Putting the _____________ in Language Learning
VERBA is the language learning card game developed by The Pericles Group. The concept is incredibly simple — one player (acting as a judge) draws a random card containing a fill in the blank sentence in the target language and the other players play a card containing a noun from their hand. The player who has played the sentence card then chooses the best card played and that player scores a point. Play continues with that player as the new judge.
VERBA Overview Video
All VERBA players benefit from seeing high frequency words, with many repetitions, in a context that fosters authentic learning and comprehensible input informed by best practices in second language acquisition. As with all of The Pericles Group’s educational games, the play objectives and the learning objectives are one in the same. Players win by making comprehensible sentences, scaffolded by the cards, the images, and the helpful hints included on the sentence cards. We always want to ensure that the learners are seeing correct forms and those forms are continually reinforced by the mechanics.
VERBA: Latin, English (for English Language Learners), Español (Spanish), and Français (French), and 中文 (Chinese) are available for purchase and if you can’t wait, you can download the Print and Play file for all of the full core sets! You’ll have to print out the cards and cut them out yourself and they won’t be the same high quality production as the professional versions, but at least you’ll get to use them right away! All core sets consist of 50 sentence cards and 145 noun cards and are designed for the novice language learner.
Standard VERBA Rules
- Each player draws seven white VERBA cards.
- The player who most recently celebrated a birthday begins play as the first judge.
- The judge draws a colored VERBA sentence card and reads the fill-in-the-blank phrase out loud in the target language.
- The judge then places the colored card on the table for all players to see.
- Each player (other than the judge) completes the sentence by passing a white card from their hand, face down, to the judge.
- The judge then shuffles the white cards he or she has received and shares each white card by reading aloud the answer with the colored card in the target language.
- The judge selects the best response, and whoever submitted that response receives the corresponding colored card. This player places the colored card, face up, in front of him or her.
- All white cards used in that round are placed in a discard pile. Each player should draw one additional white card so that he or she has seven white cards in their hand.
- The winner of that round becomes the new judge and the next round begins.
- The game ends when the players run out of white cards. The player who has the most colored cards in front of him or her at that time is the winner of VERBA.
Print and Play Files
All VERBA sets are available for download in PDF format. For added durability, we suggest that you use card stock and consider laminating the cards as well.
Credits and Original Supporters
Credits
Game Concept and Design:
Kevin Ballestrini
Artwork:
Stephen Slota
Special Thanks:
Roger Travis • Mark Pearsall • Robert Patrick • Gus Grissom • Chris Buczek • Allyson Bunch •
James Sharpe • David Talone • Nathan Wheeler
Piper Deltenre (English) • Katherine Matheson (Español) • Lori Croteau (Español) • Catherine Ousselin (Français) • Valerie Sun (Français, Chinese) • Kendall Wong (Chinese) • Colleen Lee (Japanese) • John Cadena (Japanese) • Dorie Conlon Perugini (Español)
Playtesting and Feedback:
Sierra Abate • Breanna Alfred • Evan Arnott • Nathan Cormier • Heet Dave • Corey Fritz • Shoshana Gittens-Ross • Daniel Grant • Gabrielle Gualtieri • Emily Harris • Kenny Hong • Ying Huang • Kristian Huber • Andy Le • Johnny Liang • George Main IV • Mitchell McCullough • Logan Morin • Odanice Olibrice • Rikaasha Patel • Adam Plecan • Connor Provost • Adam Schumacher • Priyank Shelat • Riya Sheth • Nicholas Tatro • Logan Tracy • Jin Yim
Jun Jie Chen • Sandy Chen • Sean Doran • Daniel Maclean • Normand Manning • Abigail Newsome • Maria Provatas • Breanna Salter • Avery Spear • Zackery Stevens • William Strong • Read Ward
Kickstarter Supporters
VERBA™ was made possible because of the huge show of support during our Picturae Kickstarter Campaign.
Jay Sudowski
Lindsey Morse • Marcia • Elissabeth Legendre • Julia M. Traver
Ryan Breen
David • Emily • Pasquale Iero • Enoch Stevenson • Junji Kawaguchi • Bruce McMenomy • Penny Cipolone
Sue Piantaggini • Joan T. Masters • Aven McMaster • Laura Joyner • Kimberly H. Clouser • Lindsay Rath • Daniel Murray • Elanor Rebecca Antoniak
Fiona Crimmins • Laura Gibbs • JoAnn & Mike Slota • Jared
Cheryl Cheatham • Christina Danielle Goldsby • Karthigeyan Kanagasabapathy • Emily Joy Bembeneck • Erin Eymard
Duda+Salisbury • Amy Pistone
Carlene Craib • Bob Calder • Jacqui Bloomberg • Lindsey Gervais • Callie Schneider • Ann Martin • S. Spaulding • Donna Jacobsen • Mary Quirk
Joey Craig • Seumas • Judy Haley • Rebecca Ferguson • Alice Keidan Lanckton • Dan Cummings • Craig Spooner • Gregg Perry • Chien-Chih Lin • Rita Thompson • Chistopher Chan • Lance Piantaggini • BobCesca • Laura Petersen • Thomas Singleton • Teresa Ramsby • Maura Burke • Lauren Stein • Allyson Bunch • Soraya Een Hajji • Lori Croteau • Micah Wheeler • John Wener • Jeff Shoup • Ted Gellar-Goad • Katherine Matheson • Raymond Congo • Jim • Shawn Veltheim • Lydia Haile Fassett • Kate Fractal • Sage Autumn • Beau Henson • SE McFadden
George Main IV • Audrey Watters • Michael and Liz • Michelle Laughran • Ethan Harris • Nic Benner • Mordin Solus
Elouise Chapman • Corvus Elrod • Michel Coetsier • Ramin Hafezi
VERBA: Español was made possible because of the amazing support during the Kickstarter Comapaign.
Ryan + Jenn Breen • Joel Salisbury • Emily Lewis • Christine Ballestrini
Katie Eenigenburg • Kathy Griffith • Allison Donaldson • Matt Hotopp • Cara Van Cott • John Cadena • Jose Delgado • Rebekah Sledge • Bill Jennings • Betsy Basom • Cassondra Murphy • Angelica Grant
Mark Pearsall • Laura Sexton • David Talone • Michael Slota • Andrea Garcia • Stanley Yamane • Bethanie Sawyer • Teri Jones • Rhonda Peek • Christopher Chan • Rita Hertel • Aaron Gresham • Merida Elizondo
Linda Kelchner • Joel McNary • PJB • AW White • Gregory Hingle • Chris Buczek • M Cristina Rodriguez-Villa • Ann Bernath • Abigail Swan • Nerd and Geek University • Sanjae Duncan • Leah LePage • Martin E. Stein • Fairway 3 Games, LLC • Profe. Gomera • Sr. Sallen • Higashi Yoka • Marilyn Jaworski • Peter Rettig • Andrea • Andrea Ward • Doug Woolsey • Pamela A. Light • Cynthia Hitz • B. Drew • Lisa Peskar • S. Heaven • Ritasimsan • Lindsey Morse • Elaine Winer • Matt Hopkins • Neal Sofge • Julia • Ben R • Sra. Weldon – Harlem High School • Melissa Blanchard • Dr. Lara Walker • Catherine Ousselin • Emily Pruitt • Anonymus • CJL • Bryan Kline • Paul Hudson • Henrik Dahl Jensen • Señorita Ebbinghaus • Suas • Allyson Bunch • Jesica Millstone • Robin Hosemann • Cathryn Robbins • William Meyer • Margaret Alvarado • Lourdes Ramon • Ken Wong • Eric M. • Andrew Smith from Gold Seal Games • Mike Gulden • Kendra Souza
Connie Ream • Letiman Games • Charles E. D. Ward • Nicholas Hjelmberg, Nova Suecia Games, Sweden • Charles Waterman • Celina McGinnis • Rosalie Nogiec • Viviana Tracy
Señora Niederklein • Sam • Argyle Games • Brikenbrak Games • Laura Gibbs • Katherine Matheson