Games from Sam

09/09/2024

TWO ONLINE GAMES

The games we love are ones that bring people together and get us off our screens… but these two are such belters we HAD to let you know about them.

If you are looking for a daily challenge in the spirit of Wordle look no further:

YouTakeTwo - The letter version helps you hone your Scrabble skills… and the number version is just fiendishly difficult!

Daily Gogen - A logic puzzle using words

They are created by old friends who work together at a web design collective called swerveconcepts.

https://www.youtaketwo.com

The puzzle that changes at every turn

06/09/2024

APPLE TOWER TUMBLE

Feeling proud of this video. It was taken by my brilliant friend Georgina who was helping me with a games photoshoot.

We had planned to shoot a “stone tower tumble” but it became an “apple tower tumble” instead… turns out making a tower of ten windfall apples is a heck lot harder than knocking them down!

03/09/2024

What games have you played this summer? I’d LOVE to know. I’d love to know what you’ve played and what made it great.

I’m not thinking board games but rather games that you can play with everyday objects - pen and paper, a ball, cards, coins etc.

Tell me in the comments what brilliant game I’m missing for my book - I’ll make sure to credit you!

27/08/2024

“Playing together bridges generational gaps, allowing family members to communicate and interact in ways that might not occur in everyday life. It’s a space where children learn about family values, traditions and stories, all while engaging in an activity that feels inclusive and fun.”

I came across this article over the long weekend. It’s behind a paywall sadly, but this quote in particular captures why I find games so powerful. Did you read it too? What did you think!

Also The Telegraph did you know there are so many brilliant games that achieve similar effects besides Uno - in fact I’m writing a book that brings my favourites together…

In a world of endless video games and TikTok, the simple but fiendish card game has managed to stay just as addictive

16/08/2024

CROCKER

Does anyone remember playing Crocker growing up? It is the fastest, most furious game of rounders you’ll ever play.

If you don’t know it, or like me, it had gone off your radar, find a field or a beach and give it a go.

Players: 8+
Playing time 20 - 30 minutes
Requirements: a field about 30m square, two chairs, a volleyball or football, a jumper and a rounders bat.

Aim: To be on the team that scores the most runs.

Preparation: Place the chairs 4-5m apart on one side of the field. Use the jumper to mark the bowling point – about five metres from one of the chairs, and at right angle to the line that they make.

Game Play

1. Form two teams.

2. Toss a coin to decide who bats first. This team stands behind the chairs, while one of their team goes into bat by standing in front of the chair facing the jumper. This is the wicket chair. One person on the batting team keeps score, and another can be helpful to the fielding team by being backstop/wicket keeper.

3. Fielding team spreads out across the field except for one person, the bowler, who stands by the jumper.

4. The bowler throws the ball underarm toward the batter, allowing it to bounce in front of them. The batter tries to wallop it into the field. If the ball is hit you have to run.

5. The batter’s aim is to score as many runs as possible by running to the other chair, racing round it and back to the wicket chair in time to clobber the next ball into the field - they’ll need to be quick! The bowler can bowl as soon as they have the ball back with them.

6. The fielders’ aim is to catch the ball full toss (to get the batsman out) or failing that, get the ball back to the bowler as quickly as possible so that they can bowl the next ball (even if the batsman is running).

7. If the ball goes behind the line of the chairs no points are scored.

8. The batter is out if they are caught full toss, or if the bowler hits the chair with the ball and the next batter is then in.

9. Only the bowler can hit the chair with the ball. They must bowl from the jumper but they do not have to wait for the batsman to be ready.

Have you played Crocker this summer? What do you think?

(Photo credit: Jamie Grimstone)

02/08/2024

CINEMA TENNIS

A quick and simple game that gets discussion going immediately. The pleasure is in the dislodging of knowledge from the deep recesses of the mind.

Players: 2 or more

Playing time: 5 – 10 mins

Game Play:

1. Divide the group into two teams.

2. One team serves by choosing a film star and film they starred in. This should be
accompanied by a nice serving action.

3. The other team returns with another film they starred in. Again, a nice shadow
forehand is required and the old finger in mouth popping sound adds drama.

4. You go back and forth until the point ends when a team cannot think of any more films.

5. First to three points is the winner.

Tom Hanks is always a good place to start, partly because he’s been in so many movies and partly because his movies are generally pretty feel-good. I don’t know how you store Tom Hanks movies in your brain, but I’m pretty sure mine must be stored on hooks that are something like Oscar winners, romcoms, recent films I’ve seen with him in.

At least that’s what seems to happen in a game of cinema tennis – after Forrest Gump, Philadelphia and Saving Private Ryan are mentioned, there’ll be someone in your team who’ll whisper “hang on… wasn’t he in some romcoms?” “oh yes that one with Meg Ryan” or “he was in that film not so long ago about Somali pirates…”.

And so it goes on. And this pooling of knowledge and a little determination has the amazing effect of dredging more and more from the recesses of our memories. When you get it, it’s similar to the feeling of success, that comes with having grasped, produced and finally delivered a very large sneeze.

A little addendum: Feel free to change genres – books by Roald Dahl, plays by Shakespeare, songs by the Beatles. Or on date night the category can be “things that I’ve appreciated about you this week” or “I would never have… if I hadn’t met you”.



Photo credits: Kurt Krieger/Corbis and Brian Hamill/Warner Bros

29/07/2024

BOOK PROJECT UPDATE (and Grab the Bunny)

We shared a sample of the games book with some agents, and the wonderful Dotti, of Greyhound Literary Agents, agreed to represent us!

One of the games we featured was Grab the Bunny. Here’s how it's written up for the book at present:

After Usain Bolt ran the 100m in a world record 9.58 seconds most people said it was a time that would never be beaten. But Cambridge University Professor John Barrow argued that Usain should have been even quicker.

Not through any improvement in fitness or running technique. You see, a 100m sprint is actually two races – the time to cover the distance, and the time to respond to the gun. It turns out that Bolt’s reaction times were slow in sprinting terms. In Berlin, when he achieved this extraordinary time, he was second slowest – 0.16 seconds to get off the blocks, against his competitors who were clocking 0.13.

Sorry, Usain, you should have played more Grab the Bunny.

This one is super easy to organise after a meal, you don’t even have to clear the table. It relies on reaction times and touch, and there’s a tantalising tension that builds each time the coin is tossed.

Players: 8+

Requirements: A coin, a soft toy, two hats and one long table.

Preparation: Place a coin at the top end of the table and bunny at the bottom end. The two people at the bottom end of the table, closest to the bunny should each wear a hat.

The aim of the game is to get your team's hat-wearing person to the top of the table.

Everyone holds hands with the person sitting next to them, forming a human chain down each side of the table. Your side of the table is competing with the other side. Everyone should close their eyes, except the two people at the top end of the table closest to the coin.

Rules:

Gamesmaster flicks the coin. If it lands on heads, the two at the top of the table should each squeeze their neighbour's hands, releasing a domino of squeezes racing all the way down the table. The final person should try to grab the bunny. The team that gets the bunny moves up a space (the coin-observing top person now moving to the bottom of the table).

If the coin lands on tails, no squeeze should be made - if the bunny is wrongly grabbed, you move back a space.

25/07/2024

FUN IN THE CAR

About to head on a road trip with the kids? Wave, Thumbs Up, Salute! should keep them entertained.

Players: 2+

Requirements: One car, one driver and two or more passenger players.

Game Play:

The goal of this game is to get three cars in row to ape your behaviour. With the first car you are seeking to elicit a wave from a passenger in response to your wave, the second car to respond with a “thumbs up” to your “thumbs up”, and the third car to salute back.

Decide which passenger starts. As cars pass their side of the car, they have to pick a car that has passengers who have a friendly look and wave at them. If the passengers in the other car wave back, SUCCESS – you have another turn, this time trying to find a car who look like they’ll give you a thumbs up.

Choose carefully and if they thumbs up, SUCCESS! You can now move onto the third, final and most difficult challenge… The Salute. Find a car to salute to and if they salute back, you’ve won. If any car fails to give the desired response the turn passes to the other passenger and you start right back at the beginning, back at the wave. Sorry.

23/07/2024

THE EGG GAME

Recently I celebrated a friend's birthday and invited everyone to play the Egg Game. The ooohs and ahhhs reminded me of just how fun it is. Images below are my friend Tri getting splatted... what they don't show is the number of rounds Tri had got through or the great distance the egg was hurled.

PLAYERS: 10+

PLAYING TIME: 20 - 30 minutes

REQUIREMENTS An egg per pair and an outside area that is about 50m by 50m.

PREPARATION

Invite people to get into pairs standing opposite their partner in two long lines about 1.5m from the other. Go down one of the lines giving one partner an uncooked egg.

GAME PLAY

Then starting at one end, the first pair throw the egg to their partner, then the next pair, and the next. Any pair who drops their egg is out.

Once all pairs have thrown, those with intact eggs take two steps backwards.
Then the pairs start throwing again, one pair at a time. Again, surviving egg teams throw again but two steps further apart until one team remain.

The particular pleasure of The Egg Game is that early on people start oohing and ahhhing every catch and every drop. Every eye is turned on the game and it becomes an intense collective experience with the drama ratcheting up until there are just two or three pairs hurling their eggs the length of the street/field/yard.

21/07/2024

BOOK PROJECT UPDATE (and Ragga)

Sorry not to have posted for a while. Much has happened… My old friend Georgina helped me out with a photo shoot of some of my favourite games. This is Ragga – the simplest, fastest, most cross-generational ball game I know. Here’s the rules:

Players: 6+

Playing Time: 20 – 30 mins

Requirements: Two sturdy chairs and a volleyball and an area of at least 30m square

Preparation:

Place two chairs about 25 metres apart (a little more for games of 12 players plus, less for 8 players or less). Divide the group into two teams and each team selects one person to stand on the chair in the opposition’s half. They are the Chairperson.

Game Play:

- Move the ball up the pitch by throwing to team-mates
- No running with the ball
- Score by throwing the ball into the hands of your Chairperson
- If the ball touches the ground it goes to the opposition team
- No touching (or hitting) the opposition though invading the ball thrower’s personal
space (unlike in netball) is warmly encouraged.

That’s it. It really couldn’t be simpler. The two Chairpeople should be circulated off with those who are tiring.

Have you played Ragga? What did you think?

27/05/2023

This might stretch you…

We had some friends round this morning and were trying out a new games idea… how often as grown ups do we try our hand at something we’re not necessarily good at, like sketching a self-portrait?

We took photos of ourselves on our phones and then had a quick go at drawing them. Divide the sheet of paper into four and try these fun variations of a self portrait in 80 seconds each:

⏱️ Straight up self portrait
✋🏼 With your non-dominant hand
📝 Without your pen leaving the page
🙃 With the photo upside down!

📄 For the finale, turn the whole sheet of paper over, and give yourself 3 minutes. With you mind loosened up and your eye in you might be surprised at your artistic talent!

You can vote for the winner in each category (excluding your own entry of course)!

Would you try this? What games will you be playing this weekend?

25/05/2023

What kinds of games are we talking about? Well, not computer games as we are trying to escape our screens here. And not board games with elaborate rules that take ages to master.

Instead, included in my book are games that we can play pretty much anywhere, any time. They only require a few everyday objects and the rules are super simple. I’ve divided them into five chapters so far:

🥂 Small get-togethers — Games for 8 or fewer players
🎉 Larger gatherings — Games for more than 8
🎪 Picnics and street parties — Games for the outdoors
👧👦 Children’s parties — Games for the young, and young at heart
🎲 Instant! — Quick games for any time and place

So far, we have 30 tried, tested and honed absolute favourites, and I’m looking forward to sharing them with you…

BUT WE ALSO WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

What game is your go-to, must-play, everyone-loves-this simple bit of fun that it would be crazy to leave out? Have I perhaps forgotten a whole category? Comment to let us know!