Ever been on a long train ride with nothing but a coin, some fair-weather friends, and a bottle of mysterious clear liquid? You haven't? Well, in case you ever are, here's a simple game to pass the time...
You will need:
A coin.
Some alcohol.
An imagination.
The story:
Once upon a time, there was a magic coin.
If the head of this coin was rubbed just right, the coin would grant its owner his or her heart's desire. The coin could make any wish come true.
Since coins exist to be exchanged for goods and services (not hoarded and endlessly wished on) this was rather a design flaw.
The coin was the result of a love affair between the Gods of Chance and Money (who had met one evening at a casino). In order to keep the coin from completely destabilising the world's economy, the two Gods came to agreement: One side of the coin would grant wishes, while the other would erase the user's memory, ensuring the user would always eventually forget about the coin's power and pass it on.
This was of course a bizarre and nonsensical solution, but what can you expect from Gods when they're in love?
Over the years, this coin has gone on to make many people rich (albeit usually just rich enough to buy an extra packet of crisps). In any case, the coin has now found its way to you and a number of your least trustworthy friends...
And the question is, which one of you gets to walk away with it?
The rules:
The players sit in a circle. The direction of play is clockwise.
The player with the shortest name goes first.
The first player flips the coin.
If the coin lands tails, the player must:
FORFEIT: Take a drink, and pass the coin onto the next player.
If the coin lands heads, the player must:
ACTION: State their wish, out loud. This means they have to tell the coin (and the other players) the thing they want most in the world. Wishes can be as outlandish as possible, and contain multiple items. For instance: "I want a million dollars and a pet dolphin and a city on the moon."
The player must then pass the coin onto the next player.
The next player then flips the coin.
If the coin lands tails, the player must:
FORFEIT: Take a drink, and pass the coin onto the next player.
If the coin lands heads, the player must:
ACTION: Repeat all wish(es) spoken by the previous player. Once the player finishes listing all previous wish(es), they must then add a wish of their own. For instance, the second player might say: "I want a million dollars, a pet dolphin, a city on the moon... and a night with King Henry VIII, because I rather like his beard."
If the player is able to remember the previous wish(es) correctly, they may pass the coin to the next player.
If the player makes a mistake remembering the last wish(es), they must:
FORFEIT: Take two drinks, and pass the coin onto the next player.
As the coin continues circulating, the list of wishes should grow longer and longer, with players having to recite all the wishes to date every time they are unlucky enough to get heads...
FOR ADDED DIFFICULTY:
Players can use their wishes to make up additional rules.
For example, a player could wish:
"I want a million dollars, a pet dolphin, a city on the moon and a night with King Henry VIII, because I rather like his beard... and from now on every player who is wishing must stand on their toes."
Players must obey any wishes that apply to them. (For example, after the above wish, players will have to stand on their toes whenever making a wish for the rest of the game).
Players can also wish to undo previous wishes. For example: "I want a million dollars, a pet dolphin, a city on the moon, a night with King Henry VIII because I rather like his beard, from now on every player who is wishing must stand on their toes... and from now on players do not have to stand on their toes while wishing."
However, even if a wish has been cancelled, players MUST STILL include it when reciting the list of previous wishes aloud. A wish may be nullified, but never erased. And of course, there's nothing to stop the next player from bringing a rule back with another wish.
FORFEIT: If a player fails to obey a rule, they must drink.
Players may also sabotage each other's wishes. For instance, a player might wish for "World peace." The next player might wish for "World war, actually, because I don't want world peace." Once again, all wishes MUST be remembered.
As the game goes on, the play should become exponentially more complicated, until it becomes impossible to follow.
The best ways to sabotage other players are: 1) Make your wishes imaginative and bizarre and 2) Attack them with tricky rules.
The winning player is the last player with the coin when everyone else has given up. This player gets everybody's wishes for themselves.
Everybody else gets alcohol-induced amnesia, by order of the Gods.
Teetotaller Mode:
Not into drinking? No problem! To be honest, I don't really do it much myself, outside of special occasions.
Alternate rules: For every FORFEIT, instead of drinking, you must read a tweet from Donald Trump out loud, with appropriate body language and as much conviction as possible.
Doing this repeatedly will have approximately the same effect on your brain as an impact with a lot of vodka tonics followed by a large gold brick.
(The other players get to choose the tweet, or alternatively you can just go in chronological order).
Dessert Mode:
Alternate rules: For every FORFEIT, instead of drinking, you must eat a scoop of your favourite ice cream.
I bet you think that sounds easy, but brain freeze is a terrible thing.
This is my favourite mode.
Mad Person Mode:
Alternate rules: For a totally mind-bending experience, for every FORFEIT combine any of the above rule-sets together: eat ice cream, consume alcohol and/or read a Donald Trump tweet.
Good luck!
Coin image via wikipedia.