Additional
instructions and suggestions
Turning cards over
After all the cards are distributed and everyone has made a neat little
pile and it's your turn to play -
Grab the top card by the top, then flip the bottom away
from you.
That way, everybody gets to see the card more or less at the same time
and people won't get mad at you for having an unfair advantage.
Three Times
The more times you have to name it before you can claim it,
the more fun. Because when you try to say something three times, as quickly
as possible, your tongue kind of, well, trips. Three is a good number,
for starters.
Three Robots
If you haven't played before, or if you're playing with people who haven't
played before, start out with only three named cards. All the other cards
still have points, but only three cards have names. This way, your junior
or senior players can keep up with the game, and everyone can still have
a lot of fun.
So say, if you have three players, and each player has his or her pile,
so each selects the card from the top of the pile, give it a name, and
puts it aside somewhere,.face up, as a reminder. And then you just take
turns as usual, and when someone turns over a card that has no name,
it just becomes part of the pile, and the pile gets bigger, and the
tension mounts, and then, suddenly, someone turns over a named card,
and everybody tries to: a) remember the name of the card, and b) be the
first one to say the name of the card, c) three times.
And behold. Much fun will be had by all, even with only three name-claimable
cards.
Names and Notnames
A "notname" is what you give a card when you give it a noise
instead, or a motion. So, when, you pick, for example, something like 
this
card you might ordinarily name something like, oh, I dunno, Gordon or
Purplepup or Oiflik, instead of a name, make it a noise! So the first
person to, for example, make a kissing sound three times in a row, or
well, you can imagine, there are so many noises one can make, each of
which, given the three
times rule, challenging both tongue and sobriety.
It could be a name and a noise, for sure of course. And both would be the
Name of the card. You'd have to be the first to say "Purplepup" three
times while making a kissing sound between each Purplepup. But one is
really probably more worth trying than you might think. Being the first
to make three kissing sounds in a row is a laudable accomplishment.
And/or, the Notname could be a noise you make with other parts of your
body, like with your hands clapping, or your hands clapping your chair,
or your face. (The "clapping your face" race is only recommended
for players of Extreme Thing-a-ma-Bots). While at the a same time, of
course, between kisses, you are also saying Purplepup.
Background
Gamewright's card
game "Thing-a-ma-BOTS" is
a silly game, naturally, because I designed it.
I wanted Thing-a-ma-BOTS to be a card game version of the kind of "funny
fun" I've
been playing with since even before my involvement with the New Games
Foundation in the 70s. I wrote about it
in my
books The
Well-Played Game and Junkyard
Sports. I teach it in my "Playful
Path" seminars at the Esalen Institute, and through my websites
( deepfun.com, junkyardsports.com and majorfun.com ),
The creative part of Thing-a-ma-BOTS is really key to what I wanted to
bring people. The fact that to play the game, they also have to kind
of make it up as they go along.
Thing-a-ma-BOTS is a deck of 60 cards with drawings of 12 different,
clearly silly-looking robots. After the deck is shuffled and dealt
out, players take turns playing a card, and giving a name to the robot
on
that card. Any name will do. Names with a lot of syllables are fun.
But so are names with only one syllable. Because as soon as that same
robot
is played again, it, and all the cards beneath it, go to the first
player to say the robot's name times – a task made even more
challenging by how funny it is just to try to say "thing-a-ma-BOTS'
quickly enough.
If you follow the rules for Thing-a-ma-BOTS, the
rules in the box, you'll soon discover that Thing-a-ma-BOTS is a genuinely
fun game, as is. And even
then, as is, you're already kind of making up how to play
the game as you go
along. The rules just say "name the cards." They don't
tell you what to name them. So you make crazy names and clever names
and artistic
names and rhyming names and names with five syllables and names
that sound like you're saying them backwards.
I discovered the idea of unfinished games, or games that are invitiations
to invention when looking for games that invite community - where winning
isn't as important as the fun, and the game isn't more important than
the people who want to play it.
Thing-a-ma-BOTS
is a game that you play so you can play together.
For another perspective, read this
review of the game.
Thing-a-ma-bots has earned the:
- Dr. Toy Smart Play / Smart Toy Award
- Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award
- National Parenting Center Seal of Approval
- iParenting Media Award
- Parents' Choice Approved
See my card game articles:
Not-so-Crazy-Eights
Conversation with Cards
