Do you like to have fun, and like it even more when you can have fun with a bunch of other people? Have you spent some serious time looking and looking for genuinely funny games, friendly games, games that you can actually enjoy playing with your friends, even with strangers? Then, well, yes, you might classify the reading of Leigh Anderson’s The Games Bible as something like a religious experience.
In the first chapter, called “Putting the Fun Back Into Parties,” Ms. Anderson shares inspiration and purpose. She explains: “A couple years ago I noticed that I wasn’t having a good time at parties anymore. Every get-together was the same old blur of drinks, finger food, industry gossip…It was just a bunch of adults standing around – except for the folks on the couch watching YouTube Videos…Then one night at a cocktail party a friend…suggested that we play Psychological Scavenger Hunt…Suddenly we were laughing and flirting – connecting.”
So yes, The Games Bible is for people who are spiritually attuned enough to appreciate the many gifts of a good games party.
There are lots of games in The Games Bible. More than 300. Because there are lots of reasons for having game parties, and lots of different game party-goers. You may not find relevance and meaning in every game in The Games Bible. You may not find every game in The Games Bible new. But you will most definitely find enough games to have actual fun with everybody you want to play with. There are, chapter by chapter: Icebreakers, Guessing Games, Indoor Frolics, Conversation Games, Literary and Word Games, Right-Brain Games, Games of General Cleverness, Victorian Parlor Games, Holiday Games, Games for Gamblers and Bluffers, Trivia Games, A Card-Game Refresher, Brainy Games for Two, Games for a Weekend Away, Impromptu Games, Outdoor Games, and Lawn Games.
Each game begins with an introduction (to convey the flavor of the game), followed by succinct, clear instructions. Most games are very easy to learn and are described in a page or two. Some aren’t so easy, and take some time to read through, but are very much worth the read.
The Lap Game, for example (which, for a moment, I thought was referring to the game we called the “Lap Game” as described in what is now the relatively old New Games Book), is one of the easy to read and play games, and turns out to be just the kind of game you’d want to play with fun-lovers of the sillier kind (which also explains why I found myself so attracted to it). I quote from the introduction to the Lap Game, as found in the book (well, actually the section) of “Indoor Frolics:”
“The Lap Game is a great way to get to know your friends – and your friends’ laps – better. As questions are asked, players move a certain number of “places,” meaning they shift from one lap to the lap two chairs down, for example. You’ll learn more about their habits, their peccadilloes, their favorite post-sex foods – whatever your heart desires…”
Actually, the game is even more interesting (and sillier) than that, but I, bowing to the exigencies of commercial publication, must leave you with just this tiny tease of a taste.
Every game in The Games Bible is also identified (via hieroglyph-like icons) as belonging to one or a combination of the following categories:
- best for super game-geeks – the rules will be complicated and.or long, or the game requires special skills or knowledge
- potentially naughty
- even more fun after a cocktail or two
- great to play with kids (Anderson adds this lovely word of caution: “Sometimes you’ll see a cocktail glass and a family icon side by side. This doesn’t mean that the kids should be tippling, but that it’s an easy, silly game that kids – or adults who have had a cocktail – might enjoy”)
- can be played online
- non-competitive
- tunes necessary
- silly and laugh-generating
- suitable for playing in a car
- brand new game contributed by a game designer
There’s an appendix of game materials you might want to copy (cards that are used in some games, score sheets, game boards), followed by a listing of games by category, and an index of all the games.
The Games Bible is fun. It’s funny. It’s fun to page through, to read, to own. If you really understand the importance of fun, and like to share it whenever you can, you will find The Games Bible, in truth, inspiring, even spiritually uplifting. It makes you feel empowered, just knowing that it’s in your library. It’s more than a collection of games (though it is a fine, and often surprisingly eclectic collection), it is a liturgy of laughter, a hymnal of happification, and enchiridion of enjoyment - for friends, family and all your personal congregations.