[Fictionary] Hang onto your hats, Jim's running this round

[Jim Moskowitz]

I usually like to run variant versions on those (rare) occasions when 
I'm in charge of a round; you may remember one I ran where everyone 
had to make up rules to the 19th-Century children's game Stone, and 
then vote for which rules were the real ones (I'm attaching the 
ballot from that round below, just for nostalgia giggles)

Anyway, I'd like this next round to be somewhat simpler: Poem 
Fictionary.  I'd give you the first line or half-stanza of a poem, 
and you'd submit a fake second half.  Please let me know by this 
Friday (11/3) how you'd feel about such a variant round.
If the Yeas significantly outnumber the No Ways, that's what this 
round will be!

-Jim



>1) A large circle is drawn on the ground or floor in the center of 
>the play space. At either end of the ground a goal is marked off. 
>One player, chosen to be stone, sits on the floor in the circle. The 
>other players stand around outside the circle, taunting the stone by 
>stepping over into his territory. Suddenly, and the more 
>unexpectedly the better, the stone rises and runs for the other 
>players, who are only safe from tagging when behind one of the 
>goals. Any one so tagged becomes a stone and joins the first stone 
>in sitting near the center of the circle. They also join him in 
>chasing the other players whenever he gives the signal. This 
>continues until all the players have been tagged.
>
>
>
>2) This is a game for 3-5 players.  Everyone stands along a line to 
>start the game and throws in the same general direction.  In turn, 
>each player throws a certain flat stone (with a letter or number 
>painted onto or scratched into the top) chosen blindly from several 
>in a small sack, tosses the stone away from the group, along the 
>playing area, trying for the longest distance from the line.  The 
>one who is IT uses a knotted or marked rope to measure the 
>distances. The player who tosses it the farthest wins and becomes IT 
>for the next round.  A more exciting alternative is to toss the 
>stones toward a goal, like a stick in the ground, or another stone 
>that can moved by IT with each round.  The player who hits another 
>player's stone or the goal stone gets an extra point.  If you are 
>near a body of water, stones can be pitched towards a target placed 
>into the water, either floating or anchored.
>
>
>
>3) An outdoors game, best played on leaves or turf. The players sit 
>in a circle except for one player, the "stone mason" who goes off a 
>distance. While the stone mason is absent, the players sit in a 
>circle, with one of them sitting an a stone the size of two men's 
>fists or larger. The players then call the mason to return, and he 
>must detect which player is seated on the stone, the other players, 
>of course, trying to seem as solid and comfortable in their seats as 
>possible.  A good game for a mixed group of boys and girls, as this 
>is one game in which girls may excel, by reason of their crinolines.
>
>
>
>4) Three players each have a tire in front of them; the tires are 
>fifteen feet apart in a triangle. The boundaries between the 
>players' territories are marked with sticks or ropes, halfway 
>between the tires. Each player starts with 30-40 stones in a pile 
>next to his tire and throws stones at the other two players' tires. 
>If a stone lands outside the tire, it may be thrown again by the 
>player in whose territory it lands. Once a stone lands in a tire, it 
>is out of play. The game ends when all stones are in tires. The 
>winner is the player with the fewest stones in his tire.
>
>
>
>5) Players gather in a circle around a large tree suitable for 
>climbing. A small stone is required. On his turn a player must throw 
>the stone over a target bough, called the WHIP. If the throw is not 
>high enough, or the player misses the tree completely, he is out. 
>After making his throw, the current player, or CRACKER, must climb 
>to the WHIP to mark its location. Spectators and players alike 
>should cat-call the CRACKER during climbing; if he falls, he is out. 
>Previous CRACKERS already in the tree may attempt to dislodge the 
>current CRACKER as he climbs, but may not leave their WHIP to do so. 
>The next player must throw the STONE over a new WHIP at least as 
>high as the previous CRACKER. The first CRACKER in a round can 
>choose a WHIP at any height he believes he can throw over and reach 
>by climbing. Play begins with the shortest player, and proceeds in 
>increasing height order, so as to ensure a fair chance to all. One 
>round is complete once the tallest player takes his throw; all 
>players should come down out of the tree, and the next round begins 
>anew with the shortest remaining player. Play continues until all 
>but one player is eliminated. If any player hits any other player 
>with the stone, they are both immediately out; if a throw causes a 
>player sitting on a previous WHIP to fall without hitting him with 
>the STONE, such as by cowardly flinch, only he who fell is out.
>
>
>
>6) The players form a pentacle surrounding the victim. They chant 
>the appropriate words. Should the victim attempt to break free, 
>restrain him, but do not shed his blood. When It comes to feed, the 
>players plead for parts of the victim. It will toss one part to each 
>player. The players then use these as blunt instruments upon each 
>other, but do not shed one another's blood. The surviving player 
>offers the bodies of the others to It, uttering "stone," but must 
>take care not to enter the pentacle. It then will grant a desire; 
>but be careful to formulate that desire carefully, for It has a 
>sense of humor.
>
>
>
>7) The players array themselves as they wish around an open yard. 
>One player closes his eyes and counts aloud to twenty whilst each 
>other player selects a stone from the ground, remove a boot, place 
>the stone into the boot, and replace the boot upon his foot.  Upon 
>the count of twenty, the counting player opens his eyes and all 
>players begin walking about the yard.  The counting player then 
>attempts to guess in which boot each player placed his stone.  A 
>player whose stone is so located retires from the yard.  The game 
>ends immediately upon an incorrect guess from the counting player, 
>the player winning who fooled the counting player, or the counting 
>player himself if none fool him.  In common practice, a number of 
>games are played consecutively, with the winner of a game serving as 
>counting player for the next.
>
>
>8) This game is played in a field of tall grass, ideally taller than 
>the players.  One player is chosen to start the game as the "stone", 
>while the others are initially "ploughs".  The ploughs avert their 
>eyes in order to allow the stone to hide somewhere in the plot of 
>grass.  After an agreed upon time (perhaps a count to ten), the 
>ploughs form a line and march across the field.  The stone attempts 
>to grab one of the ploughs by the ankle, while the ploughs try to 
>spot the stone.  If a plough is caught, he drops into the grass and 
>becomes another stone.  If the stone is spotted, the plough may 
>attempt to run away.  All of the ploughs who arrive at the far edge 
>of the field form a new line on an adjacent side and begin another 
>march, perpendicular to the previous one.  Play continues until 
>there is only one plough remaining, who becomes the starting stone 
>for the following round.
>


-- 
_______________________jim at jimmosk.com________________________
When someone asks you if you're a god, You Say "What do you mean? An 
African or European god?"