2 Games in 1 Post?!
Two Games, Endless Fun!
This week I decided to tackle two small and simple guessing games because I have a feeling that they’re easier to understand than some of the longer, more complicated posts. The two games are Clumps and Dance Charades. Clumps is about consuming every member of the other team to form one giant clump, and Dance Charades is… well I’m sure you can guess that one!
Ready to tackle two games at once? Let’s find out…
CLUMPS
Players: 6-20
HOW TO PLAY
Divide the players into two groups. One representative from each team will go into a different room and decide on something for everyone else to guess (This can be anything, from an object in the room, a former President, a city half-way around the globe… anything!). Once the two representatives have agreed, they return to everyone else.
The representatives will go to the other team’s group (make sure the two groups are fairly far from each other so there’s no eavesdropping) and from there, they will be asked “yes” or “no” questions about the chosen item. Some example questions are Is it living? Is it a person? Are they female? Are they an actress? etc. Once a team has guessed correctly, the round ends.
The team the guessed correctly first then gets to choose a member from the other team to become a part of their group. This means that the two teams, or clumps, will grow and shrink in size until one team has completely consumed the other.
Here are some examples and ideas. I think they’re pretty basic and that you could do much better, but check it out if you want to: The 20 Questions Game
DANCE CHARADES
Players: 6-30
Gear: Headphones & an EDMSC (electronic device with music streaming capabilities)
HOW TO PLAY
As a whole, decide on a playlist of 20-30 songs, then divide the players into two groups. Randomly choose a team to begin. A representative from that team will put the headphones on, choose a song, and then dance to the song.
Their teammates then try and guess which song is playing. If the first team isn’t able to guess correctly in thirty seconds, the headphones are immediately handed to a member on the other team, who will try and act it out for their team to guess. The headphones keep switching back and forth between the same representatives until one team guesses correctly (they then get 1 point).
The game ends when everyone has had the chance to dance once, and the team with the most points wins!
Author’s Note
I figured that easy, simple games are really the way to go, so for the second to last blog post, I decided to give you a few extremely simplistic but fun ideas. Even though I didn’t get a change to try either of them out, as someone who has had to organize games for a group of kids a lot, I think these are great and practical ideas. Honestly, I would have a blast playing dance charades and making a fool of myself in front of my friends, but maybe that’s just me!
Despite the simplicity of the past few games, for the last blog post, I will be going into a more stimulating game that will hopefully still be entertaining to learn about. I will also create a DOWNLOADABLE CHEAT SHEET that has ALL OF THE GAMES from The Game Dealer on one page in case you want to download it, and look back to refresh your mind of these games at anytime! Enjoy!
Analysis
Both games are simple, fun, and easy to learn. However, because they are guessing games, there isn’t a whole lot of different skills being used, per se. However, I think each one takes a different and creative approach that definitely makes playing enjoyable.
Creativity: Clumps: Although there is not a lot of creativity actively used in Clumps, you have to be a bit imaginative in order to ask the right questions to figure out the object faster. Dance Charades: Dance Charades allows for you to unleash your inner child and act goofy. You’re definitely gonna need some creativity to come up with the dance moves to convey the right song!
Luck: As is natural of guessing games, luck is the most influential aspect, since most of the game is based on the chance that you will guess correctly. Usually, this repetition can be annoying, but since these games include variety between rounds, it’s not.
Strategy: I don’t think there’s much, if any, pure strategy in Clumps, it’s essentially Group 20 Questions! However, one hint I can give about Dance Charades is that people often move in time with the song, so try and sing the song in your head and see if it matches the tempo that the representative is dancing in.
Tips & Strategies
- Guess better haha jk
- There aren’t really any specific tips, just have fun!
Thanks for reading! Have a wonderful day!
Credits
I cannot stress enough the importance of Leigh Anderson’s fantastic book The Games Bible for inspiring this blog post. Just for clarification, Dance Charades is labeled iPod Dance Charades in The Games Bible. Her book has hundreds of amazing ideas, from icebreakers, family games, and weekend getaways. This blog would not be possible without all the hard work she put into writing the book so my source for ideas and research are from her book.
Additional Materials
Example Dance Charades Playlist
Sources
- Anderson, Leigh. The Games Bible. Workman Publishing Company, 2010.
- Anderson, Leigh. “The Games BIBLE: The Ultimate Gamebook… Book by Leigh Anderson.” ThriftBooks, www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-games-bible-the-ultimate-gamebook-for-grown-ups-307-games-to-put-the-fun-back-in-parties_leigh-anderson/571781/#edition=5740103&idiq=12407424.
- https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0cTkdu9HabktIsA8MsEZSF?si=18ae1d53e2634df7
- https://games4esl.com/the-20-questions-game/
Image Sources
