Wednesday 20 December 2006

Party Games

Times are a-changing. I was just thinking about Christmas day and some fun party games that could be played, when a discussion on Sam And The City turned to party games with the date and sex theme.

Now what ever happened to good old-fashioned 'Spin the Bottle'? Spin an old green glass bottle and get an innocent peck - or maybe a not-so-innocent-not-so-peckish-smooch, depending on your luck. Or 'Truth Or Dare'.

But then on Sam's blog popped up a game called 'Stone Face' - and actually, I'm loathe to use the term 'popped up' and 'Stone Face' in the same sentence. Now I'm no prude, or maybe I am (up for challenge) but I was just a little more than squeamish when explained the 'Rules of The Game'.

The rules, one person explained go along the lines of all the game players of the same gender (say the males) sitting around a table, with their lower torso covered by a sheet. The player(s) of the opposite gender would go under the table and choose one person to ... errh, um, how do I prudishly explain this, well I guess I go for the dive and say it out plainly - orally pleasure - and that person would attempt to keep a 'stone face', that is, not show by grimace or smile or cringe or other that they were the Chosen One. Then the others would try to guess who was Chosen.

Hmmmm.

A long way from 'Spin The Bottle' days. What would my mother think of that?

Of course, proponents of the game go on about freedom of choice, but like all party games, everyone's subject to the peer pressure, and the teasing and being felt left out and boring. "You're so boring, you don't crawl under tables and smooch anonymous genitalia! That is sooooo uninteresting!" is the battlecry of today's youth!

Now let's do an historical comparison of peer pressure, adventure and party games:

I'm remembering that gem of a book, the foundation stone of my childhood, 'Little Women'. There's a lovely chapter where some of the more daring and adventurous characters participate in a game called 'Truth' - they each take turns in having to answer (truthfully) questions put by the others. "Which lady here do you think the prettiest?" is a probing question, as is "Didn't you cheat at croquet?"

Amidst the laughter of the revelations, Jo says "Well, I think Truth is a very silly play. Let's have a sensible game of Authors to refresh our minds."

Then there's that wild game of "Daring" that's all the rage in 'Anne Of Green Gables' when she breaks her ankle walking the ridge pole of a roof after she gives in to daring from her classmate.

"Let them dare away," scoffs Marilla, when Anne asks her what she would have done in the face of peer pressure.

Wonder what Marilla would be thinking if it wasn't a ridge pole facing her little girl, but some dangly bits under the table ...

And how Jo would have refreshed her mind ...

Merciful goodness! Let's have a nice game of Scrabble to refresh our minds ...

6 comments:

Seamus said...

Hi Maria,

I'd have to agreewith you on this one, and I'm a male. I think having a daughter (5yrs)turns us males to see exactly who we "were"
Sexist!!!
What did happen to those old type of board games??? Lack of rain keeps everyone outside or the internet.

Anyway I enjoy your blogs on SATC. I don't always comment but enjoy reading it

Have a good Christmas

Seamus

Friendless said...

I'm a big fan of Scrabble, but Stone Face sounds like fun for only one player. Maybe we need to vary the rules so everybody except one gentleman is being pleasured. It's also lacking reward for winning. I suggest that all (gentleman) players point at who they think is NOT getting any. You may not point at yourself. When all players except two are pointing at the correct person, he admits that and the player who was receiving pleasure but did not pick the correct player is eliminated (and hence receives no more pleasure). When the game is down to 2 players, 2 ladies are sent under the table and they might or might not please the gentleman to which they are assigned. When one player feels confident that he knows what the other player is experiencing, he makes a guess. If he's correct, he wins the game and takes ALL the ladies into the bedroom. If he's wrong, the other player wins and receives the same reward.

No matter how rude the game is, it's important that the rules are designed to make it work as a game :-).

Friendless said...

BTW Seamus:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/

Those old type of board games are alive and well.

Alexis, Baron von Harlot said...

Besides all the other obvious problems with this potentially coercive and demeaning and (the way you tell it, Maria) heterosexist "game", there's this to chew on: unprotected oral sex is not safe sex, and contracting genital herpes (which is still uncurable and increasingly prevalent) around the mouth is about as much fun as contracting oral herpes around the genitals -- a little harder to disguise too. If you can't just stick to charades (and let's face it, who wouldn't like to while away their NYE playing charades?), then byo dental dams, condoms, consent forms and counsellors.

Maria said...

Alexis, excellent point made, this game discriminates disgustingly against homosexuals. Bring on the non-discriminatory charades (or Scrabble)!

Among all the other problems you've pointed out, this game is never going to be as tasty (literally) as sitting about at a party eating fruits dipped in chocolate sorbet. One of my more favoured party rituals.

Let's hope this doesn't descend into the "let's guess who he/she pleasured by whether or not she's contracted oral herpes ..."

Maria said...

seamus, the old type of board games are alive, as friendless pointed out, however there's the urge to give many games a sexual "flavour". It's no longer a matter of inside games or outdoor games, but games played on the table, and games played under the table.