scruffian

I made this game up based on the eye color riddle.

You will need

• At least 6 players, preferably between 10 and 20
• Coloured headbands – about 5 of each colour, and more than the total number of players, so for a group of 12 players it would be good to have 5 red, 5 blue, 5 yellow and 5 green, for example.
• An opaque bag

Aim of the game

Identify the color of your headband.

How to play

Place all the headbands into a bag, and ask each player to close their eyes, remove a headband, and place it on their head, before opening their eyes. Every player is allowed to see the color of any other player’s headband except their own. Everyone knows how many headbands of each color there were at the start, but not what is left in the bag.

All players sit in a circle and the first player makes a statement about how many headbands they see, for example:

I see one red headband

The next player now has a choice, they can increase the number of the headbands by one, or the change the colour, for example:

I see two red headbands

or

I see one green headband

Play continues around the circle either increasing the number or changing the color. Players are not able to decrease the number even if they change the color.

If at any point a player believes that the statement a player has made is not true they are able to challenge it. The player who made the statement must then identify the players who have those colour headbands. If they are correct then the person who made the incorrect challenge is eliminated. If the statement was false then the person who made it is eliminated.

When a player’s headband is revealed via a challenge then they must all return it to the bag and draw another. After a challenge the game begins at the start, without the player who was eliminated.

If a play feels that it is impossible to make a true statement according to the rules above then they have the option to make a statement about two colours, for example:

I see four red headbands and three blue headbands

This has never happened when I have played the game as someone always wins before this point.

How to win

At any point during the game any player is able to shout “stop”, and announce the colour of their headband. When they do this they remove the headband from their head. If they are correct they have won the game. If they are incorrect they are out of the game.

Now the total number of headbands is reduced so the game play begins again with the player to the left of the player who announced their colour making a true statement about how many headbands of a certain colour they see.

Gameplay

This game can be quite short, so it probably makes sense to always begin the statement of the number of headbands at one.

Like The Jack of Hearts this game has the benefit of allowing players to remain in the game for as long as they choose, or eliminate themselves at any point, simply by guessing their headband colour.

Strategy

It is usually possible to deduct the colour of your own headband quite quickly once you understand how it’s done. This might mean that the game can’t be played many times by the same people, but I’ve never had the chance to play it more than once with the same group anyway, so I’m not sure.

I tried to make a game based on the story of Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts:

In the end the game bears little resemblance to the story in the song, but it’s pretty fun.

Components

You will need

• A pack of standard playing cards
• A water pistol, filled with water
• Between 3 and 52 players

Aim of the game

Kill the Jack of Hearts (well get him wet)

How to play

Separate the same number of cards as players, making sure one of them is the Jack of Hearts. Place the loaded water pistol in the centre of the table. Deal the cards to all players, face down on the table. Every player looks at their own card.

As soon as the cards are dealt anyone is able to grab the water pistol and shoot it at another player. Once shot the player reveals their card, if they are the Jack of Hearts, the player that shot them is the winner. If they are not the Jack of Hearts, they are still in the game (it was just a flesh wound) and they leave their card face up on the table. The player that incorrectly shot them is now imprisoned (eliminated from the game) because they shot the wrong person, and their card is removed from the table. The gun is then returned to the centre of the table.

The play continues until someone successfully shoots the Jack of Hearts.

The Jack of Hearts can also win the game by shooting everyone else. However because the gun must be returned to the centre of the table between each shooting this is a difficult thing to achieve!

Notes

You might think its not necessary to play with a water pistol – can’t we just point? In my experience this doesn’t work because many people might want to shoot at around the same time and it results in arguments. Having a physical object to grab eliminates this ambiguity.

You could probably play without water in the water pistol, but it is a lot more fun when there is a real threat of getting wet!

Game play

The challenge in this game is to try to work out who is lying about what card they have. In my experience, the best way to determine what card someone has is to ask them and see their response. Because there is no turn taking this means the conversation can get quite rowdy and heated, but this is all part of the fun of the game.

There are several other things that makes this a good fun game.

1. It’s really quick. Most rounds last a couple of minutes and it never goes on very long.
2. Its easy for people to join and leave. If you get bored you can leave at any time, by just shooting someone!
3. The rules are so simple anyone can learn the quickly.
4. No one is eliminated from the game unless they choose to be.

I have been experimenting with a new game based on a game theory game called “The Pirate Game“. My version is the same but with a few modifications to make it fairer for all participants.

Aim of the game

Become the richest pirate

Game play

Round 1

Let’s say there are 5 pirates playing (it does work with other numbers but 5 is good). Decide who the captain is. The person to the right of the captain is the second in command, the next is third in command, and next fourth in command, and the person on the left of the captain is the skivvy.

The captain has been on a successful marauding mission and has gained 100 gold coins. He splits this loot between the 4 crew members and himself. He can decide to do this in any way he wants – he can keep it all, or give it all away. He gives this number of coins to each player and then the players decide whether or not to approve this proposal. If a majority of players approve the proposal then the gold is split according to this plan. If the majority do not approve the plan then the captain is flung overboard into the sea and the second in command becomes captain. In the case of a tie the captain has the casting vote.

The gold is returned to the second in command and he becomes the new captain. The same process now happens for the second in command. , and the third in command etc. until the loot has been divided among the pirates.

This is the first round.

Round 2

Now the pirates go on another mission and gain another 100 gold coins. This time the player who began round 1 as second in command becomes the captain and the previous captain becomes the skivvy. The round continues as round 1 above.

The game then continues for N rounds, where N is the number of players.

The winner is the player with the most coins at the end of the game.

Variations

The main factor that influences how the game is played is whether the distribution of coins is publicly known by all, or only known by the captain and the pirate to whom he is distributing coins. I think the game is more interesting and fun when the distribution is secret otherwise people start doing lots of maths!

Strategy

I’ve not yet worked out the best strategy for winning this game. I am convinced that the game theory strategy does not work for real humans. To win you need to be good at forming relationships and getting people to like you!