Category Archives: Game

“Thunderstruck” Drinking Game

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/23/12
Primary Language: English

The informant (21) is a Junior at USC. She transferred to USC for her sophomore year, and before that, spent her freshman year at Bennington College in Vermont.

The informant is my roommate and she wanted to contribute a drinking game to my folklore collection. This particular game is called Thunderstruck. Here’s what she told me about playing the game:

“It’s called Thunderstruck and you play Thunderstruck by AC/DC. Every time the song says thunder, start drinking and then it’s a waterfall, in that you start then the next person continues until everyone is doing it. You end when it says thunder the next time. I learned it in a hippie commune on top of a hill in Vermont freshman year (Bennington College). It gets the job done quickly and I also enjoy AC/DC, so it’s the ultimate combination!”

I’ve never played this particular game, but I do know the AC/DC song and I agree that this game would definitely get people drunk fast. I found it interesting that my informant learned this game in Vermont, at her small liberal arts college that she so affectionately calls “a hippie commune on top of a hill.” This location makes sense because if the school is as dedicated to hipster lifestyle as she claims, then the song choice would probably be appropriate. I don’t think it would be as popular at USC because I don’t know how many people here actually listen to AC/DC.

 

Annotation:

The “Thunderstruck” drinking game also shows up on the website eHow.com. The entry provides people with instructions on how to play the game. This description of the game differs from my informant’s in the fact that if someone fails to take a drink when they hear the word “thunder,” then they are out, and the game keeps going until there’s a winner.

Mccoy, Holly. “How to Play the Drinking Game Thunder.” eHow.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2012. <http://www.ehow.com/how_2365140_play-drinking-game-thunder.html>.

Flip Tag

Nationality: Thai-American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student (Fine Arts)
Residence: Northridge, CA
Performance Date: March 2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Thai

I was in my informant’s dorm room chatting to her roommate after class, and when I turned around, I found that my informant had flipped my backpack inside out, so that the straps and front pocket were now on the inside.

My informant learned this practical joke in middle school. She first observed the joke when it was done to her, and she subsequently performed it on others. She told me that this joke is typically played as a game of tag, so that when someone flips your backpack, you are now “it” and have to flip someone else’s backpack. The person who is “it” turns the victim’s backpack inside out, puts the contents of the backpack back inside, and zips it up. In another variation—the more annoying one, according to my informant—the entire backpack is flipped inside out and stuffed into the front pocket of the backpack. In this version, all of the contents of the backpack and the front pocket have to be removed since they won’t fit inside, and are left in a pile by the zipped-up backpack packet.

The flipping often occurred in class or at lunchtime, said my informant. Students played the game because it was a way to entertain themselves during the school day using the materials available to them. Everyone carries backpacks in middle school, so everyone is a potential victim. The goal, presumably, is to flip someone’s backpack without them catching you in the act. It probably takes skill to flip someone’s backpack quickly enough that they don’t notice, so this could be a way of impressing friends. Also, it could be a team effort to flip someone’s backpack, with someone distracting the victim while someone else flipped the backpack, turning the game into a “bonding against the outsider” scenario, with the victim being the only one who isn’t in on the joke. Because the flipping sometimes occurred during class, the flipper also had to be careful not to attract the teacher’s attention. The game is therefore a way of defying authority. The flipper also gets to go through the contents of the victim’s backpack, so part of the appeal of flip tag could be that it is a way to satisfy curiosity or invade someone else’s privacy under the pretext of a game.

“The Thunderstorm”

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Poway, California
Performance Date: March 2007
Primary Language: English

While the victim is unsuspecting or away, perpetrators will fill an empty, large trash bin full of water.  Then, when the victim leaves to use a public restroom and selects a stall, the perpetrators will dump the huge amount of water over the door of the stall, flicker the lights, and bang on the sides of the stall, simulating a thunderstorm.  Of course, the idea is to completely drench the victim while they are absolutely defenseless, with their pants down. This will put the victim in a completely uncomfortable position, at least until they can change their clothes. 

 

My source first learned of this practical joke when he found himself victimized.  Last year he lived in an on-campus dormitory, where between 20 and 30 male students live on a floor together and share a large, public-style bathroom.  Another student had heard of this prank and had been dying all semester to pull it off.

At the time, my source had changed into some comfortable clothes and was about to settle down and type out a report for one of his classes.  As time passed, he had to use the restroom.  Of course, the other student had filled a trash can with water earlier in the day and was waiting for this exact moment.  With the help of two other students, the perpetrator was able to dump the bin full of water onto my source.

“I was tired from writing the paper, and a bucket-full of water was what I least expected.  So, yes, I was completely shocked,” reported my source.  His first reaction was to cover up and get out of there as soon as he could.  Then he changed his clothes and set out to find the perpetrators. My source was not angry and realized that in the long run, this would be a funny story to tell, and this is why he decided to share this practical joke with me.

Many instances of practical jokes can be attributed to rites of passage.  The student who first had the idea had waited all year to feel comfortable enough around someone to make them the victim of this practical joke without them having hard feelings.  In this sense, my source had gone from friend to trusted-friend in the eyes of the perpetrator, and this prank was his rite of passage.

M A S H = Mansion, Apartment, Shack, House

Nationality: Mexican-American (2nd. Gen)
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Downey, California
Performance Date: January 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

M A S H = Mansion, Apartment, Shack, House

This is a grid for the children's game, MASH

 

My informant first learned how to play this fortune-telling game in her middle school in Downey, CA from one of her girlfriends during lunch time.  In MASH, on each side and corner of the square, you write a list up to four items you desire or absolutely hate.  For example, one side of the square can have four names of potential husbands.  On another side, there could be four names of the cars you may have in the future.  MASH is at the top of the square indicating if you will live in a mansion, apartment, shack, or a house.  The girl whose fortune is being told must close her eyes and at any time says, “Stop!” while the fortune teller would be drawing sticks.  When the fortune teller stops, she counts how many sticks she has drawn.  Then she counts from the “M” on the square around the square counting to however many sticks she had drawn.  Whenever her count ends, she crosses out whatever item she lands on, and continues with her count again until only one item from each category is left.  In the end, the girl will discover who she will marry, what kind of compartment she would reside in, what her job would be, how many kids she’ll have, what the color of her car will be, what her car will be, and where she will live.

I have also played this game several times as the fortune teller and as the person whose fortune is being told.  It can take up a lot of time when needed and is quite entertaining.  It is especially fun for girls because most girls typically like to daydream about who their husbands will be or where they will live in the next ten years and so on.  Favorable results can be exciting and unfavorable results can be funny.

“Step on a crack, and break your mother’s back.”

Nationality: Mexican-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Downey, California
Performance Date: December 2006
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

“Step on a crack, and break your mother’s back.”

My informant first heard this rhyme while he was walking home with his friend Amy after school.  He was a seventh or eighth grader in middle school that was located in Downey, CA.  To pass the time away and to forget about the fatigue from walking in the blazing sun with their heavy backpacks, they began to play a game.  The game started when Amy noticed that David kept stepping on the cracks of the sidewalk.  She chanted, “Step on a crack, and break your mother’s back.”  They skipped over the lines all the way home.  If one of them would accidentally step on a line, the other would shrug and say, “Oh well.  Your mother just broke her back.”

I have heard this rhyme myself many times from elementary school to middle school.  There is another variation: “Step on a line and break your mother’s spine.”  It would be a fun game to play while walking home from school or when we played hopscotch, a game in which you would have to jump over boxes and not touch the lines, someone would always chant this rhyme.  I believe the rhyme stemmed from how “crack” and “back” rhymes and since the point of the game was to not step on the crack, kids would warn that in doing so you would break your mother’s back.  That would keep you within the rules of the game of not stepping on the crack.