In the seventies I worked in an office, and although we were fairly busy, there was downtime. When things got quiet, several of us would play the game. We didnt have a real name for it, but we all knew what the game was.

At the merest suggestion of quiet time, we would immediately pull out a lined tablet and beginning with a line at the top we would write an A at the far-left and continue down the page to Z with each line representing a letter of the alphabet. Then we would divide the page into columns. If there were three of us playing, there would be six columns. It there were four of us playing, there would be eight columns. Each column would be given a heading like rivers or politicians.

Before starting the game, we would agree on a time limit. We would take turns answering the phone. We would all stop when work had to be done, so that no one had an advantage.

The object of the game would then be to write down as many rivers as we could that began with the letter A then B and so forth down the page. The winner would be the person who had the most correct answers. We all acted as a judge and we threw out all duplications. If two of us wrote down Amazon River neither one of us got credit. This was incentive to go beyond an easy answer.

Choosing the heading for the column was always important. Each person got to choose two headings. Generally, you want to choose a subject that you are familiar with, so that you have an edge in playing the game. For example, one friend had spent much of her early life in Eastern Washington, so she would sometimes choose Washington counties or small towns in Washington. In Washington State the Cascade Mountains divide the state into Western Washington and Eastern Washington. Most of the population is located in Western Washington along Puget Sound where I grew up, but the larger geographic area is Eastern Washington.

Two friends were older than I, so I would sometimes find myself trying to come up with popular songs from World War II or radio programs. Whats interesting is that after playing the game for a while, you learn the answers . . . and even obscure headings become familiar. You can learn much from playing a simple game. And I remember fondly our quiet time busily filling up the pages of lined tablets.

Since playing the game I have used it as a brainstorming tool. When my wife and I began selling business training products in 2001, I was overjoyed to find a three-ring binder, Pen and Paper Games For Training, which contains forty different games and activities that can be used for business training, or as the binder suggests, Putting the Fun into Learning. The very first activity listed is A to Z. Its the game! The description says, This is a fun and interesting way to brainstorm by finding words starting with every letter of the alphabet. It can be used to explore definitions and ideas.

The Game has changed little in the last thirty years, but it has become a little more detailed. A to Z comes with Aims and Objectives, Overview, Applications, Trainers Role, Participants Role, Game Techniques, Resources, Step-By-Step, and Variations.

A to Z can be played during workshops, seminars, team meetings . . . and even during downtime. It can be used to find solutions for problems you never even knew existed. This is a great learning experience, and of course it doesnt really matter if you win or lose, but rather . . . how you play the game that counts.