Movies are one of those things that can unite us all, so why not make a game of it? Isn’t that the easiest way to completely make enemies of your friends? At the very least this new game taking over the internet is a fun way to flex your cinematic knowledge.
Thinking of a movie that fits into a specific category is one thing but trying to pick a rare movie that fits? That’s a bit harder. That’s where Movie Grid comes into play.
The idea of the Movie Grid game is to fill a grid with movie titles based on specific actors, genres, titles, and other criteria provided. Each day’s puzzle is different, with actors and/or directors listed on the Y-axis (vertically) and other criteria on the X (horizontally), and you need to pick a movie that matches both clues for each box. You only get nine guesses to fill up your board and you cannot repeat titles.
Here, a visual might help understand the rules:
The popular game was created by Sam Shulman and Alex Nunan. It is also popular on TikTok from creators Watch with Apollo where they play their own movie grid with each other for different point values.
In regular Movie Grid, you can get different points depending on how rare the movie in question is amongst the other people playing. So if I had a choice between drama movies for say Adrien Brody, a lot of people would choose The Pianist. But if I picked The Darjeeling Limited, I might have a lower percentage and a higher score on that square.
The grid (not the grid from Tron but just as challenging) really tests your knowledge of not only filmographies but years they were released as well as who has worked with who in the past. It is so popular that now Vulture has their very own version of the game that is released daily!
May the strongest cinephile win!
I am someone who just loves movies. So playing Movie Grid has made my already hardwired brain work even harder to try to figure out who fits in what category and not think of the obvious answer. Have I spent hours playing old archive games of Movie Grid to try and make myself better at it? Yes, of course I have because I am someone who wants to prove that I know a lot about movies to not only myself but to anyone who may one day ask me if I am good at Movie Grid.
I would list the tricks to my trade but then everyone would use those movies instead and no thank you! I like being unique.
The reality is that this is just a very fun game for anyone who watches a lot of movies. At least that knowledge is useful somewhere!
(featured image: Universal Pictures)
