Balance Ball Slapsies

Regular readers will know that at Strange Games we love Slapsies. The ultimate, brutal, playground game that has the magical combination of steady nerves, skill and pain. Simply hold your hands together, prayer like, your fingertips touching those of your opponent then try and strike the back of their hand with the palm of your own before they withdraw. Everytime you hit you get another go. The game is perfect and has remained unchanged for decades...but now, there is a new variation. We present Balance Ball Slapsies. Just as violent but in BBS you must kneel and balance on one of those large rubber exercise balls opposite the other player. The first player to fall from their ball or give up because of sore hands loses the game. This brings fantastic new dimensions to the game, you need to temper the speed of your attempted slap with the need to retain balance and stay on your ball, and if your opponent's hands escape you can find yourself in an undignified heap on the floor. Marvellous!

High Noon

High Noon is a game that is a little like a combination of a playground clapping game and rock paper scissors, but is much better than both. It is harder to explain than it is to learn and play...but here goes.
For two players, each faces the other over a table. Like a clapping game each player makes their moves simultaneously. The game begins with both players hand slapping the table (no:1 in accompanying picture). In their second move each player then decides whether to slap their left shoulder (pic 2) which is a safe move or to bring their hand up to their right shoulder (pic 3) which loads the gun, or to fire the gun (pic 4) at their opponent. After this second move each player then slaps the table again (pic 1) in unison and moves to their third move. The Hand Slap move must be made alternatively with one of the other three.
A player successfully shoots the opponent (and wins the game) if they make the 'Fire' move at exactly the same time their opponent makes a 'Reload' move. Also, players can not fire the gun unless it has previously been loaded and they must reload before the each attempt at firing is made.
Once players have learnt the rules then it is best played as fast as possible. Keeping the rhythm whilst watching what your opponent is up to and deciding whether to attempt a shot or a reload become mind-bending at speed. And once you have mastered the basic game why not go for mental meltdown and play the the two arm version.
The video below should (hopefully) make clearer my description of this superb game.

Newspaper Wrestling

Staying with the theme of strange wrestling we present Newspaper Wrestling. An unusual game for two people and an ideal use for a newspaper that's been read.
Simply place a sheet from a newspaper flat on the floor. Both players stand on the page - they will be standing very close to one another even if they use a broadsheet. Now, on a start command, each tries to push (or pull) the other off the paper. Any technique is valid in this claustrophobic combat. The first player that places a foot outside the paper, or causes it to tear, is the loser.
Once you have mastered the art of broadsheet newspaper wrestling why not move up a category to tabloid wrestling.

Table Wrestling

Table Wrestling is a sport with a history that goes back to Roman times where slaves were forced to to mount their master's table and try to circumnavigate it whilst wagers were made...or it could be just an inspired made-up game by a group of bored sixth-formers in Worcester. Whichever it is, Table Wrestling is undoubtedly one of the greatest and strangest Wrestling events.

To play, simply get a table (a school size one works well, but one with more character can sometimes give greater opportunity for hand holds) lie on top of it (face down is best) then try and go 360 degrees around it without touching the ground with any part of your body. The most common technique is to stretch a hand all the way underneath to grab the opposing edge before the rest of your body follows and you fall to the floor. Then simply pull yourself underneath and then, hopefully, back onto the top. It's a little like keelhauling - only with a table and no risk of drowning.
Once you have mastered the basic move you can advance to travelling around the table length ways or if you are especially advanced in a figure of eight movement. For the hardcore table wrestler you could even attempt the 'altitude' version where you balance 1 table on the top of two others before going around it. If you are particularly speedy why not try and beat the world record which stands at 10 rotations in 1 minute!


For the player that struggles to get their body all the way around then the two player game (illustrated in the accompanying photo) might be the one to try. Each player hangs over one side of a table and attempts to dislodge their opponent by any means possible...the winner is the first to get three falls or a submission.

Visit tablewrestling.com to further your knowledge

Extreme Bucket Ball

The previous post about Extreme Swingball prompted an e-mail from Strange Games reader Rob Edwards. In it he details a similarly painful game he calls Extreme Bucket Ball.
The game works best with smallish teams of two or three players each. Teams take it in turns to have one of their members be the Bucket Boy - this player stands in the centre of a 3m chalk-drawn circle on the floor and uses both hands to hold a plastic bucket on top of their head. The game starts with Bucket Boy's team mates trying to toss as many tennis balls as possible into the bucket - Bucket Boy can aid this by moving around but he must remain inside the circle at all times. Similarly, team-mates must throw the balls from outside the circle. The opposing team however must try to disturb Bucket Boy, getting him to miss balls or even better spill his bucket. They do this by firing any tennis balls they can get at Bucket Boy's body (again, they have to remain outside the circle) You can make a no-headshots rule if you like. Whenever a ball becomes free there is a mad scramble for control of it from both sides. Play for a set time, count the bruises and the balls in Bucket Boy's bucket then swap sides and play again. Good clean fun.
Addendum: As lsk rightly points out in the comment section..this game would be improved and made much fairer if a no crouching rule is enforced on Bucketboy

(Strange Games has also covered Bucket Ball and Hanetball previously - click on the links to discover more)

Extreme Swing Ball

Extreme Swing Ball is the name for a superb combat-type game sent into Strange Games by regular reader Duncan Flann. It is like some sort of bizarre blend of conkers, swingball and sword fencing.
Mr Flann writes: "Me and my friend Steve Brand invented Extreme Swing Ball a few years ago and we play quite regularly. It's simple and quite addictive to play and can be unpleasantly painful when you lose. It works best with two players. Each has the string and ball part of a swingball set (basically a tennis ball connected to a one and half meter piece of cord). At the start of the game each player sets his ball swinging in a circle. They can have it swinging at any height, in any plane(horizontally or vertically) and at any speed they like, but it must be swinging around for the duration of the game. The players now approach each other and try and get their ball to hit their opponent while avoiding being hit themselves. Points are scored for striking different parts of the body: 1 for an arm or leg, 5 for the torso and 10 for a head shot. Once a strike is made play stops, players move apart and set their balls swinging once again for the next round. Also, a little like the game of conkers, if 'tangles' (each players strings become tangled) occurs then players move apart and start afresh. If one of the players is found to regularly cause 'tangles' then the other can request a free strike! Play tends to shift between tense standoffs, wild rapid swinging as a defensive measure and desperate lunges forwards. Often the player that performs best is not the quickest swinger or the most violent but rather the one who has the most manoeuvrability. To see a master ESB player duck down, as their opponent's ball whizzes overhead, and get in a strike to the knees is a joy to behold"

Play anything stupider/funnier/odder?...contact Strange Games: montegue_blister@hotmail.co.uk

Get on the F***ing Floor

Does watching violence on television and in films create a more violent society? You could debate this all night...but far better to play Get on the F***ing Floor instead. This is another marvellous game sent in by Strange Games reader Katie Jacobsen.
Kate writes: "All you need to play is a toy gun. Choose one player to exit the room with the gun. The remaining players establish conversation. They can talk about anything except the game itself. The player chosen to exit the room should stand just outside the door, so (s)he can hear the other players' conversation. After a few moments, or however long it takes for the players in the room to establish a natural conversational pattern that is distracted from the game, the outside player bursts in as aggressively and suddenly as possible, brandishing the gun and screaming in a menacing voice, "GET ON THE F***ING FLOOR!!" The amount of surprise and fear (some may say authenticity) of the holdup is ranked, and the process is repeated until each of the players has had a chance to play the armed intruder."

Spit in the Bottle

Strange Games previous post, the gross bare feet-raisin to mouth game called Raison d'etre prompted reader Bill to email in a game that he played in his childhood that is, if anything, grosser. Bill writes, "Dear Strange Games... when I was a kid we played this game that we called Spit in the Bottle. Usually we played two at a time. Each player places a narrow-necked pop bottle on the ground between their feet...and then starting at the same time they attempt to spit saliva and try to get as much as possible into the bottle. Because the opening of the bottle is narrow and the players are standing up its quite difficult to get much in unless you are highly skilled at the game. Often we used to get more on our jumpers than in the bottle. After a set time (a few minutes say) play is halted and the two bottles examined to see who has got the most spit in. And, even cooler, if you want to play a more hard-core version of the game, the loser then has to drink....'

I've cut-off the rest of Bills email because I started to feel queasy...I think you can get the picture of how it continues.

Played something odder/cooler/funnier/stupider...contact strange games: montegue_blister@hotmail.co.uk