by Bart King
How to play: The ace of spades is sometimes called the “death card,” and that’s what it is in this game. Remove the ace of spades from your deck of cards and set it aside. Now count out as many cards as there are players; put these cards on top of the ace of spades (including the ace of spades as one of the cards.) In other words, if there are six players, put down the ace of spades and then put five more cards on top of it.
Mix the cards and have the players sit in a circle or at a table where they can see each other’s faces. Deal each player one card, facedown. The players then look at their cards, but each player must keep their card a secret.
The player who got the ace of spades is the assassin. The players look into each other’s faces...nobody knows who the assassin is except for one person. Here’s the catch: The assassin “kills” people by winking.
The assassin doesn’t want to be caught, so he tries to carefully wink at another player so that only that player sees it! If a player sees someone wink at him, he says, “I’ve been assassinated!” and drops out of the game. If the assassin can get
all the other players out but one, he wins. (If there is only one person left for the assassin to wink at, it is a little too easy for him to guess who the assassin is.)
If a player can correctly guess who the assassin is before that, he wins. If he guesses wrong, then he is out. If another player who is not being winked at can catch the assassin in the act, he is the winner.
Warning: Only the assassin can wink! Also, there should be a built-in time limit so that the assassin doesn’t take too long between his winks.
Tape Ball
This game for a large group has a lot of catching, throwing, and treachery.
You Need:
2 or 3 tape balls
a large room (or someone’s yard)
6 to 36 players
How to win: Don’t drop the ball.
How to play: Tape Ball is a great group game that can be played indoors. First, make yourself a couple of tape balls. It only takes a moment. Take a sheet of newspaper and loosely crumple it into a ball shape about the size of a big orange or a small cantaloupe. Take some masking tape and without breaking the tape, begin to loosely wrap the newspaper ball. Don’t try to squish it down or make it tighter.
Continue wrapping the paper until it is completely covered and there is no paper showing. The beauty of the Tape Ball is that it can be thrown with all the force of a regular ball, but if it hits someone, it doesn’t hurt any more than being hit by a crumpled up piece of paper.
Once the balls (at least 2) are ready, have your group arrange themselves around the room. If you have a lot of people, make sure that everyone can at least stick their elbows out without hitting someone.
Have two people start with a ball. The idea is that they will throw the ball to another person. (Wow!) It should be a good throw, meaning that it is catchable. The throw should be in the general area of the person’s chest; if they held still and the ball hit them, it’s a good throw. If the person catches the ball, he then throws it to someone else. But if he drops the ball, the person who dropped it is out until the game restarts. (If it was a bad throw and the ball is dropped, the thrower is out.)
Keep in mind that there is more than 1 ball being thrown around. (I’ve seen groups play with 4 balls at once; pretty amazing!) While you are watching one ball, another one could hit you! If you don’t catch it, you’re out. Because there is twice as much action as most games, it is good to have a referee or two who can watch the action and make calls. If it is too hard to decide who should be out, just keep both players in and continue the game.
At some point, the game will get down to 2 players. Then it is time for the duel. They each take a ball and face each other about 15 feet apart. On the count of three, they start throwing the balls back and forth between each other. Whoever drops the ball or makes a bad throw first loses.
Other Rules:
1. No burning it in!
2. You can’t throw it right back to the person who threw it to you. (No back-and-forthies!)
3. If the person is right next to you, you should throw it to him underhand.
4. You have to get rid of the ball within 2 seconds; no waiting to throw it till someone isn’t looking.
5. On the other hand, if someone isn’t looking, throw it at him. If you can do the “no-look” pass, this also catches people by surprise. Just make sure it’s a good throw. (It’s better to make a good throw and stay in then to try something fancy and be eliminated.)
Grape Races
If you haven’t experienced the drama and thrill of microwave grape racing, you haven’t lived!
You Need:
your parents’ permission
seedless green grapes
a little oil (sunflower oil is best)
a microwave oven
1 glass pan to use in the oven that doesn’t rotate
2 to 6 players
How to win: Pick a fast grape.
How to play: Pick a grape or two and remove the stems. This will leave a tiny hole at the back of the grape. Now get your pan and put a small film of sunflower oil on the bottom of it. Spread it around.
Line your grapes up against one side of the pan. The holes of the grapes will face the pan side closest to them. Carefully set the glass pan in your microwave; don’t roll the grapes around. Set your microwave on high. Remember, the pan cannot rotate while the grapes are heating up!
Depending on the power of your oven, the grapes will either quickly or slowly get hot. Since a grape is mostly water, the liquid inside of it will start to turn into a gas at some point, and it will look for a way out. The easiest way out will be at the stem-hole.
If you have some good racing grapes, some of them will start to slowly make their way across the pan. Their gas is escaping them and pushing them forward, like a balloon. (If you have bad racing grapes, they will just tremble and explode, so keep a sponge handy.) Experiment with your own techniques.
Outdoor Games!
It’s time to head into the great outdoors. You probably already know a lot of great outdoor games, so I won’t bore you with games you already know, like baseball or skydiving volleyball. Just remember when playing any game that nobody likes to play with a bad sport. A bad sport (also known as a sore loser, a bad winner, a jerk, etc.) is someone who ruins the game for everyone. Bad sports can’t follow the rules, or they can’t shut up, or both.
A bad sport is also someone who will follow the letter of a rule instead of the spirit of a rule. For example, let’s say you’re playing dodgeball and the rule is that if you hit someone in the head with a ball, you’re out. You throw the ball at someone in the waist area and they deliberately duck so that the ball hits them in the head! Should you be out of the game? Of course not, but the bad sport will say that you should be out, even though it wasn’t your fault.
Don’t be a bad sport, and don’t play with someone who is one. That goes for all the games in this book and for all the games that aren’t in this book. Below are some games that you may not have tried before that can be a lot of fun.
Mud Football? Mud Anything! Remember, even though your mom may not like it, ANY game is more fun in the mud. You might want to play football in the mud, or you may just want to find some big muddy puddles and go sliding into them! Just hose yourself off before coming inside again.
“El Globo”
A good summer game!
You Need:
balloons
water
a wiffleball bat
a tree or pole
2 or more players
How to win: Get wet!
How to play: If you know how to play piñata, you know how to play El Globo! Put on your swim trunks, start making some water balloons, and hang one from a tree.
Then blindfold one of the players, spin him around, hand him the bat, and put him within reach of the balloon! (It’s better if the bat is plastic in case he loses his grip.) When the batter hits the ballo
on, it’s time for everyone to cool off! Or, put up more than one balloon to improve the odds of a cooling shower.
Practical joke alert: This is a great trick to play on someone who thinks they are swinging at a piñata. Show them the piñata, then blindfold them and switch the piñata with a water balloon! Imagine the fun!
Quick, name the only major outdoor sport that has more officials or referees than players. Give up? It’s tennis.
Sardines
In this game, you really pack them in!
You Need:
night
3 to 50 players
How to win: Don’t be the last one left out!
How to play: Okay, this is basically a nighttime version of hide-and-seek, even though you can also play it in the daytime. The catch is that 1 person hides from everybody else. The hider gets 3 minutes to hide, and then the searchers start to look for him.
Once a searcher finds the hider, he doesn’t say anything. He silently joins the hider in the hiding place. Now 2 people are hiding! More searchers will find these two, and as they do, they quietly join them in the hiding place. There may not be much room, so everyone has to cram in together like sardines. Whoever finds the rest of the group last is the first hider for the next game.
Golf Cup News! Over a thousand gym teachers were asked what outdoor sport is the most difficult to play. Almost all of them answered, “Golf.” By the way, the odds of hitting a hole-in-one for an average player are 33,000 to 1 in 1998, a golfer in Massachusetts hit his tee shot over the green on a par 3, where it hit a passing Toyota, bounced back, and rolled into the cup.
Poison Ball
This is an active game that involves running and throwing the ball.
You Need:
1 large, soft ball (Nerf balls work great)
4 or more players
How to win: Don’t get poisoned!
How to play: Form a loose circle with your group and count off so that everyone has a number. Then Player One goes to the center of the circle with the ball. He calls out a number of a player and throws the ball straight up in the air. (He must throw it up at least 10 feet, which is the height of a basketball rim.)
At this point, all players (including Player One) run away. But the player whose number was called runs to the middle of the circle and grabs the ball. As soon as he has the ball, he yells, “Freeze!” All players must then stop running.
The player with the ball is allowed 3 steps toward any other player he chooses. He then gets to throw the ball at that player. No burning it in! It is easier to throw accurately when the ball is not thrown at top speed. The player being thrown at must hold still; no dodging. (It’s usually best if they just turn their back to the thrower.) Any balls hitting the other player in the head do not count.
If a player is hit by the ball, they will start play in the next round by throwing up the ball like Player One did. The first time a player is hit with the ball, they get a “P.” The next time, they get an “O.”
This continues until the player gets “P-O-I-S-O-N,” at which point, they are out!
Tip: As with any game, it is important to include everyone equally. Make sure to call out numbers evenly and to throw the ball at people equally. In other words, one player should not have their number called a second time if there is another player whose number has not been called at all.
Flying Shoes
Keep your feet on the ground...or the sheet!
You Need:
a bedsheet or blanket
1 shoe (or more) per player
4 to 8 players
How to win: Keep your shoe on the sheet.
How to play: Lay the sheet on the ground a decent distance away from any low roofs. Everyone should put a shoe on the sheet. Then everybody picks up an edge of the sheet and tries to bounce someone else’s shoe out of the sheet by waving and shaking their edge of the sheet. Careful! You might make your shoe fly by accident! Careful again! Don’t get hit in the head by a shoe coming down from orbit! If your shoe gets knocked out, keep playing and try to remove an opponent’s footwear.
In 1908, a man named Jack Norworth and a friend wrote a song called “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” This song is now sung at all professional baseball games in the United States. The funny thing was that Jack Norworth had never actually been to a baseball game before he wrote his song. When he finally did go to one, many years later, he wasn’t very impressed.
Water Balloon Jousting
The Middle Ages on two wheels!
You Need:
balloons
water
a grassy field
2 bikes
bike helmets
4 players (2 riders, 2 assistants)
How to win: Nail the other rider with a water balloon.
How to play: Back in the Middle Ages, knights would ride on horseback toward each other and try to hit the other person with a long wooden spear called a lance.
In this version of jousting, you will ride your bike at your opponent and try to hit him with a water balloon.
You and your squire (your assistant) should fill six water balloons. Your opponent does the same thing. Find a grassy field somewhere that you can ride your bike on. Set up your water balloons about thirty yards from your opponent. Take one in your hand; the other knight will do the same. Make sure you’re wearing your helmet.
On a signal, you should both start riding toward each other. As you pedal toward the other knight, remember to stay to the right side of him. He will do the same, so that you don’t have a head-on collision.
You can only pedal so fast with one hand, so try to go slowly enough that you can make an accurate throw. When he’s in your sights, it’s bombs away. After throwing the balloon, whether you hit or miss, circle back to your squire to get another balloon.
Be sure to let the squires in on the fun too; switch spots with them so that they can throw at each other. By the way, did you know that jousting is the official game of the state of Maryland?
The Stalker
It’s time to hunt the ultimate prey...man! Animals look for movement in the forest...can you hold still?
You Need:
any quiet, outdoorsy area (like a clearing, woods, or meadow;
even a soccer field could work, as long as it’s a quiet day)
3 or more players
How to win: Silently hunt your prey.
How to play: One person goes about 30 feet away from his companions, closes his eyes (no peeking) and kneels, sits, or squats down. (A blindfold can be used to cover the eyes if there is a problem with trust.)
The other players try to silently stalk this person without being heard. As soon as the “prey” hears a sound that he thinks is a stalker, he quickly stands, turns in that direction, dramatically points, yells something (“Keep back!”) and opens his eyes. (If he has a blindfold on, he raises it to see.) If there is a stalker there, the stalker must completely freeze. That stalker is now the prey. The person who was the prey is now the stalker. If there is no stalker there, the prey is also now a “loser.”
The new prey must sit down where he is, close his eyes, and the game starts over. Note: If a stalker can get to the prey and touch him before being spotted, he is the Ultimate Hunter. All other players must give him a yo-yo or something of equal worth.
It’s Good to Root for the Home Team! The most deadly game ever played in modern times is soccer. In 1964, there was a soccer game between Peru and Argentina. The winner was to go on to the Olympics. The game was held in Peru (bad idea!), and when Peru lost the game in the final minutes due to a referee’s call, 45,000 fans in attendance went out of control. In the riots and craziness that followed, 318 people died, making this perhaps the worst sports disaster ever.
Prisoner’s Base
No one knows how old Prisoner’s Base is. Depending on whom you talk to, it is 700 or 2,000 years old. Either way, this game has stood the test of time.
You Need:
a field or playing ar
ea; if you’re on pavement, you could use some chalk
8 or more players
How to win: Capture all members of the other team or take over their prison.
How to play: If you can mark off a 30 x 50 foot playing area, that’s about how much space you need for this game. The opposite corners of the field are the “prisons.” (If you play in a street, the curb could be the boundary and the sidewalk could be where you put the prison.)
Two equal armies are formed, and each army takes half of the field. There are no prisoners at this time. The leader of one army steps forward and dares someone from the other army to meet him. (This is a great game for trash talking.) Now the fun starts.
The key of this game is tagging. You can only get tagged when you are on the other army’s side. You can only tag an opponent when they are on your side. Only physical contact made on another player’s body is a tag. Clothing doesn’t count.
Players begin to sneak into the territory of their opponent. If they are tagged when even one foot is on enemy territory, they go to their enemy’s jail, where they must stay until they are rescued or the game ends. (If they all get put in prison, the game’s over.) But why would a player try to sneak onto enemy territory?
1. If you enter the enemy’s prison without getting tagged, you win the game.
2. If someone from your army is in prison, you can set them free by getting to the prison and tagging them. If you can do this, you are both guaranteed safe passage back to your side of the field.
3. It’s fun to taunt your opponent by going into their territory and leaping back before getting tagged.
The Worst Round of Golf of All Time!
A man playing golf for a charity event in Riverside, California, supposedly hit 14 spectators, 2 caddies, a chipmunk, and a blue jay. Those were his good shots. His bad shot was the one that flew off the golf course onto a nearby highway, smashing a car’s windshield and creating a 6-car accident.
