The History of Categories
A word game played with nothing but paper and pens, known under a different name in almost every country - and with an origin nobody wrote down.
One Game, Many Names
In German-speaking countries the game is called "Stadt, Land, Fluss" after its three classic categories - city, country, river. In France it is "Petit Bac", in Italy "Nomi, cose, città", in the Netherlands "Stad, land, rivier", in Poland "Państwa-miasta", and in much of Latin America "Tutti Frutti" or "Basta". In English-speaking countries it is often simply called "Categories" or "Name, Place, Animal, Thing".
The rules are the same everywhere in essence: a random letter, a list of categories, a race against the clock or against the fastest player, and points for answers nobody else thought of. What changes from place to place is mostly the list of categories and how the letter is chosen.
An Origin Nobody Wrote Down
Because the game needs no equipment beyond paper and a pen, it spread from person to person, in schools, families and on long journeys, rather than through a publisher. There is no known inventor and no reliably documented date or place of origin; claims to the contrary are usually anecdotes.
What is well established is that it has been a common pastime in many countries for generations, and that commercial boxed versions with printed category cards and dice for the letter appeared much later. PaperGames keeps to the traditional pen-and-paper form and only takes over the game master's jobs: drawing the letter, keeping time and adding up the points.