A Little Book of Silly Games: Stuff to do for the whole family

By Hide&Seek

Silly games for silly people, from babies to boomers and beyond!

Done all the chores? Binged all your favourite TV shows? Decorated the whole house? Written your book? Started a new business?

Or would you rather just play games?

A Little Book of Silly Games is stuffed full of silly stuff to do when you're bored. Have fun and race a slice of cucumber down your face or balance a teaspoon on your elbow – we all need some ridiculousness now and then.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: May 7, 2020
• ISBN: 9781448217953

Hide&Seek

Hide&Seek is a game design studio based in London and New York. Through a compelling combination of design, technology and cultural partnership, their work re-imagines public space as a place to play and spans multiple platforms: console, smartphone, browser, TV and street. The studio is founded on the belief that play is essential to our health, minds and relationships, and will play an increasing role in the civic culture of the 21st century. They create new games and experiences, curate and support the work of artists and designers through the Sandpit series, design and consult with global brands, and speak at events around the world. The Nature Games Weekend is part of Hide&Seek's own series of social games events over the summer supported by Arts Council England. Hide&Seek are Artists in Residence at the Southbank Centre and recent partners include: Channel 4, BBC, Tate Modern, Warner Brothers, Royal Opera House, Hogmanay Festival and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Their work has been recognised by D&D, Creative Review, BAFTA, The One Show, Living Labs Global Awards and Guardian MEGAS. Founder & Director Alex Fleetwood won British Council Performing Arts Entrepreneur of the Year, and Development Director Margaret Robertson was recently named one of the UK's top games designers by Develop Magazine.

Book preview

HELLO!

This book is not designed to be read in order.

Skip this introduction and open any random page to get playing.

INTRODUCTION

In this book you will find lots of games, all of them very silly indeed. They can be played when you’re bored, or when the electricity has cut out, or when you don’t know what to do with all those spoons. There are games you can play with a group or games you can play on your own*. Games for adults, games for children and games for adults and children.**

So, if you want to race like a slug, visit the invisible zoo, or play wolf croquet this is the book for you.

DO YOU HAVE A CUCUMBER?

In this game you put a slice of cucumber on your forehead, then race to wriggle it into your waiting mouth...

You’re going to need at least one thin slice of cucumber for every player. Cut them and put them on a plate in between all the players. Now, put the cucumber ON YOUR FOREHEAD.

Using only your facial muscles, you need to move it into your mouth. If you drop it, start again – with a new slice if you like. The fastest player wins.

AN INESTIMABLE GAME FOR A THOUGHTFUL PLAYER.

Count up how many things you THINK there are in your house, and then see how close you were.

Without getting up and walking around, your job is to guess how many of a certain thing there are around your house. Things like light bulbs, chairs, empty bottles, hats, left shoes.

Once you choose something, have a walk around your house and take inventory. Were you close? If you were one or two off, that’s pretty good. If you were exactly right, that’s amazing. Isn’t it amazing what you find when you’re looking for something else?

ARE YOU ALL BEARD-FREE? AND DO YOU HAVE ANY PLASTIC CUPS AROUND?

This is a game about holding plastic cups to your face through the power of suction alone. The tricky bit is, they’ll be filled with water.

Get a plastic cup for each player, and half-fill them with water. Put your cup over your mouth, suck in, and keep it there. You can’t touch it – just see how long you can keep it on your face. Obviously, if you laugh, it’s going to be more difficult...

The last player left with a cup on their face wins! Admire their bare-faced skills.

A GAME THAT’S LOOKING UP.

Try and traverse your home, while looking only at the ceiling. Stand straight up and make ‘binoculars’ with your hands (you know, making them into tubes and peeking through.) Then, with your hand-noculars firmly over your eyes, you’ll bend your neck back so you’re looking straight up at the ceiling.

Without looking down (or peeking out the side of the hand-noculars) attempt to walk from your starting point to another room in your home. For an easier challenge, try to make it to the next room over. For truly brave players, choose somewhere far away. And that’s that! Walk slowly and prepare your shins for coffee table-impact.

IS THERE A SHELF OF BOOKS OR DVDS IN THE ROOM?

In this game both players secretly pick a DVD or a book from a shelf. Now it’s question time! Start with the player who went to the cinema most recently. Take turns to ask each other a yes/no question – ‘is it part of a series?’, say, or ‘does anything explode?’

You must answer all questions truthfully. If you don’t know, the asker gets another question. The first player to guess, and formally ask ‘Is it [whatever it is]?’ on their turn, wins. Remember, you can ask any yes/no questions you like!

DO YOU HAVE A TEA TOWEL AND SOME FOOD OR OTHER OBJECTS AROUND?

In this game you’ll take turns to be a Magician, who conceals an object behind a tea towel. As the Magician, you name a few objects that you might have hidden. Your Audience Members try to guess which object really is concealed. Finally, you whip the tea towel away with a magic word, revealing the truth...

First, select your Magician. Now, fetch a magic cape/tea towel. Audience Members: close your eyes. Magician: choose an object, and hide it behind a tea towel. The Magician will tell everyone to open their eyes – and name THREE OBJECTS that might be hidden behind the towel. Two of the objects should be decoys, and the other should be the real thing.

All the Audience Members shout out what they think it is! And the Magician whips the cape/tea towel away with a suitable magic word. Now, all the Audience Members who were right – what a terrible trick! Call out boo! Everyone else – how unexpected! How magical! Cheer wildly!

If half or more of the Audience Members are booing, the Magician leaves the stage. How many tricks can you perform in a row before you get booed off? Keep going till you’ve all had a turn as the Magician.

DO YOU HAVE SILVERWARE, A TOASTER AND A SLICE OF BREAD?

In this game you’ll be playing Rock, Paper, Scissors – but instead of boring old hands, you’ll be playing with silverware. Your timer? The toaster. The player with the most utensils when the toast is done is the winner.

Take two knives, two spoons and two forks each, and stand by the toaster. While it’s down, you’ll be playing rounds of Rock Paper Scissors, except: KNIFE cuts FORK; FORK stabs SPOON; SPOON scoops KNIFE. When you win a round, you get to keep those utensils – add them to your stash!

The winner is the player with the most utensils when the toast pops up, who gets to enjoy their victory toast!

ARE THERE PLACES YOU COULD HIDE AROUND HERE?

In this game you take turns to think of places in the room where you could hide. You keep going until someone challenges you – and then you have to prove it. Choose a player to start. First Hider: look around carefully. Pick somewhere you think you could hide. Now whisper that place to the next player.

Next player: what do you think? Could they hide there? If you think they could, say out loud ‘Yes! I think you could hide there!’ and name the place so everyone hears. It’s then your turn to think of a new place to hide, and whisper it to the next player.

If someone ever whispers to you with a place that you think they couldn’t hide in, it’s time for a challenge! Become the Challenger by saying out loud, ‘Noooo! You