Party Games

Every successful host knows that a good party provides much more than shelter and sustenance for the gathered revelers. The hors d'oeuvres and canapés, to be sure, must delight both eye and palate, the drinks should be concocted with skill and imagination, but once spirits are buoyed by these stimulants, the time arrives for games.

The right games will do more than entertain your guests. They will be the catalyst that turns a quiet soiree into a bacchanalia.

Your knowledge of your guests and the general atmosphere of your affair should dictate your choice of what to play from the following list. If your party people prove to be outstandingly intime, or grow so as the evening progresses, your imagination will suggest variations on the games, and on the prizes to be awarded and penalties imposed.

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Buzz -- Fine for warming up your party in its early stages, this one combines a numbers game with your liquid refreshment. Guests sit in a circle and, beginning with someone chosen by the host, count off clockwise. Any player who reaches a number with seven in it, or one divisible by seven, must say "buzz" instead of the number, at which point the counting reverses direction. A missed turn or a mistake means that the player must down his drink, then he begins the counting over again from one. Of course, those who miss a time or two will begin to feel the alcohol, and be more likely to miss again. The object of the game is to get to 50, but things get very tricky around 27 and 28, both of which are "buzz" numbers, which means a double reversal in direction and, often, much confusion. Strip Buzz is sometimes played in more sophisticated circles; players who miss remove an article of clothing instead of taking a drink.

Ping Pong -- This tougher variation of Buzz is guaranteed to tax your guests' concentration and step up their alcoholic consumption by several hundred percent. On numbers with three in them, or divisible by three, the player says "ping." On numbers with five in them, or divisible by five, the player says "pong." The catch is that you change direction in this game only when somebody says "pong." Both Buzz and Ping Pong should be played at a relatively fast pace; too long a hesitation in calling out the proper number or word should be counted as a miss.

Categories -- Still in the circle, the players set a rhythm for this game by clapping their hands in unison. The host chooses the first player who, on the third handclap, names a category -- for instance, cigarettes. Everyone claps twice more, then the next player in the circle must name a brand within the category; and so it goes, around the circle, until someone misses. Brands (continued on page 70) Party Games (continued from page 22) can't be repeated, and when a player can't think of one in the time allotted by the clapping rhythm, he has missed. He must chug-a-lug his drink, after which he starts the clapping again and names a new category. Categories must be broad enough (automobiles, movie titles, mammals, jazz musicians, etc.) to go around the circle at least once.

Ha-Ha -- More an ice-breaker than an actual game, this is guaranteed to change the coolest company into a gregarious gathering. Everyone stretches out supine on the floor, with each man's head resting on a woman's stomach, and each woman's head on a man's stomach. At a signal from the host, everybody says "Ha-ha-ha-ha." With their heads bouncing merrily on the shaking tummies, most of your guests will soon be in hysterics.

Kiss and Tell -- Best played when your guests are with dates whom they know more than casually, this game might be preceded by a discussion among the men as to whether or not a kiss is individually distinctive. When you've got them disagreeing about any two girls kissing alike, introduce the game. Choose one man, blindfold him, and place him in the center of the room. He is then kissed by three different girls in succession, one of whom is his date. The girls don't speak, and the gentleman must state which is his. Each male guest must take his turn; those successful in identifying their dates may win a small prize.

Guess Who -- More than a kiss is involved in this variation on the game above. Going to a separate room, the women blindfold one of their number; the men, meanwhile, are doing the same. The blindfolded man and woman, placed before each other in the center of the room, must guess each other's identity by touch alone. Neither is allowed to make a sound, nor are any of those watching. When one player thinks he knows who the other is, he may speak the name. If correct, he scores a point for his team. If incorrect, his voice makes it easier for the other player to guess who he is. Guessing continues until one of the players is identified. Then the game continues with two new players; the same player can be used more than once to confuse the other side. The team which first reaches a predetermined number of points wins. Players may be allowed to exchange clothing with other members of their team to make identification more difficult.

Fumble -- This is similar to Guess Who, but involves everyone at once. All the men gather at one end of the room, the women at the other. After the host douses the lights, the idea is to find your date in the dark. Since no talking is allowed, braille is the only effective method to score an early win. When a couple finds one another, they retire to the sidelines. A penalty can be given the last couple to successfully search one another out. In a variation on this game, the guests are blindfolded, and the lights are left on. Once a man finds his date, they remove their blindfolds and enjoy the spectacle of the others searching.

Mix 'N' match -- This is a good game for getting guests to circulate. The girls leave the room, and each deposits an article of clothing in a basket. All girls must deposit the same article and early in the party it can be as innocuous as a shoe. The girls then return with the basket. At a signal, the fellows rush to it, grab a shoe at random, then go from girl to girl in an effort to find the owner and put the shoe back in place. The result is not only considerable ankle-massaging but permits male guests to meet, informally, women other than their dates. When the game goes into its second inning, the article of clothing might logically progress to a stocking --with even more rewarding results.

Adam and Eve -- Here's a game that puts a premium on agility and fast footwork. The guests form a circle, joining hands, with one man and one woman in the center as Adam and Eve. Adam is blindfolded, and tries to find Eve within the circle by calling "Eve!" to which she must answer "Here I am, Adam!" When he hears the mating call, the man attempts to grab the girl, who tries to dodge him. The byplay continues against a one-minute time limit. If Adam catches Eve, he is allowed to leave the ring, choosing another man to take his place. If he is unsuccessful, the girl leaves the ring and chooses another girl to go inside. No matter who wins each round, the blindfold changes from man to woman each time, so that Eve always chases Adam after Adam has chased Eve.

Feather-fun -- Your guests kneel in a circle, holding a sheet by its edges among them. A single feather is placed in the middle of the sheet, and all begin to blow at it. The idea is to avoid being touched by the feather by exerting enough lung power to keep it away. Anyone touched must down his drink, and the game begins again. One of the simplest of games, this is also one of the most fun.

Lifesaver game -- Two teams are lined up side by side, alternating girl, boy, girl, etc. Each player is provided with a toothpick to be held in the mouth, and on the toothpick of the first person in each line is placed a candy Lifesaver. The idea is to pass the Lifesaver from toothpick to toothpick without the use of hands, and without dropping the Lifesaver. The team that manages to get the Lifesaver down the entire line and back again first, wins. If you're less interested in team competition, have your guests stand in a circle, and whenever one drops the candy, make him down his drink.

Orange game -- In this one, similar to the Lifesaver Game, two teams, alternating men and women, attempt to pass an orange down the line with hands held behind their backs. Since the orange must be held between chin and chest, considerable body contact is required, which is, of course, the game's major charm.

Balloon game -- A man and a woman try to break a balloon, placed between them, by pressing their bodies together. They are not allowed to use their hands. The couples are timed, and the fastest wins a prize.

Psychoanalysis -- This requires someone to be it who is not familiar with the game. Our own A. C. Spectorsky has described it wonderfully well in his book The Exurbanites:

"One of the group is selected to be it. It is told to leave the room, and that while it is out of the room the others will make up a story of some sort. Then it will be it's task to return and try to discover what the story is about by asking of everyone in turn whatever questions occur to it. The other people are restricted, in their answers, to a Yes, a No, and a Maybe. Once it is out of the room, the others will make up no story whatsoever. They will use up a little time to fill their drinks, tell a joke or two at it's expense, and remind any squares who don't know how the game is played (if indeed there is any square present aside from it) the real rules. The real rules are that when it returns, any question asked that ends with a consonant is answered with a No; any question asked that ends with a vowel is answered with a Yes; a question ending with a 'y' permits the answer Maybe. The point of the game is that it will make up his own story, and in the process disclose to the amateur psychoanalysts present, by his free-association, his unconscious fantasies.

"Lest the reader think that stories do not in fact come out, herewith, very briefly, are appended two actual stories as invented by unfortunate its for the delectation of their friends:

"1. A girl midget, whose mother is also a midget, marries a boy midget. Goaded on by her mother, the girl midget on her wedding nioght has sexual intercourse with an elephant, and dies.

"2. A sister shoots and kills her brother when she discovers him in her barn, using her milking-machine for the purpose of masturbation.

"Once there was a girl from whose unconscious appeared a story about a circus-train which was wrecked and spewed forth freaks who raped all the women living in houses beside the railroad track. When she was told it was her story, that she alone had supplied the details, she burst into tears and fled alone into the night.

"Stories like these could never be contrived by a group of people sitting around a room. They can only develop in the course of this malevolent parlor game. One hapless man invented the following story, in the following way. It: Is this story about people? Answer: Yes.(continued overleaf) It: Is it about animals?

Answer: No.

It: Then every character is a person?

Answer: No.

It: No? Well ... supernatural characters?

Answer: No.

It: Is there a monster in the story?

Answer: Maybe.

It: Well, let's see -- does a woman give birth to a monstrosity?

Answer: Maybe.

It: Well, does she?

Answer: Yes.

It: Maybe? and Yes? Oh, it's two?

Answer: Yes.

It: Siamese twins! Is there a crime?

Answer: Yes.

"And so it went. The story unfolded was of a woman who destroyed the Siamese twins she had born out of wedlock by ripping them to pieces with her bare hands. When it was told this was his own story, he reacted in the usual way, with hot denials. It was patiently explained to him, as it has been to every it to date, that the completely mechanical and arbitrary method of answering gave him free choice at every turn, and that, for example, he might have started out by asking questions about time, locale, historical period, motivation, anything. Additionally, it was explained that the question as to whether the story was about people, to which an affirmative answer was given, might have satisfied anyone willing to think about people as distinct from non-people, but that it insisted on having other creatures in his story, even after learning there were no animals."

The game can be ended when it is told that he has wormed out the entire story as contrived by the group. "And now," you may ask, "what is your analysis or opinion of the person or persons at this party who would make up such a story?" It may not be certain what to say to this. In the case of the man who conceived the story of the midgets, he shook his head. "If it were only one person," he answered, "who had dreamed it up, I could make a comment. But after all, all of you here had a hand in it." "But what," he was pressed, "would you think of a person who would make up such a story, supposing just for a moment that only one did make it up? In a word, what would you say about such a person?" The man who had been it no longer paused. "If I knew that only one person had made it up," he said, "in one word I would say he was sick, sick, sick." Then he was told who had made it up.

Identity -- This also requires someone unaware of how the game is played to be it, but isn't nearly as sadistic as Psychoanalysis. The it is simply told that while he is out of the room, a person will be chosen by the guests, and It must guess who the person is. He can ask questions of each guest in turn about the person's appearance, his activities, his personal life. Matter of fact, personal questions are encouraged. When It leaves the room, each guest learns that the person he is to describe is the one sitting on his right, and that he must answer the most personal questions honestly, and to the best of his knowledge. It can direct only one question at a time to each guest in turn, who must answer "Yes," "No" or "I don't know." The game ends when It guesses that the person he's after is "The Person On Everyone's Right."

Cheeksy-Weeksy -- This is a game calculated to give you some good-natured fun at the expense of the perennial self-appointed Life Of The Party, or anybody else around the scene who deserves to be taken down a notch. While the sucker is out of the room mixing drinks or whatnot, explain the game to the other guests. When your man returns, seat everybody in a circle on a boy-girl-boy-girl basis. One of the participants starts the game by pinching the cheek of the girl next to him and saying, as he does so, "Cheeksy-weeksy." This bit of foolish flirtation continues around the circle. It will certainly seem pretty silly and rather pointless to the sucker. Unbeknownst to him, however, the girl who is tweaking his cheek has lipstick on her fingers, freshly applied from a tube held behind her back. As the game progresses to "Chinsy-winsy" and "Nosey-wosey," and other puerile variations, your sucker will become increasingly confused about the fun everybody else is having. If, by the time his face begins looking like a carnival mask, he still hasn't been able to figure out the reason for all the chuckling and sideward glances, a finale of "Mirrorsy-wirrorsy" with a girl's pocket mirror will do the trick.

Clap hands -- This is a variation on the old game of Hot and Cold. Once again, a guest is chosen It, and is sent out of the room. Then everyone agrees on something for It to do. Examples: Take the ashtray from the coffee table, empty it in the fireplace, and place it on the host's head. Or, kiss a particular girl on her cheek, pick her up, carry her around the sofa, and deposit her in another guest's lap. Once the action is chosen, It is called back into the room, and told that the guests will tell him what to do by the tempo and volume with which they clap hands. They begin to clap hands, rhythmically and quietly. It moves around aimlessly, and every time a random move or gesture approaches the desired action, the clapping increases in tempo and volume. A wrong move and the clapping slows and becomes fainter. Before very long, he has completed the act. Acts of similar difficulty can be given a number of guests, who may then be timed. A prize goes to the person who finishes his act in the shortest period of time, with a forfeit for the slowest.

Under the sheet -- This game also requires that one guest be it, and cannot be played if the person chosen is familiar with the game. He (or she) is placed on the floor under a bedsheet and told that he has "something on" that must be taken off before he can come out from under the sheet; the game will cease as soon as he removes the right article. A whispered conference is then held among the guests to determine which article it will be. As he hands out each article to the host, it is casually deposited beyond his reach. Of course, the object he's really supposed to take off is the sheet itself. The interesting question is whether he will figure it out before it's too late to take it off. If not, he's vulnerable to a lot of teasing before somebody gives him back his pants. Or hers.

Honeymoon -- Props are needed here: a small suitcase, a nightgown, pajamas and a bed. At a signal, a couple takes the nightie and pajamas and throws them into the bag, runs to the bedroom, puts the pajamas and nightgown on over their clothing (in sophisticated circles, they're sometimes put on in place of outer garments), hops into bed, removes the pajamas and nightgown from one another, repacks, and returns to the starting point. Couples are timed, with a suitable prize for the fastest.

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No matter what you play, however, a really good host never loses sight of one fact: each game is designed to please and entertain the guests. Don't worry about time limits, prizes or rules if you see that the guests are introducing variations on their own which are making it more fun for them. Your role is to create the atmosphere in which they may enjoy themselves to the fullest. You're not an umpire: you're Master of the Revels.

It's wise to end a game when you see it's reached its high point. Declare a winner and let all retire to the bar for refills. If you see a game isn't going over for some reason, don't try to force it. End it quickly and move to something else.

By introducing such stimulating games as these, you automatically enhance your reputation as a host a thousandfold. Other hosts, more lavish but less imaginative, will fade into obscurity. And available young lovelies will remember you, with a sigh, as the fellow who knows all those wonderful party games.

Goggle-eyed guest at center has just goofed on his turn at Buzz. Players in this numbers game must be alert. They count off clockwise; when someone gets a number with seven in it, or one divisible by seven, he says "buzz," at which point the counting reverses direction. Players who miss down their drinks, and each drink down increases chances of missing. More complicated version of game is called Ping Pong.

Couples are literally pitted against one another in the Balloon Game. Guy and girl try to burst a balloon between them by pressing their bodies together. The couple who busts the balloon in quickest time is the winner.

Feather-Fun (at top) tests lung power of your guests. Players sit in a circle, holding the edges of a sheet with feather placed in its center, the idea being to blow the feather away from yourself toward the other players; anyone touched by the feather must pay a forfeit.

Above, teamwork is required in Lifesaver. Girl must pass Lifesaver on toothpick to male who must, in turn, pass it to the toothpick of the girl behind him.

Under the Sheet (left) is a fine stunt to play on The Life Of The Party, or anyone else for that matter. A guest is placed under a sheet and told to take off "something he (or she) has on." Guest must continue to take things off under the sheet until he realizes that the "something" to be removed is actually the sheet itself.

Seemingly simpe-minded, Ha-Ha (below, left) is really a relaxing ice-breaker. Everybody stretches out on the floor with his head on someone else's stomach. At a signal from the host, everyone laughs out loud. Heads bob happily on the shaking tummies, the forced laughter becomes genuine, and your party is on its way.

In Fumble (below), guests are blindfolded, after which they must try to find their dates. The catch is that talking is not allowed, so identification must be done by groping. Once dates find each other, they can remove their blindfolds and watch the others searching. The last couple to complete the game must pay a forfeit.

In Honeymoon (below), couple is given a suitcase with pajamas and nightgown in it. They must run to the bedroom, put the PJs and nightie on over their clothes, jump into bed, remove the night-things from each other, put them back into the bag, and run back to the other room. Couples are timed, and fastest gets a suitable prize, slowest a suitable penalty.