Tights Racing

Strange Games has been inundated by an e-mail from Elmo McDonald :'Montegue, can you tell me the best Christmas party game to play that is fun for the whole family, is energetic and which uses some of the crap that is left around the place at this time of the year?'  I had a good think about this request and remembered a game from my own childhood: Tights Racing.

Tights Racing is a superb childrens' party game and it is yet another one of those kids' games that is even more fun when played by adults. To play pair up the players into teams of two. One player in each team is given a pair of nylon tights and both are surrounded by a large pile of light, bulky items such as: toilet rolls, fruit, empty plastic bottles, cuddly toys...etc. Basically, as much stuff as you can find around the place. On a starting command one player must jump into their tights and then with the help of their partner shove all the items down the legs as quickly as possible and then once everything has been safely stored there they must race each other to the other end of the room.
 

Even better, delight your neighbours by playing the game outside.

The sight of players running along with elephant-man-like nylon cladded legs is what gives this game its unigue charm.

Happy Christmas to all Strange Games readers...and don't forget if you play something truly obscure and odd and would like to share it with the world then send it to Strange Games: montegue_blister@hotmail.co.uk 

Rip Off Your Kecks

Strange Games reader W. Poole (pictured) sent in the following party game, which he insists is 'the' game to play at all the best parties:Rip off Your Kecks or Trouser Swapping as it is sometimes know in more polite circles is the ultimate party game that involves clothes.  There are quite a few of these such as the one where you have to put on an oversize set of clothes and race to the end of the room, or the Blindfold Shoe Game (everyone takes off their shoes, puts them in a pile, is blindfolded then tries to locate and put on their own!)  Trouser Swapping though is in a different league – and if played will have you in creases.

For teams of two players.  One puts on an additional pair of trousers then sits down on the floor with their legs outstretched in front of themselves. Their partners sit down in front of them again with outstretched legs and with the soles of their feet touching.  This is a key part of the game because during no stage can players lose contact with their feet. The aim of the game is for player one to take off their trousers, but rolling them down their legs and for player two to wear them (by rolling them up their legs) inside out – BUT with their feet touching at all times. This ensures a bizarre buttock shuffling game of apparel based fun.

The ideal trousers for the game are probably a pair of roomy Oxford Bags....for more advanced players the use of the skinny jean is considered particularly challenging.

UK RPS Championships - Report

Excellent UK RPS tournament report with lots of photos and videos by Richard 'the Rock' Gottfried over at the Ham and Egger blog (your first stop for UK mini golf news)

Lawnmower Throwing

With the Olympic Games in London in 2012 perhaps the organisers will feature some home grown games.  Maybe they could spice up the dullness of Hammer Throwing by combining it with Britain's love of gardening...surely it's not too much to ask for a Lawnmower Throwing event.

UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships 2010

Strange Games reader and mini-golf guru Richard Gottfried  highlights the running of the UK RPS Championships.  It is to be held at the Durrell Arms in Fulham this Saturday 13th.  It's only £5 to enter which would be money well spent if you end up being the UK champion in what is essentially a random sport....or is it? 
If you want to brush up on your RPS skills you could do worse than visit the World RPS Society here they detail essential strategies for victory including the 'possible':"Rock is for Rookies because males have a tendency to lead with Rock on their opening throw. It has a lot to do with idea that Rock is perceived as strong and forceful" 
The 'surely that's cheating':"Tell your opponent what you are going to throw and then actually throw what you said"  and the desperate:"When All Else Fails Go With Paper"

Here at Strange Games we are slightly disappointed that they are not having categories for two of our favourite variations:
Extreme Rock Paper Scissors - If you win with paper you slap your opponent, if you win with scissors you poke them and if you win with a rock you punch them. 
RPS 101 - the ultimate in hand game complexity.  A total of 101 different hand combinations need to be learned to play. An example hand position is 'baby'. This move will spill 'beer',  ruin 'guitar'  but unfortunately be unaware of 'satan'.  Visit the official 101 RPS site to play the most terrifyingly complex game ever.

Aircraft Carriers

Strange Games reader D. Harbinger sent in this game.  He insists that he has played it with colleagues in the Navy.  There is no shaky mobile phone footage to prove it....but it sounds just mad enough to be real.  Even if it is not real,  surely this is a game that will catch on.

Aircraft Carrier is an almost unbelievably silly and dangerous game that should in no way be encouraged, as playing it will almost certainly result in pain of some sort. However, it is an inspired high concept human simulation game that needs to be known about.

The game is an attempt to simulate the process of landing a fighter jet on an aircraft carrier. In real life, because of the limited length of runway on a carrier, the plane's speed is reduced by the use of a catching wire stretched across the runway. A hook on the base of the jet's tail then catches onto this wire.

To play the human version you will need a long smooth table to take the role of the landing deck, two players with a rope to be the catching wire, one player to be the plane, and two further players to throw him.
The catching players stand either side of the table and stretch the rope over it and a few inches above the surface. Two players then pick up the 'airplane' player by holding an arm and a leg each and swing them and then throw them head first along the table. It is the catching players' role to try and stop the 'airplane' by pulling the rope taut as the 'airplane's' feet pass over it. It is the airplane's job to try and stop his forward motion using his feet and ankles against this rope. Safely landing in the game is a lot less sure than in real life.

World Series of Pong Festival

Andrew Essa, or King Pong to his friends, has written to Strange Games to highlight the marvelous festival of Ping Pong that is currently taking place in London.  The World Series of Pong Festival consists of 64 weekly ping pong nights as part of a 100 day festival - starting on September 20th and going all the way to the final on December the 4th.  It is a fun, two player team event - although there is a prize of £5,000 for the eventual winners.
Andrew writes, "Not a strange game per se but a little different, playing ping pong in bars whilst getting p*ssed and and having dance-off's on top of the tables?"

World Serıes of Pong The newest, coolest way to party, socialise, celebrate, network,
have fun, compete, and unleash your inner Balls Of Fury

World Crazy Air Squash Championships

Here at Strange Games we enjoy hearing about unique and unusual sporting competitions and try to feature them as news items. Richard Gottfried (the man behind the greatest mini-golf blog Ham and Egger )  has brought this marvellous event to my attention.  Unfortunately it has just taken place but hopefully this little piece of publicity will swell numbers for next years event.
Richard writes, "This Undisputed International Worlds Crazy Air Squash Championships took place at 'The Buttons' on Saturday 18th September 2010, with six contenders hoping to be crowned the Global Champion of Crazy Air Squash and take with them the prized silver salver!"  The arcade game is basically Air Hockey but with both players shooting from the same side and bouncing the puck off the far wall. The current World Champion is Scott Lancley UK(seen on the left of the accompanying photograph) 

Although highly skilled at mini golf Mr Gottfried could only manage a desultory 6th/last place.  

If you haven't got a game nearby you could always buy one - only $3,700 here.
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A better way to spend your money of course would be to purchase the Strange Games book - now released as an e-book on i-Books and available to download straight to your i-pad, i-phone and i-pod touch for only £2.99

Description

A hilarious compendium of weird, wonderful, warped classic and new games.
Taken from the brilliant website http://strange-games.blogspot.com/, Montegue Blister's Strange Games is a pocket-sized compendium of the most hilarious, noisy, messy, and often vomit-inducing games ever written.
Finally, the official rules for all the games you played at school as a kid, such as Finger Jousting, Peanuts, Slapsies and Thumb Wrestling. But that's not all! Montegue Blister's Strange Games includes dangerous variations on old classics such as Extreme Rock Paper Scissors, Bloody Knuckles, Shin Kicking and Toe Wrestling, plus a whole host of new, weird and wonderful games like Face Ball, Crazy Stair Climbing, Watermelon Skiing and Mosquito Squashing.
Some games are violent, some are downright savage - and most involve a tiny bit of blood. But one thing's for sure - they're great fun! Montegue Blister's Strange Games is the perfect gift for Christmas and beyond.
Chapters in Strange Games in include:
Hand and feet games; Urban Games; Festivals; Party Games; Trick Games; Playground Games; Throwing & Propulsion; Sports; Stand off Games; Animal Games.