One, Two, Many (con, chat)

(Variant introduced in 2003, named by Codex)

This is a group variant of 1, 2, 3 with a twist. The game begins with two players who, using the verbal setup of “one, two, three” to synchronize the utterances, come up with the initial words. Two new players come up with connection words for the initial word pair. Two new players come up with the next set of connection words, and so on until the words match. The players who participate in each count-off are usually the ones who are the first to come up with answers. They can't have participated in the previous count-off.

For example, after players 1 and 2 had shouted out “macro” and “mouse” simultaneously, players 12 and 6 converged on “rat”.

This game can also be played in chat. Participants say “word” to indicate that they have something, and after two “word”s someone says “go” to signal them to send their words. If the game is not moving fast enough, add the rule that if two new people have not come forth in thirty seconds, the original two may chime in again.