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.
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Back in April, I wrote about three original games that you need to incorporate into your life. Well, it’s been a few months now, and three more have come to mind.

Grocery Carting
Grocery shoppers are notorious for walking away from their (unguarded) cart to grab a few items throughout their shopping stint. The goal here is to place an item in the unguarded cart without them knowing and see if they check out with it. Obviously, the more absurd the item, the more points you get. Getting them to check out with an extra jar of pickles is one thing, but watching them pay for an 18-pack of Natty Light they didn’t want is a thrill unlike any other.

Reunion
If you’re hanging out with Neil, and Neil sees someone he went to school with (say, Samantha), get Neil to tell you as many details as possible about her (teachers she had, neighborhood she grew up in, etc). Then, you excitedly approach Samantha as though you haven’t seen her in years, reminiscing about those classes you had together, the neighborhood memories, the one slow dance you shared Sophomore year (your favorite dance ever!), followed by an apology for “that mean thing” you said about that haircut she had in middle school. If you get her to say that she remembers you, you win.

Fourth Meal Call*
Make a pact with three or four of your friends that each of you get one Fourth Meal Call a year. What this means is that at any time, you can call one of the other members of the pact, say “fourth meal”, and they have to meet you at Taco Bell in 15 minutes. It doesn’t matter if they were sleeping, in the middle of a talkument with their spouse, at a concert, or even getting married. They have to stop what they are doing and meet you at the Bell for a gordita and some cinnamon twists. Oh, and try to convince them that them paying was part of the pact too.

In the comments section, either let us know of another original game, or go play one of these and tell us about your experience.

*It is helpful to have a good punishment in place for those who refuse to follow through on the pact. I got the call around 2am one morning and just pretended I didn’t have good enough service to understand what they were saying. North meal? I’m sorry, I don’t know what that means. Goodbye.
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1. Pound 9-6 – Did you know that if you pick up any phone in Wal-Mart and press #-9-6, you get to speak over the store’s entire intercom system? Seriously. It makes for at least an hour of endless fun. There are all kinds of games you can play with this. As you might imagine, inappropriate comments abound. I’d love to hear what games you create with this newfound knowledge.

2. Sprint Relay – This is an amazing internet service for hearing impaired people that, when abused, can create some memories that will last forever. You get on the website, enter the phone number of the person you want it to call (for instance Tripp’s: 678.978.0222), and whatever you type from that point on, a live operator will say to the recipient. Say it. This is another game that inevitably goes downhill after about 1.5 minutes.

3. Phone Roulette – There is no game on planet earth that stresses me out more than this one. You give your friend your phone. He starts scrolling through your address book until you say stop. He then calls the person you land on, puts the phone to your ear, and you have to talk with this person until you figure out who it is. You can’t ask who it is. You can’t say you’re playing a game. You must converse as though you just really wanted to catch up. Just think about how many random numbers you have in your phone – business contacts, college buddies, pest control services… There are so many awful numbers it could land on. Just yesterday, I played with Tripp and talked to a guy I graduated from high school with ten years ago. My heart is still beating fast.

What original games do we need to know about? Do tell…

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It finally happened…

I found an even bigger box, which, in my opinion, only made it funnier. The mailing process took over 30 minutes. Why, you ask?

PO: What’s in the box?
Me: A book.
PO: [What you talkin bout, Willis? face] A book?
Me: Yeah.
PO: You know they make smaller boxes don’t you?
Me: Yeah. I’m doing it to be funny.
PO: [Unamused] Hmph. I’m going to need to open it up and inspect it.
Me: Wait…what? Why?
PO: Because I don’t believe you.
Me: But I spent so long packing it. Must you?
PO: I must. Some joke, by the way.

The package was inspected. A huge line (or audience) formed behind me. They eventually approved it. I paid my money and left with a smile on my face, knowing without a doubt that this was well worth it. I can’t wait to see this dude’s Amazon review.

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Sometimes humor can be expensive. Sometimes it requires a lot of planning. And sometimes you don’t even get to see the fruit of all your hard work. This could be one of those times.

I’ve been selling books on Amazon, and I’m trying to decide if it is worth an extra $8.25 to mail someone a book in this huge box. I’ll never get to see the reaction. I’ll never know if they got pissed, or confused, or if they ran and told everyone about this hilarious thing that just happened. It really doesn’t matter though. The real question, which guides most of my attempts at humor, is simple: “Does it make me laugh?”

I’m thinking its worth it. What do you think?

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Rummikub is the second greatest game of all time. Its better than Poker, Sudoku, Cranium, and Hockey…combined. When I think of Thanksgiving, I don’t think of turkey. I think of our family’s all night Rummikub-fests and how I owned the room.

There is one game that is better, however. It was invented by my brother Bryan a few years ago. Out of nowhere he said to me, “I’ll give you a million dollars if you can name the person I’m thinking of right now.”
“A million…wait…what?”
“A mil for the person I’m thinking of.”
“I don’t know. Benito Santiago?”
“No. The correct answer is that guy who used to work at the baseball card shop.”
“Oh. Do I at least get something for my guess?”
“No. That’s not how it works. You get nothing.”

And the rest is history. The topic list is endless – movie, year, two word rhyme scheme, element, president, professional athlete, college, food, book, restaurant, time of day, etc. The odds of actually guessing one are around 300 to 1. But man, when you get one right…there’s only like 12 greater feelings on earth.

You can play it anywhere, with anyone. And its great for car rides. It makes a 5 hour drive feel like, I don’t know, 4.5 at the most.

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