3 (More) Games You Must Play
January 6th, 2010 - Games - 19 Comments »Ever since writing my last post on original games you must play, I keep thinking of new ones that I need to share with the world. I think your life will be enhanced by playing them.
Laugh Wind Down
One of the funniest things in life is watching someone wind down from a laugh or a smile. You know, those 4-7 seconds of transition where a person’s face slowly and awkwardly returns to it’s normal state. Often times, the mouth gets normal before the eyes do and you end up with this weird unbent mouth/high eyebrow combo, or vise-versa. See which one of your friends/acquaintances take the longest, and which ones, like me, have acknowledged this phenomenon and try to expedite the wind down with a cough or subtle mouth wipe.
Max Headroom
Much like the book-mailing stunt, you’ll rarely, if ever, see the fruit of this game. If someone asks you to take a picture of them, frame it so their faces line the bottom edge and the rest of the picture is pure, undisturbed headroom (just think about the last picture your aunt took for you). The trick is disguising the upward angle of the camera. I would suggest squatting down a bit to make it appear that the camera’s upward angle is an absolute necessity. If the photo shows up on Facebook, you win. Now go and tag yourself in it.
Catalogs.com
On catalogs.com, it is 100% free to order catalogs. There are literally thousands to choose from. A few months ago, I got a designer walking canes catalog in the mail addressed to “Tyler Stanton, Movie Star”. There was no record anywhere of where it came from or who sent it – just that it came from catalogs.com. Naturally, I had my suspicions about who sent it*, so I immediately sent him one about composting toilet systems. Neither one of us have spoken a word about it (until now). I imagine this could go on indefinitely without ever getting old. Everyone is a winner in this game.
Now, go and play one of these and tell us about it in the comments. Pictures and videos are encouraged.
*I’m beginning to have second thoughts about who mailed this to me.
___
Subscribe to tylerstanton.com
I believe one Philly Osborne taught me this…
staring contests with strangers
choose a stranger in a social situation (elevator, check-out line, hibachi dinner, etc.) and lock eyes with them, then win the staring contest that they don't know they're in. no better way to feel like an awkward champion.
Two friends of mine have started a bridal shop without their knowledge, and another friend of mine has a dance studio called "lord of the dance", a flooring company called the carpet king and sells wigs all without his knowledge. Thanks for the catalogs idea. I'll post another comment when they get their catalogs.
Are you the mastermind behind all of this? If so, you are a freaking genius.
yeah i am.
I once new a lady who always ended her laughter so abruptly that is was disturbing. She could go from belly-laughing to straight face in less than a second. I had to stop making her laugh because I couldn't handle it anymore.
wow. you're dang right i had nothing to do with the walking canes catalog. but thanks for the composting toilets catalog. i was baffled when i got it, but it was good for one trip to the John. I actually brought it up in conversation on new year's eve, but no one was impressed.
Here's another great game to play similar to Max Headroom. Erica and I have only done this once, but I laugh every time i think about it. You ask a random stranger to take your picture and then as they're about to take it, you make the ugliest faces imaginable. I'm not talking about "we're making goofy faces" expressions. I'm talking about completely contorting your face, maybe even getting limbs involved in strange positions. The challenge is to do it without cracking up, because the photographer is either annoyed at your childishness or laughing hysterically at you.
I'm trying this asap. I might throw in a "could you take another one? I didn't like the way I was smiling on that one" at the end.
a – you have to do it.
b – you have to share the picture.
I played something similar to catalogs.com in college. Sophomore year, a friend and I ordered a substantial amount of literature – ranging from Hello Kitty catalogs and the Book of Mormon to US Armed Forces pamphlets and local newspapers – to an SAE friend of ours.
His PO Box at college was full almost everyday.
When, at the end of the year, my friend told him it was us, he got punched hard in the chest.
Great game.
It must run in the family – Alan had me sent Electric Mobility catalogs for my 40th birthday. No telling how long I kept receiving these!
I just sent a dance uniform catalog to a friends neighbors house with my friends name (John "Glam Star Dance" Doe). Question is… Does the neighbor feel to too awkward to walk it over to my friends house.
brilliant.
Oh my. You've managed to take this idea and make it 35x better. Thank you for that variation.
I'm definately ordering some catalogs.
I would love to see an example of a max headroom picture you have taken. Funny idea.
I also like the game of Going Through the Car Wash and Rolling Down the Windows When the Mega-Blowers are Drying Your Car… Yes it is a long title, but there is nothing more satisfying than to see the alarmed faces of those in your newly washed vehicle, as well as there new hair styles. It is fun for everyone.
Word of warning: it makes sensitive 5 year old children named Mosely cry.
Can you please, for the sake of all of us, elaborate on this? I want to feature a few game ideas from commenters in a couple weeks.
I feel like I might've been a bit misleading with the way i worded my comment. What i did was send two friends of mine who are brothers a multitude of wedding/bridal catalogs under a the buisness name, steve and doug's ye olde bridal shoppe, and I sent another friend a bunch of dance/ballet catalogs with the buisness name "Lord of The Dance, Dance Studio" and so on with a few other random catalogs, always with a random buisness name pertaining to what the catalog sold. I person favorite being " I FREAKING LOVE CHINESE HERBS Health Food Store".
One my all time favorite games is the "Drop some Condoms into a stranger's cart" game. Then just make sure you are near the register when they check out.
I also like the "Ugly Clothes Game". You are at a department store and you pick up an article of clothing identical to the one someone near you is considering and you say to your friend, "Wow, this is the ugliest shirt/pants/jacket I have ever seen." Then watch as the person quickly agrees with you and puts the shirt down.
You can't do this game anymore because of digital cameras. When people would ask me to take their picture I would have a friend of mine walk around behind the family and put bunny ears on them, I would take the picture and we would calmly walk away. I always wanted to see their face when they got the bunny ears picture and started blaming their kids.