A Dozen Small Games

Feb 23, 2020

Who’s in my mouth?

• Players take turns as the guesser.
• The guesser closes their eyes.
• All other players roll a die.
• The player with the highest roll sticks their finger in the guesser’s mouth.
• The guesser can guess once whose finger is in their mouth.
• A correct guess is worth one point.
• Play continues until a player has scored five points.

Kelseygram

• Players photoshop Kelsey Grammer into their Instagram pics.
• Comments that do not mention Kelsey Grammer award one point.
• Once Kelsey Grammer is mentioned in a comment, that post earns no future points.
• The player with the most points on Kelsey Grammer’s birthday wins, and then the scores reset.

Shock Troopers

• Remove all AA (or AAA, or 9v) batteries from devices around your home.
• Each player tests every battery using only their body, selecting the battery that they think has the most charge.
• The player closest to the true ordering wins.
• Find the true ordering using a voltmeter.

variation: in addition to their bodies, each player may use a single paperclip

Astrolojerk

• Write a horoscope for today.
• Ask a friend what their sign is and ignore their response.
• Read them the horoscope you’ve written.
• One point if they agree with it.
• Ten points any time they ask you to read their horoscope on a future day.

Derry

• Have candy on you at all times.
• Whenever you meet a child, tell the child you’re thinking of a number between one and ten (but don’t).
• Ask the child to guess the number.
• No matter what their answer is, they’re right! Give them a piece of the candy.
• The child wins.

this game is dedicated to my Uncle Derry, who once played a session of Derry that lasted at least ten years

Tally

• In the morning, start a tally on your face by drawing a vertical line on your forehead. This is worth one point.
• Every time someone asks you about the marks on your face, look them in the eyes and, while maintaining eye contact, draw another line on your face and say “that’s worth one point” and walk away without further explanation. It really is worth one point.
• Post a selfie to social media at the end of the day that shows your face, advertising your score but don’t explain the game. For example, you might say “nine points for today”. Only marks visible in your selfie post are counted.

you may use whatever writing instrument you want but it must be consistent for the whole day, and the marks must remain on your face for the whole day. A standard ballpoint pen is the recommended writing instrument, but highly dedicated players may use a sharpie.

Rickles’ Pickles

• Players take turns stating untrue things about Don Rickles.
• The first player to accidentally say something true about Don Rickles loses.

Uncomfortable words

• Players play in turns.
• Pick an innocuous word that makes another player uncomfortable. Example: moist.
• Words cannot be repeated.
• A word awards one point if it makes a player uncomfortable but they are unable to explain why it makes them uncomfortable.
• If a word makes a player uncomfortable and they are able but unwilling to explain it, you lose one point because the word is not inocuous.
• Play continues until someone has five points.

Escort

• It’s klotski.
• The special block is a woman that needs an abortion.
• The other blocks are pro-life protesters.
• Freeing the special block means she made it to an abortion provider.
• If you give up before solving the puzzle she runs away from the clinic and has an unsafe abortion instead.

Pen pals for life

• Imagine an address, consisting of a street number and street name, but with no town or city.
• Look up that address on Google maps. If the address does not exist, start over.
• Imagine what the people that live there are like and mail them a letter.
• Address it to “current resident”, or “our neighbor” or something else ambiguous that any receiver would open.
• Ten points if they write you back.
• One point if you fall in love and get married.

Are you Joshua?

• Write a letter and seal it in an envelope. Write ‘Joshua’ on the envelope.
• Ask strangers if they are Joshua.
• When someone says yes, give them the letter and say “I was told to give you this and to keep moving. They’re watching.”
• Walk away.
• Ten points if they writes you back.
• One point if you fall in love and get married.

you may use any other given name you wish

Various Lengths of String

• Every plays gets a long ball of string.
• Every player cuts a length of string off of their ball.
• Flip a coin. If it’s heads, the player that cut the longest piece of string is awarded one point and is It. If it’s tails, the player that cut the shorest piece of string is awarded one point and is It.
• When you are It: cut a new piece of string off of your ball; that string is now the Goal. Briefly reveal the Goal string to all other players. You may display the Goal string in any way you wish but you may not cut it again and you must display the entire length of the Goal string.
• All other players cut a new length of string off of their own ball.
• Straighten and compare all of the lengths of string. Whichever player cut a piece of string that is closest in length to the Goal string wins the round. They are awarded one point and are now It.
• The first player to seven points wins the game.

you may use any type of string, twine, or yarn, but all players must use the same type of string, twine, or yarn.