Tag Archives: Game

Horse

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: May 29, 2022
Primary Language: English

Context: A went to high school in the United States. In high school, A. was on the basketball team. ‘Horse’ is one of the games that people would play to practice shooting the ball.

A: “Horse for basketball. You can play with any number, but mostly with 2. You take turns shooting the ball in the basket, in the same way, the person in front of you did it. If you fail, you get a letter in the horse, if u get all 5 letters, you lose. The goal is the do the weirdest shots possible, so your opponents couldn’t copy it and you win.”

Reflection: This is a good example of how games can be developed and spread within the rule set of an existing game. These games are often played with different rules within different communities, but the general idea of the game stays the same. It is interesting how games can be created with the purpose of practicing skills, and later turn into full games themselves.

Baron Pit Dodge ball

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: May 29, 2022
Primary Language: English

Context: League of Legends is a popular video game in which players are placed into 2 teams of 5 and must fight each other. There is also a wide roster of characters for the players to pick from and use. Due to the free-flowing rule set of League, many community-made mini-games have been created. One such popular one is ‘Baron Pit Dodge ball’. In this game, all the players confine themselves to a small circular part of the arena called the ‘Baron Pit’ and create a line using place-able items. They must also pick characters that have primary abilities that have to be aimed. They then play dodge ball by only using a single aimed ability. There are many adaptations of this game, and every group of friends will have different in-house rules. S. is once such example as she plays this game with her friends quite often.

S: “In a league of legends, my friends and I would play dodge ball in the baron pit, we would put wards in the middle and make a line for the court. We then would only play skill shot champions, if you die, you are out.”

Reflection: ‘Baron Pit Dodge ball’ is an interesting case where the community of a video game has created their own mini-games within the confines of the greater video game without having to change or ‘mod’ the game in any way. It is particularly interesting when these mini-games emerge because that indicates that the rule set of the video game is loose enough to allow for such creativity on the player’s part.

Galette des Rois

FESTIVE RITUAL DESCRIPTION: Every January 6 during Epiphany her mother would cook a cake called a “galette des rois” which means a cake for the kings. Inside they would place a small ceramic figure called a “fève” and whoever cut the cake and got the piece would be named king and could order everyone around for the whole day.

INFORMANT DESCRIPTION: Female, French, 42

CONTEXT: She learned this from her family who would do this every New Years Eve. She remembers how much fun it was when she got the “fève” and how she spent the whole day as the queen. She says this would bring the whole family together and make everyone laugh and have so much fun. 

THOUGHTS: I think this sounds delicious and fun. Definitely something I wish my family celebrated.

PICTURE:

Battleshots

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Geotechnical Engineer
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/30/21
Primary Language: English

Background: The informant loves games of all sorts: board games, drinking games, card games. He thinks they are a great way to be social, be involved and do something active with friends, so people aren’t passively on their phones.

KD: Battleshots is a large scale drinking version of the classic game Battleship. When we played we converted a ping pong table and some bed sheets into a Battleship game board, so on each side of the ping pong table we made a grid exactly the same as the Battleship. And using 2x4s we made larger versions of the game pieces and drilled holes in them so you could drop a shot glass in each spot. So, the aircraft carrier had five shots on it. The destroyer had four shots. The little petrol boat had two shots. It’s exactly like the game but with alcohol. So, we put a thick bed sheet in between the two sides of the ping pong table so you couldn’t see your opponent’s side. You orient your table however you want. And, different from the board game, we created sea mines, or something, it’s, we had some name for the, but, on your ships you had shots with whiskey, or tequila, or your alcohol of choice; in these sea mines we’d put a reed solo cup with beer or seltzer or wine or something and during game play, it’s, B4 hit, alright B7 hit and then your fill out, you sunk my battleship, whatever, uh, but, every time the other person hit your boat you took the shot that was in the place and you drink. In the event they call out sea mine coordinates, or like C12, somebody standing by the table would take that red solo cup filled with beer, hand it over to the other side, and the person calling the shot would need to drink it. Gameplay cannot continue until that solo cup is finished. Some games we’d play with seven sea mines, some games we’d play with one sea mine. And each player had a grid on, er, a little piece of paper with a grid so they can track where they were calling and how they were hitting, bu, otherwise it was identical to the classic board game… with alcohol.

Me: Do you think other people play this?

KD: Oh, yeah. It’s now on Pinterest but we were playing this a long time ago. It’s kinda like large Jenga; now it’s everywhere but we don’t know if wee invented it we just didn’t see it anywhere else

Context of the performance: This was told to me during an in person conversation.

Thoughts: It’s interesting that the informant and his friends though they were the first to come up with it. I had never heard of it so when they explained that now it’s all over Pinterest and has become popular, we can see that it exists in multiplicity. The concept itself is intriguing since it takes an existing game and transforms it into a drinking game. Their invention of a sea mine sounds similar to certain other drinking games, like Rage Cage, that have an exception cup that is completely full to a different gameplay otherwise in the form of shots are slightly filled cups. The red solo cup itself is so closely tied to drinking games that its use here makes a lot of sense.

Mao (card game)

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Geotechnical engineer
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/30/21
Primary Language: English

Background: The informant first learned this game at a boy scout camp and has continued to play with his friends and introduce other people to the game. He likes it because you get to mess with people if you know how to play it, having insider knowledge.

KD: Mao is a card game that the new players are not supposed to know the rules going into it, it’s a learn as you go game. The deck is shuffled, all players are dealt five cards, the, the dealer–cards are dealt in front of all the players, if a player touches their cards before the game begins, they receive a onee card penalty. The dealer will take the top card of the deck and flip it over and say the  word “The game is Mao. Mao begins now.” At this point, anybody who speaks, is penalized with one card, anybody who plays out of turn is penalized with one card, if you fail to play on your turn, you are penalized with one card. As far as gameplay goes, certain cards have special powers or required specific actions or phrases to be said. To play the game, you have to play a card of the same suit or a card of the same number. If you play an ace of diamonds on a six of club, there are two different suits, two different cards, the card you play is returned to you with a onee card penalty. When, and it moves over to the next person. Original gameplay, it is to the right of the dealer. The number 8 card reverses the rotation of the, of the play. When an Ace is played correctly, the player who played it is required to scratch their nose; failure to scratch your nose, you receive a one card penalty. Uh, the point of the game is to get rid of all of your cards, so similar to Uno, when you get your last card you say “Last cards” uh, failure to do so, you receive five cards, plu, no you just receive five cards. When you play your last card you say the name of the game, “Mao.” When a king is played you say “Thank the chair.” And as you play with different people, certain rules are included but not everyone plays with the same rules each time. If you play with the same group you kinda agree, it’s a collective agreement that it’s like okay hey we’re gonna havee six has this power, seven has this power, whatever. And then, as you play with different people certain rules are in play, certain rules are omitted, and some are just completely made up. When you win a game, as the winner you are allowed to create a new rule that is now added for that group of people playing, uh when I played with my friend Jack, anytime a Jack was played he had to flip off the player of the jack. You are penalized for talking during the game, the only time you’re allowed to talk is when you’re thanking the chair, when you’re saying last card, when you’re saying Mao. Uh, the phrase point of order is pause for the game, in which all players need to drop their cards. If you are retouching your cards during a point of order, you’re penalized. If you discuss the rules of Mao, the game’s over, you’re not allowed to play anymore. Usually physical punishment follows for talking about the game and sharing rules. Uh, you get penalized for explaining the rules if somebody asks a question during the game, they get penalized for talking. If you explain a rule, you’re penalized, the person you explained it to is penalized. And, yeeah, it’s just to get rid of your cards as quickly as possible, correctly, and saying the phrases.

Me: How long does it take most people to pick up the game?

KD: Most people learn the game after a round or two. Most people get incredibly frustrated during the first round and seldom want to play a second round. It takes a lot of convincing or you just get a majority of the people to agree to it and then you have captive audience for the rest. Oh, uh I think it’s seven, when a seven is played you’re allowed to shuffle the deck. The number 10 card has a rule but I don’t remember it, uh minimum group size is 4-5 players, you can always shuffle in more decks, regionally it changes, and yeah I think that’s it.

Context of the performance: This was told to me during an in person conversation.

Thoughts: What I find interesting about this is that the entire gameplay revolves around unspoken rules. The only way to learn is by playing and knowledge is passed on, not even orally, but through the action itself. It’s almost impossible to view this from an etic perspective as the game relies and works under an emic perspective, and the etic would be confusion. It is also a rite of passage that comes gradually, with the new players existing on the threshold; once you’ve played enough, it seems that the passage is complete and only then do you fully understand how to play and the inner workings.