word game in which each player in turn presents a letter that must contribute to the eventual formation of a word but not complete it. The player whose letter completes a word loses the round and becomes one-third of a ghost. Three losses make a player a full ghost, putting him out of the game. Letters are usually spelled in the order presented, as a is added to pl to form pla, which may eventually become “placating.” In the variant game double ghosts, the player may specify whether his letter is to be attached before or after the preceding letters.

A player may challenge his preceding opponent, and, if the opponent cannot name a word that could be developed from the combination of letters he has produced, he loses the round. If, however, he does name a valid word, the challenger is the loser.

A similar game, played without the “ghost” terminology, is known as endbee.