How to play MASH

You write four options in every list, and a friend closes their eyes while you draw a spiral. When they say stop, the loops are your number.

Count around the page and cross off whatever you land on until each list has one left. Then read your future out loud and act surprised about the minivan.

Written by Erica and Matt Braun. Making the MASH app was Erica's idea for Matt when he asked if she had app ideas in 2008 when the App Store launched.

The steps Printable sheet

the lines are drawn

Two kids at a table, filling in a MASH sheet together

on paper

How to play on paper

The lists go in the top half of the page. The spiral goes in the bottom half.

A pen and some paper. The printable sheet already has the lines, if you'd rather not draw them. Someone else should say stop. You can count the spiral yourself, but the stop is better when it isn't you.

  1. Write the lists

    Four lists, four options each, when you only have a few minutes. More lists make a longer fortune and a longer count. This part fills the top half.

    • M A S H goes across the top, with room between the letters.
    • Who you'll end up with goes down the right. Four names: two you'd marry, one you don't mind, one you would never.
    • How many kids sits under the letters. The polite set is 1 through 4. The mean set is 0 or 2 or 5 or 17.
    • The car goes down the left. Two you'd want, one you don't care about, one you'd hate.
    A paper MASH board with M A S H across the top, names down one side, kid counts, and cars down the other

  2. Draw the spiral

    They close their eyes. You draw a spiral on the bottom half, from the inside out, until they say stop. Then they can look. Count the loops from the outside in. A straight line through the middle helps: count how many times it crosses the spiral.

    Players call that number the magic number. It's the count for the rest of the round.

    A spiral drawn on the bottom half of a MASH sheet
    A line through a MASH spiral, with the crossings counted for the magic number

  3. Count around the page

    Start at the M. Move clockwise through the letters, the names, the kid counts, and the cars. When you hit the magic number, cross that option off.

  4. Keep going

    Start the next count on the option right after the one you just crossed off. Skip anything already crossed off. Every time you land on the number, cross off another one.

  5. Circle what's left

    Each list ends with one option still standing. Circle it.

    A finished MASH board, most options crossed off, one circled in each list

  6. Tell the story

    Read the leftovers out loud. You can dress them up. "You're going to marry Niall Horan and live in a mansion. Two kids. A Porsche." Or just say the four leftovers and let them sit there.

the lists

The categories

You fill these in before anyone draws. The houses stay. The other lists are the rest of the fortune. Four options in each. The count knocks them out until one is left.

Fifty more lists, sorted by age and theme, are on the MASH categories page.

A longer story

The short game is four lists. A longer one adds the rest of the life.

Grown-ups sometimes add when and how you'll die. That one changes the room.

the letters

What MASH stands for

MASH is a fortune-telling game you play with a pen. Kids play it, and so do adults who miss being kids. A round takes about ten minutes. The letters are the four homes.

The S moves. People write Street, Shed, Sewers, or Swamp. Or a tent, a trailer, a cardboard box. The worse the word, the better the reveal when a friend lands on it.

since the 1970s

Where it came from

Kids have been playing this in schoolyards since at least the 1970s. Nobody published it. Nobody owns it. It moved the way playground games move, one kid teaching the next. Kids in North America, the UK, and Australia all claim it, so it probably started in more than one place.

The 1990s were the busy years. It turned up at sleepovers and on the back of math worksheets. A long car ride, before phones, ran on a pen and whatever paper was in the glove box.

In 2008 Magnate Interactive shipped the first MASH app for iPhone. It kept the spiral and the counting, added more lists, and saved the story. The app is on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Windows. The browser game is on this site.

house rules

Other ways to play

The count stays the same. These change what you do with the options.

More house rules are on the MASH game variations post, including counting without a spiral and keep-what-you-land-on.

from a lot of rounds

A better round

  1. Two good options, one you don't care about, one disaster. Without the disaster, the shack reveal has nothing to land on.
  2. Draw a line through the spiral and count the crossings. Eyeballing the rings from the outside goes wrong.
  3. A small spiral is a small count and a short round. A huge spiral is you, counting, until the bell rings.
  4. Use people they actually know, and the car they won't shut up about.
  5. They should really close their eyes. The round is worse if they saw the count coming.

no pen

Play it on a screen

The browser game draws the spiral and does the count, then writes the story for you. No account. The iPhone app has more lists than the paper game. Saved Stories keeps the fortune, so you can send someone the mansion later.

Play MASH online MASH for iPhone

Download MASH for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac:

the short version

Questions

What is the MASH game?

MASH is a pen-and-paper fortune-telling game. You fill lists, draw a spiral to get a count, then cross options off until one is left in each list. Those leftovers are the fortune. A round takes about ten minutes.

What does MASH stand for?

Mansion, Apartment, Shack, House. Those are the four homes the fortune can land on. Some players write Street, Shed, Sewers, or Swamp for the S.

How do you play MASH?

Write four options in each list. Draw a spiral until a friend says stop, and count the loops. Count clockwise around the page and cross off whatever you land on. Keep going until one option is left in every list, then read them as the fortune.

What do you need to play MASH?

A pen and some paper. Someone else should say stop, though you can count the spiral yourself. There is a printable sheet on this site, and a browser game if you do not have a pen.

What are the basic categories in MASH?

The houses (Mansion, Apartment, Shack, House), who you will end up with, how many kids, and the car. Four options in each. More lists make a longer fortune.

Can you play MASH without pen and paper?

Yes. The browser game is on this site. You can get the app for iPhone and iPad. There is a Mac app and an Apple Watch app too.

What categories can you add to make your MASH story longer?

Where you will go to college, what you will major in, how your partner will propose, the age when you will get married, wedding colors, the honeymoon, the city, the job, the salary, the pet, and the pet's name.

How to play MASH on paper?

Write M-A-S-H across the top, four options under each list, and a spiral for the count. Cross off until one option is left in every list. Those leftovers are the fortune.

What are the MASH game rules?

Four options in each list. A count from the spiral. Cross off whatever the count lands on. Stop when every list has one option left. Those are the story.

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