Settlers of Catan is available at the Turnkey Desk. (Photo credit: Sandy Hong)
Being stuck at a party with nothing to do is a common curse. Maybe some fool forgot the beer pong balls, the alcohol has yet to set in, or the food you guys have ordered has yet to arrive. Or perhaps you’re just hanging out with a group of friends and you’re stuck doomscrolling on the couch, coming up blank on anything else to do.
If you ever find yourself in a situation as unfortunate as those above, all you have to do is pull this magazine out of your back pocket (which you definitely carry around at all times) and provide the masses with some free group entertainment to start having fun with one another.
Speaking games
If there’s one thing that has the potential to entertain, it’s the deceptively simple speaking games that you can start up at literally any time.
The Rhyming Game
Number of people: unlimited
Choose one lucky person to choose the first word, and then go around in the group finding words to rhyme with no repeats, until one unlucky person gets stuck or screws up.
The Alphabet Game
Number of people: unlimited
Pick a category and go through the alphabet listing terms for each letter. Potential categories include but are not limited to gay celebrities, cities that are famous for certain food items, clothing brands, fruits and vegetables that nobody really likes, and common insults.
3-2-1-Go!
Number of people: unlimited, but usually works best in a group of two (unless you are in a group of people that are telepathic)
Count to 3 and everyone involved says a word. Then do it again and again with no repeats of words already shared until everyone finally gets to the same word.
Rock-Paper-Anything
Number of people: unlimited
It’s like rock paper scissors, but instead of scissors, each person picks a random item. Then, take turns debating which item would win in their final epic battle. Let the best item win.
Shiritori
Number of people: unlimited
This game originally started off as a Japanese speaking game. It starts with someone saying a word and the next player has to say a word that starts with the final letter of the word before it. No repeats are allowed, and you keep going until someone isn’t able to keep up. (Pro tip: start with the word “flex” because who really knows a word that starts with an “X” off of the top of their head…)
If you want to make the game harder, you can change it so that instead of starting with the last letter, you have to start with the last syllable of the preceding word. Or even harder, every word has to be part of a certain category like animals or food.
The Guessing Game
Number of people: unlimited
Choose any book, movie, or TV show and describe the beginning, middle, and end in brief sentences. The first person in the group that guesses correctly is victorious.
Card games
If you somehow forgot the beer pong balls but remembered your trusty pack of cards, you can rally the troops to play some fun card games.
Cheat
Number of people: unlimited
All cards in the deck are dealt out to players, and the end goal is to get rid of all your cards. The first person to go will put down an ace face down so that nobody can see what the card actually is. The next person will do the same for 2, and the next will do the same for 3, and so on and so forth, cycling from ace to king. Each player will announce the number of the cards and how many they are putting down. If you don’t have the card that you are supposed to put down, you will need to lie and put down another card, pretending it’s the one you are supposed to have.
If a player suspects another player of lying, they can call out “cheat” and the accused needs to reveal the card they played. If they were lying, they must take the whole pile of cards into their hands. If the accuser was incorrect, they will be the one to take up the cards.
After a cheat accusation, the game resumes with the next player, at the next number. The game continues until one person is able to get rid of all their cards.
Another variation of this game is putting down multiple of the number that you are supposed to put down (even if you don’t have them…).
Spoons
Number of people: unlimited
Sit around in a circle and place in the middle a pile of spoons, like a culinary junkyard. There needs to be one less spoon than the number of players at all times.
The dealer will deal four cards to each person and keep the remaining pile of cards to their right.
Everyone looks at their cards, and the dealer picks up one card from the top of the pile. The dealer then selects one card to discard from their hand and passes it face down to the player on their left, keeping only four cards. The next player will do the same and cards will begin to move around the circle, with everyone picking up one card from their right. The dealer will keep going with picking up and discarding cards.
The goal is to swap and keep cards so that you have four cards of the same rank (e.g., four aces or four 10s). As soon as someone gets a four-of-a-kind, they grab a spoon from the middle and then everyone else has to race to grab a spoon. The person without a spoon at the end of this is the loser for that round. If someone touches a spoon first without a winning hand, they’re also the loser for the round.
The loser from the round will get a letter from the word “S-P-O-O-N”. You can play multiple rounds and once a player has all the letters in the word “spoon”, they’re out of the game. The last player remaining is the winner.
Slapjack
Number of people: unlimited
All cards in the deck are dealt out to the players face down. Without looking at their cards, each player must put their cards into a pile face down and take turns to put down the top card from their deck in the middle, face up. When a Jack is put down, players must try to slap their hand on it first. The first player to slap it takes the entire middle pile of cards. If someone slaps the pile when a Jack has not been put down, they have to give up one of their cards to the person who put down the card.
The winner is the player who collects all the cards, leaving everyone else cardless.
The beauty of a deck of cards is that there’s a million and one games that you can play. Some other games (that have slightly more complex rules, but are just as fun) are Rummy, Speed, BlackJack, and Crazy Eights.
Board games
There are many board games that you can play in a group of people, there’s definitely no doubt about that. But the issue is: how do you source these games to play?
Many of the student societies are able to rent out board games to students in their faculty, but their rules and availability of games can differ.On campus, you can also easily borrow board games from SLC, DC, or DP, with the selection at SLC being the biggest one to choose from. To borrow a board game from the library, select a board game from the library selection, scan your WatCard at the front desk, and the boardgame is yours for a rental period of 3 days. If you would like to borrow from the SLC, go up to the Turnkey Desk with your WatCard and exchange it for the board game you want. Once you’re done with the board game, return it to the Turnkey Desk for your WatCard back.
There isn’t an exhaustive list of the board games available at the Turnkey desk, but some popular ones that they have are Catan, Cards Against Humanity, Battleship, Clue, Checkers, Dungeons & Dragons, and Jenga.
So the next time you find yourself at a function, and you see people starting to reach for their phones, pull out this list of fun and games and get the masses to engage in some old school fun that doesn’t involve a screen. No more will you be considered that fool that forgot the beer pong balls. You will be the wily jester that provided entertainment to the people of the function.
