Newt Despondent, or, The Drawing Game

Greetings, folks, here are the rules to the game we played, as promised. Enjoy! Let me know if you ever decide to play outside of class.

Number of people: 4-10; if you have more than 10 break into smaller groups

There are five steps to the game. Every person performs every step of the game in every round.

Step 1: Everybody starts with a blank piece of paper. The first person writes a noun phrase at the top of the page. The most basic noun phrase is a noun plus an article, as in ‘the apple,’ ‘a fish.’ More complex noun phrases would be the noun plus an adjective, ‘two apples,’ ‘a blue fish.’ Of course the more creative the better, as in ‘two worm-ridden apples that fell off of the back of the farmer’s truck’ or ‘a blue fish with an inferiority complex’. After everybody writes their noun phrase, they fold it over, hide the noun phrase, and pass it to the person next to them. THE PERSON NEXT TO THEM DOES NOT READ THE NOUN PHRASE.

Step 2: The second step is to write a verb phrase at the top of the page. Everybody writes a verb phrase on the sheet of paper they were just given. A verb phrase can also be very basic, as in, ‘eats,’ or ‘walks’. Of course, the more complex the verb phrase, the more fun it is, as in, ‘eats an entire pizza in one mouthful,’ or ‘walks on his hands while balancing a bunny rabbit on his feet.’ After everybody has written their verb phrase, pass the paper to the third person.

Step 3: The third person then attempts to draw the full sentence. For example, ‘Two worm-ridden apples that fell off of the back of the farmer’s truck+eats an entire pizza in one mouthful’ or ‘a blue fish with an inferiority complex+walks on his hands while balancing a bunny rabbit on his feet.’ Obviously all of these things are impossible to draw and will therefore lead to absurd drawings, but that is the fun part of the game. After finishing the drawing, the third person hides the original sentence and passes their paper to the next person.

Step 4: Everybody looks at the drawing that was just passed to them and tries to come up with a sentence that explains the drawing. While the goal is technically to try and guess the original sentence, it is much better to think about it as trying to come up with a funny and clever interpretation of the drawing that you are looking at. If everybody was able to guess the original sentence of their drawing there would be no sport in it. WRITE THE SENTENCE THAT YOU THINK IT IS DOWN UNDERNEATH THE DRAWING.

Step 5: Everybody shares the original sentence, the drawing, and their interpretation, and laughs like crazy.

Other important rules: your drawing cannot include any words, English or Chinese. You must speak English while you play the game.

Play this game with your friends at parties like Conrad and all his nerd friends!