The Funny Games
All the games in the Funny Games collection are the kind of games you play for fun, just for fun. They are games of the other kind - funny because your playfulness makes them that way. They are also what is currently referred to as "open-source." They are yours for the playing and the changing and the renaming. Which is one other thing that makes these games as other as they are.
Yes, there are rules, but the rules are actually no more than a starting point. Because, after all, what makes a game fun is the people who are playing it. Rules are something else to play with, to tune to the players. Change the rules until everybody who wants to play can play, so that you can laugh together, be together, play together, so that the end of the game can be the start of the next.
Most of the games require nothing more than a bunch of people. The bunch can be as few as two or as many as you can get together in one place at one time.
The Funny Games Collection is a collection of games of the other kind. They are the Funny Games:
Funny Games for the Many
The Greetings Game - how many ways can you say hello?
The Handshake Game - how many ways can you shake hands?
The Label Game - label yourself
Cat on Yer Head - a patently silly game for 20 or more
Giant Cards and games to play with them
Identity Exchange - a milling around game in which one becomes other
Boxes - a game for hundreds
Giant Pick-Up Sticks - and I mean, GIANT
Human Card Games - silly mixers for large groups
Politiclap - a pointedly playful game
Reception Line - formal silliness
Human Tunnel - mass movement through very longer and longer people tunnels
Human Spiral - going around together
Human Caterpillar - a roll-playing game
Snake in the Grass - eek, snakes everywhere!
Blob Tag - sooner or later, we all get blobbed
The Shoe Ritual - cargo cult cuteness
Octopus Tag - it's good to be a tentacle
Catch the Dragon's Tail - the more dragons, the more tails to catch
Bomb and Shield - a mad milling game from Augusto Boal
Eclipse - another mad milling game from Augusto Boal
Deathball is a pretend kind of game, where everyone is not really being violent or competitive, even. And yet, they sure feel like they almost are.
Roger Greenaway's No Ball Game - no ball? so pretend one!
The Orchestra Game - making something like music together
Humans vs. Zombies - campus-wide fear frolic
Mutual Self-Congratulations - another hand game
Mass Multiplayer Crowdsourced Paddycake - a hand game for any size group
Something that Beats Something that Beats Something Else that Beats Something - a variation of a variation of Rock/Scissors/Paper - and here's a variation of that, while here's a whole bunch, and here's the Panther, the Party and the Psychic.
Blather, the game? - blather together or not.
The Shared Twiddle - let's all join hands and twiddle
Take a Bow - applauding for no particular reason, bowing when you feel like it.
Instant Paddy Cake - spontaneously generated, ad hoc playfulness
Doh-si-doh - a polygon dance without the music or dancing
A New Games Album from Lee Rush: a reminiscence of a spirit that is sadly out-of-date.
Photos from my New Games Workshop for NYU Game Center
Funny Games for the slightly less many
Games to Play in Your Parlor if You Had One - collection of mellow, parlor-like games from around this site
Magic Triangle - start a playful revolution in your neighborhood
Guess Why We're Acting Like This - guessing mayhem
The Bear Game - laugh, and get reborn
The Orchestra and the Conductor - variations on a theme
Johnny Went to Sleep - sooner or later, you just give up
Aunt Mariah Died similar in spirit to Bernie Played a Game (a.k.a. "Bernie Found Nirvana" and "Johnny Went to Sleep").
A What, and another What - exploring confusion
Zoom - a sitting around game
Chairs and Laps - a moving around game
Car-Car - an excuse to make nice to each other
Cookie Machine - another nice-making excuse
Mutual Massage - yet another opportunity for shared ah
Hug Tag - lots of running around and sweet touching
Everybody's It Freeze Tag - a dramatically quick game of tag
Elephant, Giraffe, Toaster - a game of quick and silly response
Ultimate Rock-Paper-Scissors - a.k.a. Rock, Paper, Scissors, Posse - a silly way for everyone to get on the same side
Dho-Dho-Dho - the practice of loving competition
Machines - a theater-like game of collective body building
J'Accuse - a game of murder by palm tickle
Screamless - group silliness from Emperor Matt
The Knee Games - a welcome addition to our collection of collective silliness
Human Microphone - amplify each other
Dumb Crambo – a team guessing game
Teeth - for your silly parlor, a genuine, silly parlor game
Telephone Murder - most parlor-worthy
Giving Off Hints - kind of like verbal Sardines
Psychiatry - the game
Pointless - a finger game for any size group
The Evolution of Volleyball according to the Oaqui - introducing Jollyball, Follyball and Polyball
Of Schmerltzes, Sockballs and Pantyhose - safe, soft, ball-like games
The "Numbers Game" and Thumper, too - beyond sanity - see also Lucy and Roll Over and Big Booty
Rock-Scissors-Paper Tag - which way to run and why
Group Juggling - border on impossibility
Dum Dum Da Da - a singing silliness
Lemonade - a game of great drama and taggage
Wink - don't let a good one get away
Duck-Duck-Elephant - beyond Duck-Duck-Goose
Estray Bonajour - a singing ritual of shoe passage
Machines - a theater-like game
The Lap Game - a.k.a. lapsit
Chairless - like the Lap Game, only not
Zen Hip Swing - get moved while moving someone else
Human Clay Reverse Charades - like it says
Psychic Handshake - mystical group gathering
Prui - the game
Glass Cobra - get yourselves together together
The Sound and the Fury - a warm-up game of almost mystical silliness - see also Signifying Nothing and My Auntie Went to Japan
Bernie Found Nirvana - a game that's played until it's impossible
Panther, Person, Porcupine - three-team Rock, Scissors, Paper
People Pass - and variants
People to People - twisted twister
The Prince of Wales - beyond Numbers. See also The Priest of the Parish (a.k.a. "Who Sir, Me Sir?)
9 trading numbers for wackiness
The Wrapping Game - An hilarious game for all ages
Mandala - the game - including Human Kaleidoscopes and Out of the Water Water Ballet
Pity Party - poor, poor you
Funny Games for one or two or few, or a few more
Human Spring - a game for two Stand-Off - a similar game for two, but competitive
Columbian Hypnosis - physical, but not touching, from Augusto Boal
The Greek Exercise - uplifting movement from many hands - another moment of deep fun from Augusto Boal
Aura - see if you can find each other again
Danish Clapping Game - way beyond paddy-cake
Handpile Ouija - mystic silliness
Knots - weaving a tangled web
Spaghetti Standoff - pasta-partnered
Tiger-Person-Fireworks - a game of happy coincidence for two
Sequitur - actually, non-
Syncretics - a word game of happy accidents
Twenty Answers - like twenty questions, only not
Chihuahua - a waiting game
Colors - serendipity practice
Between A and C - guess the connection
Thinkers - why you're more right than anyone else
Press Conference - answer questions until you figure out who you are, or aren't
Ninja Slap - a martial arts-like game of far more than martial arts-like fun - and variations
Not-so-Crazy Eights - playing for family unity
Runaround Ping Pong - pongish silliness
Crazier Eights - playing for fun
If We Were - imaginary transformations
Imaginary Time Lapse - change the flow of time
There's Thumb Wars - and then there's Samurai Thumbs
Handland - puppet theater of the air
Sock-Fu - Ninja Slap, except with socks
Sock Wrestling - let the mayhem hem as it may
Sound Travel - make noise, go places
Foley a Capella - make sound effects
Bonk Ball - lie on your backs with your heads together, try to lob a ball onto someone's belly button
Darkroom- build an image and see what develops
PowerPointless - act out your own presentation
Everlasting Games - pointless fun forever
The Frog - make a friend for life
Competitve Blessings - The Game - bless each other in and with fun
Verbal Ping Pong - and beyond
How do you like it? Why do you like it? When do you like it? Where do you like it? - questionable guessing
Simultalk - talking together
Blind Sculptor - very touching
Redondo - group doodling
Drawing together - kinda like it says
Bears - another paper-and-pencil game - think of it as tic tac toe meets dots and boxes meets crosswords
Elephant, Elephant, Elephant - a card game of significant hilarity
It Could Be Worse - And it could be even worse than that
Dayeinu - the game
Oaqui Pong - An infinity of Ping Pong variations...
Found Object Scrabble - what to do at a restaurant while you're waiting to get served
Manner of the Adverb - a dramatic guessing game
Coffeepot - Don't coffeepot until you see the whites of their teeth
Minip - a kind of UnTennis for people who like playing more than winning.
Twenty Questions - begins with a discussion of the nature of human/computer interface as. revealed by the game of Twenty Questions, and concludes with a description of a new variation called "Plenty Questions."
Cosmic counting - how high can you count together without interrupting each other
Four Up - like Cosmic Counting, only with your eyes open
Checkers - and beyond
Long Knives and the Big Plate Special - a delicious and playful way to teach a remarkably spiritual message
Subversive Golf - as more or less developed by the DeepFUN group
BaaBaaBaaTwinkleEFG - a game of mental exacerbation
Cranked Clay - like Sculptor and Clay, only without the yucky touching
Higher Five and Clap You - a couple of hand games for silly times
3-player Rock-Paper-Scissors - further adventures into DIY games
Toilet Paper Tug of Love - careful caring
The Toilet Paper Connection - very gentle persuasion - perhaps leading to Toilet Paper Follow the Leader
Toilet Paper Bridges - You roll out a roll. And people cluster at each end of the roll. And they all try to walk on the paper only to get to the other side
Penny games - cheap fun of many dimensions
Werewolf - kill for the fun of it
Finger Jousting - strenuously, but pointedly pointless
Sightless Slapsie - Mary Flanagan's wonderful variation
Flip the Kipper - all you need is some magazines some newspaper and some silly-ready people
This is My Nose - you point to something and call it something else, I point to something else, call it something...
Mitt Rowdy - a game for two, and oven mitts, and a coin
from Comfort to Joy and beyond - conceptual sequentials
Ghost the game with letters
Stuntly - challenges from Beat the Clock to Minute to Win It to your game night
Creative Twiddling - self-occupation at its finest
Coaster games - you know, like those things you find under your drink
A Million Ways to Play Marbles, At Least - from the Well-Played Game. (You can give everyone some marbles to play with while they listen to me read [about 10 minutes])
Toy Stories - games with toys
Your basic Strechin' Squid Yoyo
The Never Fall Bumper Car metaphor and toy
Make a ball out of shopping bags - recycling for the fun of it
Funny Games Play Lists
Other Funny Games - including some of the games in this collection, put in perspective
Imaginary fun - playing with the imagination
Other kinds of car games - or waiting games - boredom and fight-avoiding games, basically
An Other Kind of not Laughing Games - you're not supposed to laugh, but that's not the point
Touching games of the Funny Kind - loving fun of the more touching kind
Hangout Games - games to play in a Google Hangout
Ye Olde New Games Two Hour Game Session Games List
Playing for laughs – games like these, only more suited to smaller groups in smaller places
More Playful Games of Dubious Purpose - as requested by various workshop participants
Still More Other Games - in case you run out
Dramatically Other Games - pointless games that engage the imagination
Jim Moskowitz's Parlor Game collection
Funny Games to play at the retirement home - a collection of pointless games, not too much moving or thinking, just a lot of fun
Lifelong Games - games to play through your ages
Playing with the Grandkids - a smattering of games for loving fun
Elsewhere
See the Collection of collections of games
Bernie and his play/work
- Interview with Bernie in the American Journal of Play
- Lots and lots about Bernie
- Bernie at TEDx Asheville
- Free download of A Playful Path
- Articles about The Play Community
