Cash Club

A recent e-mail from main man and Strange Games fan Daryl Hrdlicka brought to my attention the delightful game of Cash Club. A possibly entirely fictitious game, featured on the website Chain Bear, Cash Club is a twisted amalgam of a nice, gentile party game and Fight Club and is the perfect game for these credit crunched times.

All players stand in a circle facing inwards. Players take it in turns to take money (coins, notes...credit cards) out of their pockets and wallets and throw it onto the floor in the middle of the circle. This activity continues until one player can take it no longer and dives into the middle with the aim of grabbing as much as possible. As soon as one player commits themselves then all other players are free to grab, punch and kick and generally persuade them that it might not be such a good idea. Any money the person manages to pocket they can keep and the game continues. Greed and violence with the possibility of monetary gain and the odd bruise...what more do you want of a party game?

Mini Dig / Beetle Bash

Upon seeing this game being played recently (on the top deck of a bus) I assumed that it was merely a charmingly violent local variation of the innocent childhood game of 'who can spot the most things whilst travelling'. After some research, however, I discover that it is seemingly played world-wide with more variations than you can shake a stick at.
The version I saw being played is as follows. Players sit in a car (or bus) and as they travel they keep their eyes open to the cars passing them in either direction on the road outside. The idea is for players to spot certain car types, shout out a determined phrase, and if they do so first then they get the chance to physically punish the other player according to the type of car seen.
So in my version, if you see a Mini car you shout, "Mini Dig" and if shouted out first you can dig your opponent(s) in the ribs. If you see a Volkswagen Beetle then you shout, "Beetle Bash" and then you can bash the other person in a place of your choosing. The highlight in the game though (at least in my local version) is that if you see an old fashioned Volkswagen Beetle you shout out, "Herbie" and can continue striking your opponent until the next qualifying vehicle is seen. Marvellous fun for all.

The variations on this game are legion. One of the most common is the addition of the colour yellow which adds points / punches. So if the mini you spot first is yellow then you can make two digs rather than a solitary blow. One of the most obscure is extra punches for bald-headed drivers. I particularly admire the following rule found on the Facebook group devoted to the game:"Also one of the rules should be that you can only call a yellow car whilst in another form of transport. Me and my friends added this rule after kicking the shit out of each other in a carpark"

Eggy Golf

My last post about the delights of Mini /Crazy golf led to an e-mail from Strange Games reader Stuart 'Stiffy' Johns. In it he describes possibly the greatest indoor golf game ...ignoring Lemon golf of course. Stiffy writes:
'We play a game called Eggy Golf, an indoor game that is stupid, random and has lots of cleaning up to do afterwards...what more do you want from an indoor game? To play each player will need a golf putter and a fresh (unboiled) egg. A course is created in the carpetted living room - this can be simply a starting line and a finishing point with the inbetween space being as obstacle-filled as you like. Each player must try and get their egg to the finishing position in the fewest strokes possible. Obviously, the egg is the problem in this game with its ovoid shape making direction of roll a major issue...the other being that if you hit it too hard it will break and you are going to automatically lose that round and have a messy carpet to clean up. We have found that the game is extremely difficult with a 'raw' golf club so each placer is allowed to wind a couple of cushioning elastic bands around the club head. Even then games are exciting nervous affairs and it is often the ultra-cautious player that wins."
If you are like 'Stiffy' Johns and get up to unusual things in the privacy of your living room that are game related we would love to hear from you. E-mail: montegue_blister@hotmail.co.uk

Mini Golf / Crazy Golf

An e-mail from Mini Golf obsessive ‘Squire’ Richard Gottfried (see his how to become an expert minigolfer video here) alerts me to the fact that the 2010 British Minigolf Association Tour is about to begin. The tour tees-off this Sunday with the BMGA National Open at Adventure Island Mini Golf, Star City, Birmingham.
Mini Golf is the game that used to be known as Crazy Golf (its name being changed possibly to avoid offence to putter wielding madmen everywhere) and is the often-found-at-the seaside game beloved by everyone who enjoys putting golf balls through windmills and drain pipes, up ramps and down slopes and between the cardboard cutout legs of Jade Goody (I may have imagined that last one)

Anyway I implore you to get involved in the diminutive and ever so slightly deranged world of Mini golf by visiting the event in Birmingham.
Key Mini golf sites to visit:
Richard Gottfried's Ham & Egger Blog British Minigolf Association World Minigolf Federation European Minigolf Federation Miniature golfer.com Top 10 UK minigolf courses
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Note: Previous strange golf games covered in Strange Games:
Lemon Golf hillbilly golf zombie 3 legged frisbee golf

Spikeball 3 on 3

Strage Games has covered Spikeball before - it is an incredible volleyball like sport involving a handball and a trampette. But, because it is brilliant and the Facebook Group here needs your support we are covering it again by featuring some heady 3 on 3 Spikeball action. Normally it is a game for pairs but the video below shows it can work with more numbers.

Bear, Hunter, Princess

There are many alternatives to the hand game Rock, Paper and Scissors all of which work on the same principle of each move beating one of the others and being beaten itself by the remaining one. One of the most fun versions to play is Bear, Hunter, Princess. On a set count you have to be either a Bear (raise your hands in front of your body like paws and growl) a Hunter (make an imaginary shotgun using both hands) or a Princess (stand demurely in a Princessly fashion). Obviously, Hunter kills Bear....Bear kills Princess...and Princess kills Hunter. The students of Davenport College (US) have a Facebook group devoted to the game and claim they invented it, although I have other sources that claim that the game of Bear, Hunter, Woman has been played for a very long time.
Also of interest is the use of the game in an advert for Fed Ex. Here the game has been transformed slightly with the Princess being changed to Ninja, making it more politically correct and actually more fun.


Bear Hunter Princess Facebook Group
The ultimate version of RPS is RPS 101 with 101 possible hand positions:RPS 101 on Strange Games

Whistling Balloons

Strange Games has received a superb party game submission from Elsie McDonald, called Whistling Balloons.
Elsie writes, "To play you are going to need a balloon that makes a whistling noise when you fire it (one each for every person playing)

You could use normal balloons, but it's not as fun and loud! Make sure they are the long and thin ones!

Each player, (minimum of 3) takes a balloon and blows it up as much as they can. The players then stand in a circle with the balloon aimed at the person on their left. On the count of three, everyone lets go of their balloons.

Your job now is to catch the balloon whistling towards you from your right before the air runs out. Anyone that fails to catch the balloon is out. Players keep blowing up their balloons and firing untill there is only one player left. This player is the Whistling Balloon King for the rest of the day and the other players who failed to catch their balloons and lost are slaves to the King all day!"

If you play something strange then don't keep it to yourself send it to me montegue_blister@hotmail.co.uk.

The Passive Agressive Door Holding Game

An e-mail from Strange Games' reader Daryl Hrdlicka (inventor of the brilliant game Hat Ball) entitled Games that Other People Don't Know They Are Playing brings to my attention the Passive Aggressive Door Holding Game.
First featured in a cartoon on passive aggressive notes.com the game is an ideal office game that is as simple as it is cruel.
As you open the door to enter somewhere keep it open for the person behind - as long as they are a considerable distance behind as this will force them to think they will appear ungrateful if they don't rush to accept. The door opener who can get this runner to run from the greatest distance away is declared the winner. Simple....and it works with lifts too.