My wife and I bought Beyond Balderdash a long time ago, and we played it a lot with friends when we were first dating/married. But as time went on, and our gaming tastes evolved, Beyond Balderdash slowly worked it's way to the back of our gaming shelves for seemingly permanent storage.

Then we moved, and as our game cabinet became deconstructed for packing purposes, I saw it sitting on the shelf and decided to put it to good use. I teach Speech and Drama for a Middle School, and this is the perfect game for that age group. It helps build vocabulary, stresses imagination and creativity to not just come up with the funniest definition or answer, but also to make it sound believable too.

Drama teachers like myself can use any of the information on the cards to create any scene framework and adapt to many lesson plans. Here's a brief rundown on what I use them for.

For me, the movie title is the best because my class can use the suggestions, or even the real synopsis, and create an improvisational scene out of it. Now the idea has gone from their minds, to the page, to a living and breathing scene. It helps them grasp the entire creative process in a way that they may not be used to, but it provides an excellent framework for teaching and learning.

The Acronym section is my second favorite because my students can take the real group name, or one of the fake group names that they come up with, and create another improvisation or scripted scene of what a meeting of this group would look like. While NRA may really stand for the National Rifle Association, if the students like the Nerd Relocation Association idea better, then I let them run with it. Maybe they'll write a scene about Nerds and Geeks getting relocated (like Witness protection programs) so they don't get beat up by bullies.

The date section lends itself to this same idea of re-enacting what happened on the "historic" day. The word and people sections can simply be used to spark some general ideas, and I usually use it for free writing exercises in their class journals. I try to ask them questions like "Based on the real definition of the word, what other things or words can you associate with it?" or "Which information (real or fake) is most interesting to you about the person named? Why is that one more interesting then the others?"

I don't use it every day, but it has certainly proved to be a useful tool for my Speech and Drama class, and I am very happy that I finally unearthed it and put it to good use! Maybe some day I will actually have them play by the real rules.