Mad Libs

The cover of the first Stern and Price Mad Libs book

Mad Libs is a word game created by Leonard Stern and Roger Price. It consists of one player prompting others for a list of words to substitute for blanks in a story before reading aloud. The game is frequently played as a party game or as a pastime. It can be categorized as a phrasal template game.

The game was invented in the United States, and more than 110 million copies of Mad Libs books have been sold since the series was first published in 1958.

History

Mad Libs was invented in 1953 by Leonard Stern and Roger Price. Stern and Price created the game, but could not agree on a name for their invention. No name was chosen until five years later (1958), when Stern and Price were eating Eggs Benedict at a restaurant in New York City. While eating, the two overheard an argument at a neighboring table between a talent agent and an actor. According to Price and Stern, during the overheard argument, the actor said that he wanted to "ad-lib" an upcoming interview. The agent, who clearly disagreed with the actor's suggestion, retorted that ad-libbing an interview would be "mad". Stern and Price used that eavesdropped conversation to create, at length, the name "Mad Libs". In 1958, the duo released the first book of Mad Libs, which resembled the earlier games of consequences and exquisite corpse.

Stern was head writer and comedy director for The Steve Allen Show, and suggested to the show's host that guests be introduced using Mad Libs completed by the audience. Four days after an episode introduced "our guest NOUN, Bob Hope", bookstores sold out of Mad Libs books.

Stern and Price next partnered with Larry Sloan, a high school friend who was working as a publicist at the time, to continue publishing Mad Libs. Together, the three founded the publishing firm Price Stern Sloan in the early 1960s as a way to release Mad Libs. In addition to releasing more than 70 editions of Mad Libs under Sloan, the company also published 150 softcover books, including such notable titles as How to Be a Jewish Mother, first released in 1964; Droodles, which was also created by Roger Price; The VIP Desk Diary; and the series World's Worst Jokes.

Price died in 1990, and three years later, Sloan and Stern sold Price Stern Sloan, including Mad Libs, to the former Putnam Berkley Group, which is now known as Penguin Random House. Mad Libs books are still published by Penguin Random House; however, all references to Price Stern Sloan have been removed from the company's official website. Stern died at age 88 on June 7, 2011, and Sloan on October 14, 2012.

More than 110 million copies of Mad Libs have been sold since the game series was first published in 1958.

Predecessors of Mad Libs

It is unclear whether the creators of Mad Libs were aware of existing games and books similar to their own. One such game is Revelations About My Friends, published anonymously by Fredrick A. Stokes Companies in New York in 1912. Like Mad Libs, the book invites the reader to choose words in various categories which then become part of a story. The nineteenth century parlor game "Consequences" is also similar to Mad Libs.

Format

Mad Libs books contain short stories on each page with many key words replaced with blanks. Beneath each blank is specified a category, such as "noun", "verb", "number", "celebrity", "exclamation" or "part of the body". One player asks the other players, in turn, to contribute a word of the specified type for each blank, but without revealing the context for that word. Finally, the completed story is read aloud. The result is usually a comedic sentence.

Stern and Price's original Mad Libs book gives the following sentence as an example:

"___________!"

exclamation

he

 

said

 

________

adverb

as

 

he

 

jumped

 

into

 

his

 

convertible

 

______

noun

and

 

drove

 

off

 

with

 

his

 

_________

adjective

wife.

 

"___________!" he said ________ as he jumped into his convertible ______ and drove off with his _________ wife.

exclamation {} {} adverb {} {} {} {} {} {} noun {} {} {} {} {} adjective {}

After completion, they demonstrate that the sentence might read:

 "Ouch!" he said stupidly as he jumped into his convertible cat and drove off with his brave wife.

Books

The following is a list of most Mad Libs books in alphabetical order:

Other media

A game show called Mad Libs, with some connections to the game, aired on the Disney Channel in 1998 and 1999.

Several imitations of Mad Libs have been created, most of them online. Imitation Mad Libs are sometimes used in educational settings to help teach kids the parts of speech.

A stage adaptation called Mad Libs Live! with music by Jeff Thomson and book and lyrics by Robin Rothstein premiered off-Broadway at New World Stages from November 2nd, 2015 to January 3rd, 2016. The show, which is now available for licensing, features audience participation to fill in "missing words" from each song.

Looney Labs released Mad Libs: The Game, a card game, in 2016. There is also a Mad Libs mobile app.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Duralde, Alonso (January 12, 2012). "Review: 'Contraband' Operates by the Numbers, Loses Count". Reuters. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  2. ↑ "A look back at 2011's notable departures – Greece.com". Bostonglobe.com. June 9, 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Wang, Regina (October 18, 2012). "'Mad Libs' Publisher Larry Sloan Dies". TIME. Retrieved November 17, 2012.
  4. ↑ "As Mad Libs turn 50, play an exclusive game". Today. MSNBC. April 16, 2008. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  5. ↑ Weekend Edition Saturday (February 24, 2007). "'Revelations' About a Precursor to 'Mad Libs'". NPR. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  6. 1 2 Stern, Leonard. "The History of Mad Libs". www.madlibs.com. Retrieved March 22, 2017.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Werris, Wendy (October 15, 2012). "Obituary: Larry Sloan, 89". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved November 17, 2012.
  8. 1 2 Nelson, Valerie J. (October 17, 2012). "Larry Sloan dies at 89; co-founder of 'Mad Libs' publisher". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 17, 2012.
  9. ↑ Fox, Margalit (June 9, 2011). "Leonard B. Stern, Creator of Mad Libs, Dies at 88". The New York Times.
  10. ↑ Anonymous (1912). Revelations of my Friends. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company Publishers.
  11. 1 2 "Mad Libs and Dangling Participles – SchoolBook". The New York Times. January 9, 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  12. ↑ Price, Roger; Leonard Stern (1974). The Original Mad Libs 1. Price Stern Sloan. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-8431-0055-6.
  13. ↑ "Mad Libs". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved June 27, 2021.
  14. ↑ "Schools Scramble to Prepare Students". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. October 7, 2002. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  15. ↑ Collins-Hughes, Laura (November 10, 2015). "Review: 'Mad Libs Live!,' a Musical With a Few Missing Pieces". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 21, 2026.
  16. ↑ "Mad Libs Live!". Mad Libs Live!. Retrieved May 21, 2026.