Saturday, March 22, 2008

Games

Over the years our family has participated in many different types of games. This is one of the things that we have done to engage in social fashion and have some fun.

Water balloons have been used more than once. It seems like getting wet is sometimes OK.





We also designed some of our own games. Here you can see some of our guests at "Pie Night" engaging in a rousing game of pin the cream on the pie. We played other games too. Guess the jelly bean count, moving stones, cornucopia, and others.



We have also played commercial games, like Twister.



One of Ruth's favorites was the marble game.



Over the years we have played some games that have become classics with us.

The candy bar game. The object of the game is to eat the candybar with some imposed handicaps. You don an oven mitt (and maybe more items of clothing that are inhibiting to free mobility) and then have to cut a piece of the candy bar with a knife in your mitted hand. And you must do all this before the person next to you rolls doubles on a set of die. If you are in the mood for some candy then this is a game for you.




Another game we played more than once was the bubblegum game. The object of this game is to chew as many sticks of gum as possible. The only stipulation is that you must blow a bubble for every additional piece of gum you put in your mouth. When you chew one piece you blow one bubble, for two pieces two bubbles, etcetera.

Craig was always a competitor.



Julie took her chewing seriously.



Andrea had fun with it.



Kent blew it early.



Eric persisted and was proud of his wad.




An old standby game was the animal game. I like this game. It is a quiet game. The game spans many age groups and smashes language barriers. The rules are simple. Sit in chairs in a circle. There is a lead chair designated. The objective is be in the lead chair. Each person on the circle chooses a silent motion that represents an animal. For example, a fish is represented by holding the hands palms together and moving them away from the body making a side to side waving motion like a fish swimming. When all have their motion then the game begins. The first chair makes his own motion and then a motion of another animal in the circle. The person in the chair that had their motion performed then has to do their motion then someone else's motion. This continues at random. If someone misses their cue or makes a mistake then they must move to the last chair in the circle. All of the motions are associated with the chairs and stay with the chairs (not the people). The vacant chair is now occupied by the person to the side and all that are between the chair where the error was committed and the end chair shift one chair. This repeats until you grow fatigued or time expires. The person in the lead chair at the end is declared the winner.

When I was young our family would play spoons. This is a card game where you hold four cards in your hand and on the cue of the dealer must pass one card to the person to your right. When someone gets four of a kind they can take a spoon. When a spoon is taken then all others may take a spoon. There are one fewer spoons than players. The person that does not get a spoon is eliminated. The last person in the game wins. We modified the game to satisfy our own issues with being eliminated. We call the game candy. The difference is that instead of spoons in the middle of the table there is a set of treats. There are one less than the number of people in the game. One person does not get a treat on each hand, but nobody is eliminated. We learned that this worked better than eliminating people early.

A game that I learned recently is "don't eat Pete". The game is simple. The playing board is divided into 16 squares (4X4) and populated with "Pete" (a treat). The person that is playing leaves the room while Pete is chosen. One of the squares is secretly designated as Pete. The player comes back into the room and takes one of the treats from the playing field and eats it. The player repeats this until Pete is selected, at which time everybody yells "Don't eat Pete" and the players turn is terminated. The field is repopulated and another player leaves while a new Pete is selected.

We also have played the vegetable game. Each person in the circle chooses a vegetable. The game is simple. Each person does not want to show his teeth. Each person in the circle when their name (vegetable) is spoken they must repeat their own name and the name of another in the circle. This continues until someones teeth are seen. When your teeth are seen then you are out. The game continues until only one remains. It is permissible to make strange pronunciations and faces to try to get other players to show their teeth.

Here is a picture of a roping game we played at a family reunion. The object was to rope the steer.



There is the classic game of tug of war.



And of course there are the piles of commercial games in the closet.

Clue
Monopoly
Across the Plains
Rook
Uno
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3 comments:

  1. Fun Stuff. Now all ya' all get busy having fun playing games.

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  2. When Betty and I were working as missionaries with the Spanish speaking people in Longmont, we felt that it would be good to get them together with the English speaking people in our ward.

    The party was stiff and cold. The conversation was labored until we tried the Animal Game that was taught to us by Larry's family.

    For once, the language barrier came down and we had a ball. We laughed and communication opened.

    The next day in church, it was fun to see people make their animal signs as they walked past each other in the hallways.

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  3. Games are really a way to grow together. I don't think that we did enough of them at home as you were growing up. I like most games.

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