# Do you accept fictional or defunct answers in Scattergories?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-accept-fictional-or-defunct-answers-in-scattergories/744489>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [January 28, 2016, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-accept-fictional-or-defunct-answers-in-scattergories/744489 "2016-01-28T12:19:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-accept-fictional-or-defunct-answers-in-scattergories/744489/1 "2016-01-28T12:19:29Z")

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I was playing with my dad last night. For companies, I said “Datadyne” which is the evil empire from Perfect Dark. He said “DaimlerChrysler” which no longer exists. We argued about it and decided to not count either of them. What do you guys do? And does the game have an official rule?

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**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-accept-fictional-or-defunct-answers-in-scattergories/744489/2 "2016-01-28T12:50:29Z")

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The only way this game is fun is to allow the stretchiest answers possible. I want people to come up with an answer that makes me laugh in surprise. So I would count both of them.

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**Author:** ![ElderSign](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eldersign/32/8263_2.png) [@ElderSign](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElderSign)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-accept-fictional-or-defunct-answers-in-scattergories/744489/3 "2016-01-28T13:53:34Z")

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The game rule itself says to be creative, so both answers would be acceptable.

I play the game with a family and use fictional and dated references.

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**Author:** ![Calla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Calla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calla)\
**Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-accept-fictional-or-defunct-answers-in-scattergories/744489/4 "2016-01-29T14:13:47Z")

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Those would be perfectly acceptable answers at my house.

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**Author:** ![magnusblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@magnusblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magnusblitz)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2016, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-accept-fictional-or-defunct-answers-in-scattergories/744489/5 "2016-01-30T08:52:20Z")

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Those are both perfectly fine.

The arguments at my household when playing it are usually because someone gives an answer like “Great beach balls” for “Things at the Beach, G.” Or debating whether “pencil”/“pen” or “basket/basketball” or “African American”/“Africa” count as repetitive answers that would be disallowed.

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**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2016, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-accept-fictional-or-defunct-answers-in-scattergories/744489/6 "2016-01-30T16:19:10Z")

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> [@boffking](#):
>
> I was playing with my dad last night. For companies, I said “Datadyne” which is the evil empire from Perfect Dark. He said “DaimlerChrysler” which no longer exists. We argued about it and decided to not count either of them. What do you guys do? And does the game have an official rule?

I don’t even get the dispute. DaimlerChrysler? It may not exist now, but it unquestionably did and was hardly some obscure thing. If the category was “Current Companies” (two points!) then it’s wrong, but if it is just “Companies” it is obviously correct. It would seem weird to exclude defunct but really important companies, such as Kodak or Standard Oil.

“Datadyne” is a good answer, fictional or not. I’d totally allow it. It’s not a cheat, unlike “Great beach balls.” Datadyne is legitimately clever and original, rather than a desperate attempt to use an adjective.