A Little Book of Silly Games: Stuff to do for the whole family

HELLO!

This book is not designed to be read in order.

Skip this introduction and open any random page to get playing.

INTRODUCTION

In this book you will find lots of games, all of them very silly indeed. They can be played when you’re bored, or when the electricity has cut out, or when you don’t know what to do with all those spoons. There are games you can play with a group or games you can play on your own*. Games for adults, games for children and games for adults and children.**

So, if you want to race like a slug, visit the invisible zoo, or play wolf croquet this is the book for you.

DO YOU HAVE A CUCUMBER?

In this game you put a slice of cucumber on your forehead, then race to wriggle it into your waiting mouth...

You’re going to need at least one thin slice of cucumber for every player. Cut them and put them on a plate in between all the players. Now, put the cucumber ON YOUR FOREHEAD.

Using only your facial muscles, you need to move it into your mouth. If you drop it, start again – with a new slice if you like. The fastest player wins.

AN INESTIMABLE GAME FOR A THOUGHTFUL PLAYER.

Count up how many things you THINK there are in your house, and then see how close you were.

Without getting up and walking around, your job is to guess how many of a certain thing there are around your house. Things like light bulbs, chairs, empty bottles, hats, left shoes.

Once you choose something, have a walk around your house and take inventory. Were you close? If you were one or two off, that’s pretty good. If you were exactly right, that’s amazing. Isn’t it amazing what you find when you’re looking for something else?

ARE YOU ALL BEARD-FREE? AND DO YOU HAVE ANY PLASTIC CUPS AROUND?

This is a game about holding plastic cups to your face through the power of suction alone. The tricky bit is, they’ll be filled with water.

Get a plastic cup for each player, and half-fill them with water. Put your cup over your mouth, suck in, and keep it there. You can’t touch it – just see how long you can keep it on your face. Obviously, if you laugh, it’s going to be more difficult...

The last player left with a cup on their face wins! Admire their bare-faced skills.

A GAME THAT’S LOOKING UP.

Try and traverse your home, while looking only at the ceiling. Stand straight up and make ‘binoculars’ with your hands (you know, making them into tubes and peeking through.) Then, with your hand-noculars firmly over your eyes, you’ll bend your neck back so you’re looking straight up at the ceiling.

Without looking down (or peeking out the side of the hand-noculars) attempt to walk from your starting point to another room in your home. For an easier challenge, try to make it to the next room over. For truly brave players, choose somewhere far away. And that’s that! Walk slowly and prepare your shins for coffee table-impact.

IS THERE A SHELF OF BOOKS OR DVDS IN THE ROOM?

In this game both players secretly pick a DVD or a book from a shelf. Now it’s question time! Start with the player who went to the cinema most recently. Take turns to ask each other a yes/no question – ‘is it part of a series?’, say, or ‘does anything explode?’

You must answer all questions truthfully. If you don’t know, the asker gets another question. The first player to guess, and formally ask ‘Is it [whatever it is]?’ on their turn, wins. Remember, you can ask any yes/no questions you like!

DO YOU HAVE A TEA TOWEL AND SOME FOOD OR OTHER OBJECTS AROUND?

In this game you’ll take turns to be a Magician, who conceals an object behind a tea towel. As the Magician, you name a few objects that you might have hidden. Your Audience Members try to guess which object really is concealed. Finally, you whip the tea towel away with a magic word, revealing the truth...

First, select your Magician. Now, fetch a magic cape/tea towel. Audience Members: close your eyes. Magician: choose an object, and hide it behind a tea towel. The Magician will tell everyone to open their eyes – and name THREE OBJECTS that might be hidden behind the towel. Two of the objects should be decoys, and the other should be the real thing.

All the Audience Members shout out what they think it is! And the Magician whips the cape/tea towel away with a suitable magic word. Now, all the Audience Members who were right – what a terrible trick! Call out boo! Everyone else – how unexpected! How magical! Cheer wildly!

If half or more of the Audience Members are booing, the Magician leaves the stage. How many tricks can you perform in a row before you get booed off? Keep going till you’ve all had a turn as the Magician.

DO YOU HAVE SILVERWARE, A TOASTER AND A SLICE OF BREAD?

In this game you’ll be playing Rock, Paper, Scissors – but instead of boring old hands, you’ll be playing with silverware. Your timer? The toaster. The player with the most utensils when the toast is done is the winner.

Take two knives, two spoons and two forks each, and stand by the toaster. While it’s down, you’ll be playing rounds of Rock Paper Scissors, except: KNIFE cuts FORK; FORK stabs SPOON; SPOON scoops KNIFE. When you win a round, you get to keep those utensils – add them to your stash!

The winner is the player with the most utensils when the toast pops up, who gets to enjoy their victory toast!

ARE THERE PLACES YOU COULD HIDE AROUND HERE?

In this game you take turns to think of places in the room where you could hide. You keep going until someone challenges you – and then you have to prove it. Choose a player to start. First Hider: look around carefully. Pick somewhere you think you could hide. Now whisper that place to the next player.

Next player: what do you think? Could they hide there? If you think they could, say out loud ‘Yes! I think you could hide there!’ and name the place so everyone hears. It’s then your turn to think of a new place to hide, and whisper it to the next player.

If someone ever whispers to you with a place that you think they couldn’t hide in, it’s time for a challenge! Become the Challenger by saying out loud, ‘Noooo! You