diff --git a/examples/playbooks/prompts.yml b/examples/playbooks/prompts.yml
index 1a6de1e886..bb034d62c9 100644
--- a/examples/playbooks/prompts.yml
+++ b/examples/playbooks/prompts.yml
@@ -12,22 +12,35 @@
      this_is_a_regular_var: 'moo'
      so_is_this: 'quack'
 
-# prompted variables are a list of variable names and a description
-# that will be presented to the user.
-#
 # alternatively, they can ALSO be passed in from the outside:
 #    ansible-playbook foo.yml --extra-vars="foo=100 bar=101"
 # or through external inventory scripts (see online API docs)
 
+# prompted variables are a list of variable names and a description
+# that will be presented to the user, or a list of variable dictionaries
+# with the following accepted keys / value types: 
+#    'name' / text
+#    'prompt' / text (optional)
+#    'private' / boolean (optional)
+
+# prompted variables as key/value pairs:
   vars_prompt:
      release_version: "product release version"
 
-  tasks:
+# prompted variables as a list of variable dictionaries:
+#  vars_prompt:
+#    - name: "some_password"
+#      prompt: "Enter password: "
+#      private: True
+#    - name: "release_version"
+#      prompt: "Product release version: "
+#      private: False
 
 # this is just a simple example to show that vars_prompt works, but
 # you might ask for a tag to use with the git module or perhaps
 # a package version to use with the yum module.
 
+  tasks:
   - name: imagine this did something interesting with $release_version
     action: shell echo foo >> /tmp/$release_version-$alpha
 
diff --git a/lib/ansible/callbacks.py b/lib/ansible/callbacks.py
index d4e26fc86d..ce06af6609 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/callbacks.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/callbacks.py
@@ -365,9 +365,12 @@ class PlaybookCallbacks(object):
             msg = "NOTIFIED: [%s]" % name
         print banner(msg)
 
-    def on_vars_prompt(self, varname, private=True):
+    def on_vars_prompt(self, varname, private=True, prompt=None):
 
-        msg = 'input for %s: ' % varname
+        if prompt:
+            msg = prompt
+        else:
+            msg = 'input for %s: ' % varname
         if private:
             return getpass.getpass(msg)
         return raw_input(msg)
diff --git a/lib/ansible/playbook/play.py b/lib/ansible/playbook/play.py
index a6fe723e2f..9a640aab52 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/playbook/play.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/playbook/play.py
@@ -155,10 +155,26 @@ class Play(object):
         else:
             vars.update(self.vars)
 
-        if type(self.vars_prompt) != dict:
-            raise errors.AnsibleError("'vars_prompt' section must contain only key/value pairs")
-        for vname in self.vars_prompt:
-            vars[vname] = self.playbook.callbacks.on_vars_prompt(vname)
+        if type(self.vars_prompt) == list:
+            for var in self.vars_prompt:
+                try:
+                    vname = var.get("name")
+                except KeyError:
+                    raise errors.AnsibleError("A variable dictionary in 'vars_prompt' must always have a 'name' key")
+                if not ((vname[0].isalpha() or vname[0] == '_') and vname.replace('_','').isalnum()):
+                    raise errors.AnsibleError("'%s' cannot be used as a variable name. Variable names must consist of"
+                                              " a letter or underscore, followed by a string of letters, numbers, and underscores"
+                                              % vname)
+                prompt = var.get("prompt", None)
+                private = var.get("private", True)
+    
+                vars[vname] = self.playbook.callbacks.on_vars_prompt(vname, private, prompt)
+        elif type(self.vars_prompt) == dict:
+            for vname in self.vars_prompt:
+                vars[vname] = self.playbook.callbacks.on_vars_prompt(vname)
+        else:
+            raise errors.AnsibleError("'vars_prompt' section must contain either key/value pairs or a list"
+                                      " of variable dictionaries (see docs for accepted dictionary keys)")
 
         results = self.playbook.extra_vars.copy()
         results.update(vars)