A small selection of games played recently at South Bend Commons in Atlanta. 9 players, who will remain anonymous…
ROMAN À CLEF GAME
Directions: Players choose a symbolic “title” for an unknown character. They then fold and pass to the next player, who blindly writes the “real” identity of that title.
The Murder of Sad Dreams is Stanley Yelnato
The Death-Bringer of All Wayward Gnomes is Guy Debord
The Glass Dog of Egypt is Levi Tomlinson
IF/THEN Game
Directions: Write an IF statement, fold the paper over, and have the next player blindly complete the sentence with a THEN statement.
If you find yourself lost on the highway…then Alex is crying.
If you surrender to the great god pan…then cry like its an amber dripping.
If a cactus is submerged in brine…then the morning will come with the call of a bird and a fox.
If the ceiling falls on us…then we must rebel.
If you can ride a bicycle…then your misery is magic and your poetry written on a wing.
I THOUGHT I SAW GAME
Directions: One player writes a “I thought I saw…” sentence, while the other writes the “but on furthur inspection” conclusion.
I thought I saw a chicken crossing the road. But on closer inspection, it was a neurotic imbecile.
I thought I saw you caring about me. But on closer inspection, it was blackout rage.
I thought I saw a dead cop. But on closer inspection, it was an eyeball all alone.
I thought I saw a ghost riding a dirt bike. But on closer inspection, it was actually an egg hatching snakeskin.
COLLECTIVE POEMS
Directions: Write one line of a poem, and pass. The next person writes a response to your line, and then folds it over so that only their new line is visible. They then pass to the next person, who does the same. Continue passing until finished.
hey now you little
bean
beagle
having a snack on the porch
forgive me
and all my friends
dissolved into a puddle of ketchup
heretofore you have become anonymous
like a tree falling in the forest
TRANSLATION GAME
Directions: Find a text written in a language you don’t understand, and attempt to translate it.
ORIGINAL
FIRST PLAYER: My demon is deficient in madness molecular, in multiples, he is a green cave—taut like an object portable or scenic—a voice for delirious luminous night intervened. Chance sits haunted, released by a friend.
SECOND PLAYER: My demon of all defeat is for me peculiar, there are men of the cave of green—so many objects for me to see—the voice that I discover makes the lights shine in me. Caging me before, I bow to no man.
THIRD PLAYER: Monday daemon for everyone defeat for me as I accelerate, it is multiple, in the cave of cheese—all the objects around the river—she is that which discovers the lights of an entire interior.
EXQUISITE CORPSE
COMIC STRIP EXQUISITE CORPSE
COLLECTIVE DRAWING
“Minoan amoeba”
