Everyone seems to be talking at once, it's giving you a headache - you can't stand it anymore. Whatever you do don't start playing What Are We Shouting. 
A fun game for two teams. One team decides upon a well known phrase (or line from a popular song) which has the same or fewer words in it than players in the team. Each player is assigned a word (if there are more players than words then some words can be allocated to more than one player). Then, upon a pre-determined signal all players face the opposing team and shout out their words all at the same time. It is the opposing teams job to decipher the phrase. If they are successful then it is their turn to shout.
We always used to play with phrases such as "under the spreading chestnut tree" and "a stitch in time saves nine". No doubt, these days, phrases such as "hit me baby one more time" or "you know my hips don't lie" would be deemed more approriate.
Weird Web: Alan Bates Site - covering his film The Shout about a man who could kill by shoutingstrange games no:66...category..party games
Chinese Whispers , which we used to know as Gossip or Russian Scandal, is a game that everyone knows. However, if you watch people playing it these days you will notice how dull and short the 
phrases are that start the game. In the drawing room we used to put a lot more effort into the phrase.
Here is an actual suggested phrase to start off the game. It comes from a 1940's book called 'The Home Entertainer' and I can thoroughly recommend its use in any future game of Gossip that you play."It is rumoured that Mrs Jane Honoria Figglebat, ward of the well-known boxing promoter Jem Shambles, will next week try to break the underwater swimming record for girls of English extraction. Her fiance Mr Wallaby, the animal dentist, recently fitted seven new teeth to a zoo leopard which had broken its jaw in a fight with a lion and two llamas"
This is no game for children - this is more like the degree level version
Weird Web: Photo Chinese Whispersstrange games no:65...category: party games
There are innumerable ways a staid game can be enlivened by variations. As Aphra Behn said, "Variety is the soul of pleasure." I saw One Legged Tug of War being played for the first time on a windswept beach in Kent last Summer.
As for standard tug of war, a rope and two equal teams of similar sized players are all that is required. At the start of the game all players lift one leg off the ground and start to pull. The skill of hopping and pulling a rope at the same time is not a skill that many people naturally possess - as you will discover if you play.
Any person putting a foot down is eliminated from the team. Continue until victory is achieved or there is only one man still standing.Weird Web: UK Tug of War Association
strange games no:64...category: outdoor games
Shouting, confusion, people crashing into each other...three things that make an ideal party game. I first played Royal Court at one of Sir Herbert Rowsell's Summer Shindigs. 
Get a pack of playing cards and pick the King, Queen, Jack, Ten, etc. of each suit so that you have as many cards as players of the game. You will need the number of players to be divisible by four.Place one chair in each corner of the room (four chairs in total). Now place the cards face down in a pile in the centre of the room. On a given command all the players rush to the centre and grab a card. Whoever gets a king must gather all other members of his suit together as quickly as possible, rush to a chair and sit down on it. The queen must sit on his knee, the Jack on her knee, the ten on his etc.Last team to complete the task loses.
Weird WEb: The Queens Summer Shindig (Amazing Pictures)strange games no 63...category: party games
I came across the game of Zombie Tag only recently. It had myself and the players prostrate in paroxysms of cachinnation. 
To make a Zombie simply pair up two players - ones of similar size are best. Then, stand them side by side and then bind their adjacent legs together. The binding must be more severe than a three legged race where only ankles are tied. In Zombie Tag the legs must be tied together tightly from the ankle all the way up to the thigh...this ensures that the movement of the two players is sufficiently 'zombie-like'.
The rest of the players simply run away, screaming. Once two players are caught by the Zombie then they too can be made into a Zombie and the mayhem continues.
Weird Web: Become a Zombie on the cheap - makeup tips!strange games no: 62...category: party games
It's a typical Summer's day on the beach. The sea is freezing, the sky is cloudy and the wind is whipping up the sand into your sandwiches. What you need is a spot of Advantage Wrestling. 
Mark out a ring on the sand, outside which no player can go. Simply, all you have to do to win is get behind your opponent and grab him by the waist and lift him off the floor. And he has to do the same to you. A fantastic game to build up a sweat.
For extra fun try playing tag-advantage wrestling with four players.
Weird Web:Backyard Wrestling UK
strange games no: 61..category: outdoor games
I previously wrote about Slaps or Slapsies (one of the most brutal yet satisfying playground games) in post:27 - yet I have just discovered a fantastic computer simulation of it. The game, called 
Operation Slaps or Hand to Hand Combat Facility allows you to play slapsies against a friend or against a computer opponent.
You can decide to be one of five different characters ranging from Lieutenant Lindequest ( a cold and cruel female Russian Ground Force operative) to Seargant Shaw ( a tough and hard marine from Guantanamo Bay). To slap your opponent you depress your keyboard 'Z' key until the required force has built up then jab it again to slap. The 'X' key allows you to feint or to dodge when it's your opponents turn. All this is accompanied by realistic slapping sounds, brooding atmospheric music and a pain meter.
A top drawer computer game.Weird Web: Slapsies computer game
strange games no:27 and a half...category:playground games
Strange Games the Videos: Slapsies
Poor Pussy is a party game I was not going to write about as it is already very well known even though I rarely see it played and it is quite strange. However, I was reminded of it by a game my great-grand daughters (Jemima and Daisy Blister ) invented for their 
own pleasure which they call Banoffee Bum.
First Poor Pussy: One member of the party is given the role of Pussy and must go round to each other player pretending to be a cat. They can meow, rub their heads against the player's ankles, imitate coughing up fur balls etc. Whilst this is happening the player must pet the 'cat' and say "Poor Pussy" three times WITHOUT laughing. Laughter means that player becomes the new 'Poor Pussy'.For Banoffee Bum the first player says, "Banoffee Bum", the next player says, "Banoffee Bum 2", the next, "BanoffeeBum 3", etc. Players may say their words in any manner, accent, volume they want in order to cause merriment amongst their competitors. Any player who laughs out loud is 'out'
Weird Web:Say weird things in Frenchstrange games no: 60 ...category : party games
There are many guess-the-identity party games but Squeaky Sheets is my favourite variation. 
Divide the players into two teams. One team leaves the room taking a large sheet with them. One player then re-enters the room under the sheet and crawling on all fours. He must crawl into the centre of the room and then squeak loudly once. The opposing team have ONE guess regarding the identity of the squeaker. If they are wrong then the sheet-squeaker must make one final squeak and another guess is made. If correct the teams change places. If incorrect the sheet-squeaker crawls back out of the room to be replaced by another member of his team. The game continues.Weird Web:Discover how mice sound in other languages!! strange games no:59...category:party games
