Cup-Passing, Hand-Clapping, Knee-Tapping Fun

Without probing the origins of the Cup-Passing Hand-Clapping game, or attempting to fathom the apparently widespread dissemination of the aforementioned, let us rather merrily contemplate the game itself and the myraid wonders thereof. It is, after all, a collaborative game. It is played by teens, even. It is clearly pointless. And most obviously fun.

Here's a version that starts out slowly enough for those of us who are less conceptually coordinated to believe that this is a feat well within our reach. Then there's a far more sophisticated version, should you and your friends for some reason think you've actually mastered the "regular" version. On the other hand, if you find yourself with only one other person to play with, contemplate the potential hilarity embedded in this two person variation.

All of which is by way of introduction to the amazingly sophisticated world of cup passing games. There are those that are ostensibly for kids, and those clearly for all of us. There's Hakasot, a Hebrew cup passing game. There's Estray Bonajour, a cup passing game that can be played without cups, and is in a language that has passed beyond arcane. And there's this collection of what one might call "extreme cup passing" games.

Then there are the knee tapping games. All in all, maybe hundreds of such ilk, none of which is played competitively, none for score, each and all for the simple and wonderful fun of seeing how complicated we can make things for each other.

Surely there's a message in all this about the human condition. And even more surely, here's a way to have fun without anyone losing, anywhere, with styrofoam cups, or shoes, or nothing more than a shared sense of play.

from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith