Ever since I was a kid in the '70s, I've been intrigued by The New Games Book, and I've wanted to find a group of people with whom I could try them out.
For a while after the 1960s, there was a movement to introduce non-competitive (or less-competitive) games to our culture and schools. And for a while, huge groups of people would convene (mostly in that weird, far-off land of California) to try out new games en masse. These events spawned the first New Games book, as well as a sequel.
Despite their origins, they're not all hippidy-dippidy (not that that's a bad thing), but rather, they're challenging and force folks to either work as a team, or interact on a less-than-formal basis. Rather than simply being brain-teasers, they're physical, too. They invite FUN. Some are familiar, and others you've never heard of. There were games for two players, groups of around twelve, and the more the merrier. I've picked out 13 games from the first two categories that I think we could have fun with. Below is a link to a PDF with the rules.
As we discussed at the last PH meeting, when Ea, Matt and myself first talked about having a weekend of fun, the idea (for me, at least) was to use it as an opportunity to have fun on a large scale: to do things you couldn't do without a team of people. We initially played "Capture the Flag," and later "Midnight Ghost" and "The Greased Watermelon." Always at the back of my mind was the hope we'd be able to at least stick our collective toes into New Games territory.
While I'm certainly up for Greased Watermelon anytime, my recollection of our recent tournaments was that they were short, furious, and exhausting. They were over just as they were getting to be fun, and afterwards no one wanted to do anything more than recuperate (myself included). I've tried to pick games here that aren't so physically demanding, and that hopefully wouldn't deplete people's interest instantly. Maybe we could try one, and if we didn't like it, try another. And another...
So, please, take a look by clicking the link below. Browse the games. Decide on a few that sound interesting, and let's give 'em a go.
thirteen games for PHXIII...
13 comments:
PS. Another game I've been trying to get started for the past couple of years is Werewolf (aka. mafia or assassin). Though it sounds violent, it's more of a mind game. Kind of like poker, it's more about solving riddles, deceit, and human nature.
It's best played with 9 or 11 players. By picking cards from a deck, it's determined who will play the narrator, the two (initial) werewolves, and a fortune teller or seer. Everyone else plays one of the innocent towns folk. (While the narrator is identified to everyone, the werewolves and seer are only known to themselves and the narrator.)
The game is played in rounds, day and night, moderated by the narrator.
During the night, everyone closes their eyes, and then the werewolves open theirs. Using hand signals, the werewolves select their next victim and identify him/her to the narrator. Then the werewolves close their eyes and the seer opens his/hers. The seer points to anyone in the group, and the narrator indicates whether they are a werewolf.
The day round begins with the narrator letting the townsfolk know which of them the werewolves have devoured. The remaining, living townsfolk then need to decide which among them is the werewolf and take action (steel bullets works well).
The challenge (and fun), though, comes from the fact that both the werewolves and the seer are townsfolk, too. They are part of the deliberations. While the seer may know who the werewolves are, they still need to convince others they, themselves, aren't a werewolf, and they also need to be concerned the werewolves don't come after them next. Similarly, the werewolves need to hide their identities and cast doubt on others.
Seems to me something we could have a great deal of fun with...
Here's a link to more detailed directions:
http://www.eblong.com/zarf/werewolf.html
Isn't this year 12? Couldn't view the New Games pages on my work computer. Psyched for this, though.
thanks mark.
myselfi'm a fan of frisbee golf, chris too.
And chasing the dragons tale looks fun for a group. flying dutchman, or tag ones. I was browsing the list with an eye for games that max could be part of-
and with my short attention span, (like my kid) i'm more a fan of starting out with shorter group games- and perhaps warm up to the longer ones like werewolf. that's my vote.
bones one looks cool too.
human pinball seems like it has the best photo opps! ;)
great to have the pdf as well. thanks mark.
That sounds like a sensible approach, Anna. I don't much mind what we play, as long as we do, in fact, play.
Werewolf is certainly not intended for kids. I was picturing it as something we could play after hours. Perhaps on the hill, maybe as a pre- or post-poker thing...
Is this PH 12? I could have sworn it was 13... In any case, there's 14 games listed here total. Consider them BONUS!
It is PH XII this year. Last year was XI. I just looked at one of the shirts. BUt I think Mark's calling it 13 got me confused a few days ago too.
"The PLaying Field is PI-R-Squared"? Too geeky cute!
I think I have been confusing the date of the event, Friday the 13th, with our anniversary year. How stupid of me. Must have had a bit too much sherry with Theo. Forgive me for deluding you, ea, yet again.
Also, nitpickers, it should also be noted that a steel bullet doesn't do diddly to a werewolf. Gotta have silver. I regret if my disinformation caused you any loss of life or limb.
I love frisbee golf! Had a great time playing it earlier in the summer. For those who are coming from the east, Dick's sports in Keene (next to Target) has actual frisbee golf discs for sale pretty cheap. I picked up both a putter and a driver for less than $15 total.
Love the idea of many of the other games as well.
Have known people who played mafia and swore it was the most fun they'd ever had.
Looking forward to playing!
--Mim (anonymous)
(this is really Rob again) We did a lot of the New Games as part of the Outdoor Ed program at UNH. I think I still have the book. I'm up for any of them, though it has been quite awhile since I've played them.
Rob
Sounds like fun-- count me in! For table games, I really liked tripoli when we played it one PH-- can someone bring that?
What a blast from the past, Mark- I did actually play many of these games at a TOTALLY hippy family camp I went to as a teenager at Rowe Camp, the week was aptly named "Liberation Camp" and had been running since the early 70’s. I've been trying to find a picture for your amusement-
At the time – my mother dragged me there with my sister as some kind of post-divorce family unification/transformation thing- I was 17 and was NOT into going at all!! I thought it was a lot of old grown-ups acting embarrassingly like teen-agers, and it was indeed a lot of that (think Paloma accidentally walking into the optional open shared shower with a bunch of hairy grown-ups on my first day - yikes!!!) (of course the "grown-ups" were probably all the age we are now, sigh).
But it ended up being an amazing and truly formative experience; I loved it- I managed to stay away from the weird grow-ups and met the coolest folks and other kids; social justice,
giant bubbles, tie-dies, non-violence workshops, nude (optional) beach, incredible food, camp-fires and story tellers, "Rise-Up Singing" as well as my first (and I think last) kiss with a boy wearing a skirt and really painful braces- (you know, that kind of thing:) – which did inevitably in later Rowe years lead to my first kiss with a girl (who wouldn’t be caught dead in a skirt and had no braces which was vastly more fun!!!)
Ok- don’t worry, I am not suggesting we start initiating the clothing optional sing-a-long…and I am still a chicken when it comes to a lot of these games, but I would be up for a game of Smaug's Jewels or Red-Handed. ANd JJJ, I will definilty bring the tripoli!xoxo
And after all this time, you end up back with the weird grown-ups! (I spent summers as a teenager in Rowe, Massachusetts, too. My best friend had a summer house there.)
Cool. I'm psyched. People are into some game playing. As many of you know by now, Otis broke his arm on Sunday, so finding fun out of the pond will be essential. (Still, I bet he can catch frogs single-handedly).
LOVE these game/rowe details palo! fun :)
OK-- there are way too many story threads there-- I'm burning to follow upon ALL OF THEM...
Games games games...
I'm bringing ladder ball and Fact or Crap. And I want very much to play werewolf, in fact, it's kind of a dream of mine...
Palo--I've never kissed a girl, but I slept (not) with one wrapped around me one night. We should trade stories. (whatever you're thinking that means, it should be along the lines of a much younger JJJ, wide-eyed, paralyzed & wondering how the f*&# I get myself into these situations...)
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