks of staying so he/she says y. Then we get stay but stay is a complete word and you are not allowed to complete a word. You are not allowed to say the last letter of a word so that you complete a word because then you become a half-ghost. When this happens, you start over with a new word building. If you complete a word again, you become a full ghost and are then not allowed to continue building words.
In a way, you can say that if you become a whole ghost, you are out of the game, but not completely. Now the fun begins. You have to trick the other participants into talking to you. If you talk to a whole ghost, you are infected and first become a half-ghost. If you talk to the whole ghost again, you are infected into a whole ghost and are then also out of the game and have to try to trick others into talking to you so that they become whole ghosts. So there are two ways to become a half-ghost and later a whole-ghost. One is to complete a word, and the other is to talk to a whole-ghost.
It's so much fun trying to trick the others into talking to you when you're a whole-ghost. "Can I have some more wine?" "That was delicious!" "Did you say R?" A short yes and they are done and have been infected. The person who is left when everyone else has become whole-ghosts wins. So you can win even if you're a half-ghost. If you can't continue on a word and you have a rather long and complicated letter combination that seems impossible to build on, you can look at the person who said the last letter and ask what word he/she was thinking of. If the person then has no word to report, he/she becomes a half-ghost or if he/she was already a half-ghost, he/she becomes a full-ghost and then you start over with a new word construction.
If you can't build on it without completing a word you have to give up and admit that you can't and that you are now either half or a whole ghost. As soon as someone becomes a half or whole ghost, the others say this out loud. For example, Anna is a half ghost or Sean is a whole ghost!
You can't start by saying I as the first letter because that's a complete word. You can't say a as the first letter either because that's also a complete word. Hope you have as much fun with the game as we had!
