Category Archives: Game

J Cup

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 25th, 2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish (limited)

Jew Cup, a.k.a. J Cup is a drinking game for four players, split into teams of two.

The source learned the game when he first came to USC. It was popular among the upperclassmen in the School of Theatre. He learned it from his older brother, who was a senior at USC when the source arrived. The exact origins of the game are unclear and contested, but it is agreed that it was invented by a group of guys who graduated in 2008. They lived in the so called “Raymond House”, which was a popular hang out for theatre students before the source came to USC. The game was passed down through the students in the BFA Acting program, but has started dying out. To the best of the source’s knowledge, J Cup has not been played on USC campus in at least two years, but may still be played by the originators elsewhere.

J Cup is an amalgamation of many popular drinking games, especially beer pong, and has complex rules. It is often referred to as “more of a drinking carnival than a drinking game.”

Set Up:

Like beer pong, J Cup is played on a table with cups and ping pong balls, but the set up is entirely different. In the center of the table is a large cup, filled with beer. This cup surrounded by smaller plastic cups, also filled with beer, in the shape of a Star of David, hence the game’s moniker: Jew Cup. On either side of the table there are two plastic cups (a total of four), filled with beer. On the ends of the table, each team has a wash cup filled with water for rinsing the ping pong balls, behind these each team has a crushed beer can on the very edge of the table.

Play:

The teams take shots to determine who goes first, the first team to sink a ball in any cup in the middle goes first. A winning team from the previous round always shoots first.

The teams then take turns trying to sink the ball in the center cups. If a ball lands in any of the cups making up the Star of David, the other team has to drink the content of that cup, and place it in a stack on the left side of the table. If both players on one team make shots, they get to throw again. If they make it into the same cup, they get the balls back, and the other team has to drink three cups. This is where the similarities with beer pong end.

If a player sinks a ball in the big, center cup, both teams run to the side of the table to their right, and play flip cup, another popular drinking game, with the cups on the sides. The team that loses flip cup must consume two cups from the Star of David, chosen by the winning team.

If a player sinks a ball in the opposing team’s wash cup, both team members must shotgun a beer. The rules for the crushed beer can behind the wash cup are complicated. Instead of trying to sink a ball in a cup, a player can attempt to knock the opposing team’s beer can off the table. If they succeed and the can hits the floor, the opposing team members must both take a shot of whiskey. If, however, a player hits the beer can, but the opposing team catches the can before it hits the floor, the throwing team must each take a shot of whiskey.

Play is continued until all of the cups in the Star of David have been consumed. The team with the fewest empty cups in their stack are declared the winners, and hold the table until they lose to a new team.

 

The game to me is interesting, because the name could be construed as anti-Semitic, but other than the Star of David in the center of the cup, the game has absolutely nothing to do with Jewish people. I think its more of a reflection of the kids who lived in the Raymond House, and their desire to have a unique house game, that would draw people to parties. It must have worked too, because School of Theatre alumni from that time often recall fond memories from parties at Raymond House.

Earwick, Nosepick, Facelick

Nationality: American
Age: 23
Occupation: Actress
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 25th, 2012
Primary Language: English

Earwick, Nosepick, Facelick

It’s a game the source’s mother, used to play with her, her brother and her sister. The rules of the game are as follows: “two people race to see who can complete three tasks first. They have to stick their finger in the other person’s ear and nose, and then lick their face. The game can be started by either person at any time.”

When the source and her siblings were kids, they thought it was just a game, but when they were older, their mother explained that it wasn’t really a game at all. It turns out she was testing for cystic fibrosis. She was really only trying to lick their faces, and if it tasted salty it would mean they had cystic fibrosis. Healthy kids are supposed to taste like flour.

The source’s mother invented the game so her kids wouldn’t run away every time she tried to test them. She added the steps of picking the nose and ear because it made the source and her siblings laugh.

 

I believe that while the game started as a way to practice a folk medicinal test, the reason why it caught on in the family, and why they still occasionally play it now is because it is a way for the family to playfully get close to each other. All of the actions performed in the game are fairly intimate gestures, and at the heart it’s a way for the family to stay close.

Who’s Got the Rock?

Nationality: American
Age: 23
Occupation: Actress
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 25th, 2012
Primary Language: English

Who’s Got the Rock?

Is a game the source learned at her high school near Augusta, Georgia. Apparently the game was originated by her Latin class, and is still played at the school to this day.

“Our teacher wasn’t very aware of what was going on at most times, so while she would lecture us in the front of the class we’d play this game. Basically someone would just wrap a piece of paper around any solid object they had. I think the original rock was an empty ink cartridge for a printer, but sometimes people would use tennis balls or scotch tape dispensers wrapped in paper. There was always one rock per day at least and people would just throw it from one person to the next to see who could throw it at the most daring time and not get caught. If Ms. Grimaude ever caught anyone and took the rock away, everyone would try to determine who had made the next rock. We had a chant we’d do—well I’m not sure it was a chant, but we’d do that thing where you shout but are also whispering but everyone would say it at different times. Once the first rock of the day was thrown we’d say “who’s got the rock?!” until someone threw the next rock. The funny thing was, we didn’t have that many rocks taken away the whole year. She never really caught us except a few times so much of the time when we would say “who’s got the rock” it was more of a dare for whoever had it to throw it at that exact moment. Ultimately it got out of hand with my class and people started throwing eggs and stuff. My brother though, who is 3 years younger than me told me that they still were playing that game in Latin class when he was there, which made me happy that we had created a game that lived on at the school.”

 

This game is interesting to me because there doesn’t seem to be any particular point to it. There’s never any winner or goal to the game, except to unite the class against the teacher. It’s also a rite of passage for Latin students at the school, the game continues to this day because if you haven’t played Who’s Got the Rock?, you clearly weren’t part of the Latin program.

Advanced Easter Egg Hunt

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 25th, 2012
Primary Language: English

“So, my mom is an artist, she’s a painter, and my dad did, um like a lot of writing and stuff, he’s like an English dude. He’s American. Anyways. Um, for Easter, we would, we would have Easter Egg hunts, my sister and I. And um, it started off, we’d come, we’d come downstairs and there’d be these Easter eggs, and you’d open it, and it’d be a scrap of paper that would be cut in a weird shape, and on one side would be like, a part of a drawing, but you don’t know what the drawing is, and on the other side, would be, um, a clue. A poem or a limerick my dad made. That would lead you to, it would be a clue to like, find the next egg, in a different part of the house. And so you’d read the clues and try to find each egg, until you, you finally find the basket. And each of these papers, its the poem on one side and the drawing on the other, and once you got the basket, you’d have all the pieces, you assemble them and you tape it together, and then you’d flip it over and it’d be, like my mom would have, um, she’d uh, she’d have drawn like an Easter themed drawing, like one of them was like me from my senior yearbook photo, but with bunny ears drawn on, and she, um, also drew like the Scream, but with like bunny ears. It’d be a clever take on Easter themes.”

 

This tradition interests me, because it takes the candy, which is usually what Easter is about for kids, and makes it secondary. The riddle clues the source’s dad wrote are almost a sneaky way of making Easter Egg Hunts educational. It is also a way for both of the source’s parents to pass down their love for the arts to their children, and it worked, as the source never mentioned candy once when talking about the Easter Egg Hunt, she remembers her parents for being artists, and taking time to create something for her and her sister.

Kit Kat Bar Hand-Game

Nationality: Swedish-American
Age: 20
Occupation: College Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4.12.12
Primary Language: English

Kit Kat Bar Hand-Game

^^^KIT KAT BAR HAND-GAME VIDEO LINK

Lyrics to the jingle:

Verse 1:
Gimme a break
Gimme a break
Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat Bar

Verse 2:
The chocolate-y taste
Makes my day
Walkin down the street
Hear the people say

“I probably learned that in middle school with all the other hand game things, like waiting in line for recess or something. I originally played it cuz it wasted time, and even now if you’re like waiting around for something or there’s literally nothing else to do. Whoever did it the fastest was the coolest, you know. It became like a competition or whatever. (laughs) The boys probably thought we were so stupid. I mean, the first verse, isn’t that the real jingle? I dunno about the second verse, some girl probably made it up.”

My informant was laughing the entire time she showed me how to play this hand-game. We have two classes together that are back to back twice a week, and one day we got out very early in the first class and sat in the hallway with nothing to do, just waiting for our next class to start. Because we were together, the dumb games on her smartphone got boring quickly and we found ourselves talking about how we’d play hand-games in middle school and high school to pass the time. A hand-game that I knew about McDonald’s prompted her to teach me the Kit Kat Bar hand-game which I had never heard of. She then taught me and we tried to get faster and faster at it, and it prompted a lot of laughs and the time passed very quickly. Two college students, playing hand-games in our University hallway. Our teacher even passed by us and asked us what we were doing, but she thought it was funny and we clearly were having fun with it, singing about a chocolate candy bar and playing a game typically played by kids 10 years younger than us. That we did this reflects not just our absolute boredom, but the integration of consumer products into everyday lives. After so many years I still remembered the song to a number of hand games, many of which refer to food and restaurants, and my informant obviously remembered the jingle from the Kit Kat Bar commercial. It’s very American, and we probably will never forget these games, those that sucked us into the world of advertising and friendly competition, but also promoted camaraderie 10 years later. The power of boredom and nostalgia should not be underestimated.