Team Bridge

Categories game online for work

Starts With J: a fast online word game for teams

Starts With J is the categories game you may know as Scattergories, made for a team call. Everyone gets the same list of categories and one letter, and races the clock to answer each one with a word that starts with that letter. Then the team votes on each other’s answers, and answers someone else also wrote don’t count. Share one link in Zoom, Teams or Meet and 2 to 24 people play.

  • 2–24 players
  • 5–10 min
  • Free
Play Starts With J nowSee all games

Free, no sign-up. You get a link to send your team; they join in the browser, no download.

Starts With J game artwork

See it in action

  • Letter D, “Things with strings”: the team votes Dulcimer and Double bass in, but Dental floss gets voted down 2 to 1
  • With 23 seconds left on the amber clock, Priya has nine of ten D words in while Marcus and Daniel have already sent theirs
  • Grading “Topics you like to talk about” on a phone: Dinner plans, Dungeons & Dragons, Dogs and Documentaries

How to play Starts With J on Zoom, Teams or Meet

  1. Open a lobby

    Click “Play free with your team”. You get a lobby with its own link; nobody downloads anything.

  2. Paste the link in the meeting chat

    In Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Google Meet, paste it in the chat. Everyone opens it in a browser tab or on their phone and picks a name. No screen sharing needed.

  3. Answer, then vote

    Everyone fills in the categories on their own screen before the timer ends (10 categories and 90 seconds by default). Then the answers come up one category at a time and everyone votes yes or no; duplicates and wrong first letters are struck by the game.

Starts With J rules in 3 steps

  1. Everyone gets the same prompts and one letter.

  2. Answer as many as you can before time runs out, every answer starting with that letter.

  3. Vote on each other's answers. Duplicates don't count.

Why it works for teams

Fast, loud and easy to explain in one sentence. The voting round gets everyone talking about the answers, and it works for 2 to 24 people.

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See all games · Fun Friday games for remote teams

Questions

How do you play a categories game on Zoom or Teams?

Open a Starts With J lobby and paste the link in the meeting chat. The game picks the letter and the categories, runs the timer, strikes duplicate answers and counts the votes, so nobody needs paper, dice or a scorekeeper.

Is Starts With J like Scattergories?

Yes, it’s the same idea: a letter, a list of categories, a timer, and an answer only counts if nobody else wrote the same thing. Instead of one judge, the whole team votes, which is where the arguing starts. There are 198 categories, and your lobby doesn’t see one again until it has had them all.

How many people can play, and how long does it take?

2 to 24 people. A round is one letter with 10 categories and 90 seconds by default (the host can pick 1 to 50 categories and the time), plus the voting, so it takes 5 to 10 minutes. Play again deals a new letter.

Is Starts With J free? Do players need an account?

Yes, it’s free to try. Starts With J is one of the free games, and a new host gets 5 free games with no card. The host signs up to open the lobby; players open the link in their browser and pick a name, with no account and no download.