Love Mad Libs
Give me a noun. No, do not ask why.
- Players
- 2+ players
- Length
- 15–30 min
- Cost
- Free · no signup
- Long distance
- Works long distance
Ready?
Give me a noun. No, do not ask why.
- Players
- 2+ players
- Length
- 15–30 min
- Intensity
- Sweet
Free · No signup · Nothing you answer is saved
How do you play Love Mad Libs?
Love Mad Libs has one partner hold a story template about the couple — how they met, the proposal, a row about the washing up — and ask the other for word types with no context. The words are filled in blind and the finished story is read aloud. Withholding context is what makes it work.
How to play
- One of you takes the story and does not show it.
- Ask for each word type in order. Give no context whatsoever.
- Write the answers down as they come.
- Read the finished story out loud, with commitment. Do not summarise it.
- Swap and do another.
Why couples love this game
The refusal to give context is what makes it work. The moment somebody knows the adjective is describing their own mother, they choose a sensible adjective, and the game is dead. Withholding is the whole skill.
Mad Libs works because you supply the words without knowing where they go. Asked for an adjective in isolation you say "damp", and only later discover you have described your own wedding.
These templates are all about the two of you — how you met, a first date, a proposal, a row about the washing up — so the absurdity lands on material you actually recognise.
One person holds the story and asks for word types. The other must not see the page, and must not ask what it is for.
Example openings
- How we met. Ask for: adjective, place, verb, body part, adjective, exclamation.
- Our first date. Ask for: food, adjective, animal, verb ending in -ing, number, colour.
- The proposal. Ask for: place, adjective, object, verb, emotion, celebrity.
- The wedding. Ask for: adjective, item of clothing, relative, verb, liquid, adverb.
- An argument about the washing up. Ask for: household object, adjective, verb, noun, exclamation.
- Our dream holiday. Ask for: country, adjective, vehicle, animal, food, number.
The full game has 12 of these, shuffled every time you play.
Who this game is best for
- A night in that needs something silly
- Long car journeys, with the passenger writing
- Video calls
- Groups, where everybody contributes a word
Tips to make it better
- Give no context. Not even a hint. This is the only rule that matters.
- Do not react while collecting words — a laugh gives it away.
- Read the finished story properly. Mumbling it wastes the whole build-up.
- Keep the good ones. They age extremely well.
Frequently asked questions
How do you play Mad Libs with two people?
One person holds the story and asks for word types — a noun, an adjective, a place — without saying what any of them are for. The other answers blind. Then you read the result out loud and swap.
Why can I not know what the word is for?
Because knowing makes you choose sensibly, and sensible choices produce a boring story. The entire comedy comes from words picked in a vacuum.
Does this work in a group?
Very well — one person holds the story and takes a word from each person in turn, so nobody has any idea what they are building.