Art of Game

What is now a popular mobile phone application started out as just a bouncing ball (anything the size of a volleyball or larger will do) and a chalk outline the playground side walk.  To begin, simply draw out a square big enough for 4 individual players to move freely.  Maybe make it a little bigger than you than you did back in the day, unless you and your 3+ friends have Tyrannosaurus arms.  Divide the large square into 4 frames, clearly labeled 1 through 4.  Square 4 will serve by bouncing the ball to square 2, at which point square 2 can return the ball to any other square.  Each player aims to hit the ball after it has bounced in his or her square without the ball sailing out of bounds or landing in the same square a second time.  This isn’t a team effort to see how long the group can keep a rally going; it’s a completion to see which player will be eliminated, so if possible, put some spin on the ball and aim for corners and hard to reach places. If a ball lands outside the larger square boundary or inside the smaller square from which it was hit, the last player to touch the ball must either return to square 1 or the end of the waiting line, depending on how many people are playing.  If a ball lands in a player’s square and goes untouched before bouncing again, then the player standing in that square is out.  Only one participant can be eliminated per turn. Read the rest of this entry »

As people age they cross more and more thresholds, often resulting in a laundry list of privileges little kids can only dream of, whether it’s driving a car, seeing R-rated movies or even making your vote count.  Unfortunately, with each passing year many people lose a little more of their youthful zest for life, despite being able to live with a little more choice and freedom.  Hopefully, these blasts from the past will help take you back to a better time and restore a little bit of the pep in your step.

Pogs – Not since pet rocks has a popular fad been so affordable.  Of course, if you want to pay more than a couple bucks for a bag of glorified bottle caps, feel free.  While Pogs are commonly remembered as widespread collector’s items, some may recall the corresponding game of the same name.  To play, stack a tower of pogs, equally contributed from the collection of each player, and send them flying by smashing the stack with a plastic “Slammer” piece.  The Pogs that land face up are kept by whoever slammed the stack.  Play can continue until one player calls it quits or has no Pogs remaining.

Pencil-breaker – Any two people with standard #2 pencils can engage in the schoolyard battle called pencil-breaker.  Try to select your least chewed pencil, as wooden strength is a key to victory.  Play begins with Player 1 holding his pencil out, tip in one hand, eraser in the other.  Space out your hands to ensure player safety.  Player 2 will hold his pencil in one hand, as if to make the “we’re #1” gesture, with the index finger running parallel to the pencil.  When both players are ready, Player 2 will rear back and smash his pencil perpendicularly across the extended pencil of Player 1. The first person to break the other player’s pencil wins.  Read the rest of this entry »

Christmas Light Game – Like most major sports, the Christmas Light Game is seasonal, with preseason starting the week before Thanksgiving and post-season play winding down right around New Year’s.  Teams are chosen based on who is sitting in what seat, divided along the right and left-hand sides of the car.  If someone is seated in the middle seat, he or she may fill in for the driver as it can be difficult to spot Christmas lights while staying in one’s lane and under the speed limit.   The competition continues until the end of the car arrives at its final destination, with Team Left and Team Right counting the total number of lit decorations on their respective sides out loud over the course of the trip.  A particular set of lights cannot be counted more than once or for more than one team, even if the car gets lost and has to turn around.  Christmas trees and menorahs clearly visible through a home’s window may also count towards the grand total.  Helpful hint: Read the rest of this entry »

20 Questions – As a strong analytical mind may have deduced, when playing 20 Questions, participants get 20 questions to figure out who or what another player has in mind.  All questions must be clearly answerable with either a “Yes” or a “No.”  If a questioner correctly guesses the mystery person, place or thing, he or she will choose a new secret subject for the next round.  If after 20 questions, the item in question remains a mystery, the answerer wins that round and gets to choose a new topic.  Helpful hint: Hardly anyone would recognize the name “Jim Varney,” or guess “Ernest” off his or her head, yet everyone has heard of Ernest Goes to Camp (among Ernest’s many title roles) making it a completely legitimate choice. Read the rest of this entry »

Before that last blinking tick on your iPod battery meter fades to black and you find yourself in a stretch of no man’s land worthy of a The Hills Have Eyes credit, it’s time to realize that music may not always be there to save you when boredom strikes.  Back in the good old days, or maybe just the old days depending on your perspective, people actually conversed back and forth in an effort to pass to the time on long car trips.  Granted, technology and the advent of online social media has more or less made the need for actual human interaction obsolete, if you’re looking for a change of pace during the middle of a multistate road trip, here are a few classic multiplayer car games to give your ears some much needed reprieve from the headphones.

The Animal Game – While it might sound a bit wild to be contained in 4 doors, The Animal Game is simple, reserved and can be enjoyed by anyone who has ever been to the zoo, read National Geographic and/or made it past the first cut in an elementary school spelling bee.  The game begins when the driver names an animal of his or her choice, for example, “Rabbit.”  The next player then announces an animal beginning with the last letter of the one before it, i.e. “Tiger.”  From there you could go from “Roach” to “Horse” to “Elephant” to “Three-toed Sloth.”  Unicorns and other fictional animals result in a disqualification.  Whenever a player cannot think of another animal in an appropriate amount of time, he or she is eliminated, until the one winner remains.  Helpful hint: In case you find yourself on the business end of the word “Ox,” here is a list of non-fiction animals that start with the letter ‘X’: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_some_animals_that_begin_with_the_letter_X