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Sarah-Jane Crowson 02-25-2021 02:30 PM

Surrealist Games
 
Hello,

I don't know if anyone is interested in surrealist games, but if you are, here are some to share, which might either be adapted to a zoom (like Mario's L.A.M.P) or to play in a different way.

The games are taken from Surrealist Games (Brotchie & Gooding, 1991). It's a child's book but the games are fun. It also has a beautifully crazy picture of Max Ernst and the famous one of Andre Breton insulting a priest in it, but let's stick to the games.

1. Definitions (or question and answer)
http://sarah-janecrowson.com/wp-cont...finitions.jpeg

2. Directions for use (my favourite)
http://sarah-janecrowson.com/wp-cont...or-use-SG.jpeg

3. One into another
http://sarah-janecrowson.com/wp-cont...toanother.jpeg

What do you think? They're out there now, winking at you, as quizzical as Magritte wearing a pith helmet and enticing as Peret's strange vest.

Sarah-Jane

Ann Drysdale 02-27-2021 02:17 AM

On my screen they're so wide I have to scroll sideways to read them. It adds to the surrealism.

We once had great fun in this forum with "Exquisite Corpse". Do search for the threads. They were not universally popular but those of us who partook were nourished thereby.

Sarah-Jane Crowson 02-27-2021 01:31 PM

Ann - thank-you, and I will take a look (I love how you have visual and poetry on this board, also games).

Apologies for super-sized images. I've resized them - hopefully that's better. If not, please tell me as it's easy to resize.

thank-you again,

Sarah-Jane

Graham King 03-02-2021 06:18 PM

Thank you for these!
I especially like the Definitions, or Question and Answer.
The Echo Poem idea also appeals as one to try!

Matt Q 03-03-2021 05:15 AM

I really like the question and answer/definition games. I'm trying to think about the logistics of how you could do that over Zoom, or even on a forum, since the question needs to be unseen when the answer is written.

Assuming a group of people on Zoom, I guess everyone could write one question and one unrelated* answer (both off-screen). Then given some pre-assigned order, person 1 could read their question, person 2 could read their answer and follow with a question for person 3 (to answer) and so on in a ring ... with the last person reading their question having it answered by person 1.

The "Conditionals" game could be played in the same way -- since it has the same structure: rather than questions and answers, one player chooses and "if" statement, and another independently and "blindly" chooses a "then" statement. (A couple of examples: "if/then" statements : “If there were no guillotine / Wasps would take off their corsets”; “If octopi wore bracelets / Ships would be towed by flies”)

(*I guess it would still work if everyone wrote a question and an answer to their own question -- ditto with if/then statements -- since the answers would be linked up with unrelated questions, but it would be a slightly different game)

Can't see an easy way to play these on a forum though.

"One into another" seems like it could be quite straightforward on Zoom. Banish the one player to a breakout room or trust them to switch off their audio ...

Graham King 03-03-2021 06:00 AM

It occurs to me that the Questions and Answers might be rhyming couplets, submitted as one pair (or more) per person.. with answers either germane to or irrelevant to the question.

These could then be reconfigured, mismatching them - by, say, passing the answer parts one or more people 'clockwise' (in a real bubble or a notional online circle). The odd pairs could be enjoyable; hopefully, amusing!
Perhaps, finally, the whole lot could be reassembled into a poem, either as first paired: qAaAqBaB.. or in other rhyme-schemes, such as
qAqBaAaB.., qAaBqBaA.

e.g. original couplets:
What measure take, if time be dull?
-A visit to the Isle of Mull.

How long is best to boil an egg?
-Shake twice a lamb's tail, then a leg.

What's the weather like outside?
-I went and looked, then ran to hide.

Who's that knocking at our door?
-A dozen cops - perhaps a score.
and one possible final assemblage:
What measure take, if time be dull?
Shake twice a lamb's tail, then a leg.
How long is best to boil an egg?
A visit to the Isle of Mull.
Who's that knocking at our door?
I went and looked, then ran to hide.
What's the weather like outside?
A dozen cops - perhaps a score.
Another way to generate the rhymes would be to assign the rhyming end-words to participants, perhaps taken from some existing poem (as in The Oldie bout-rimés competitions); and with some metre agreed in advance, to ensure compatibility.

Sarah-Jane Crowson 03-03-2021 01:06 PM

Hello!

Ann - I searched for threads, and found a fab crazy 'type two words' game, which was fun to read (thank-you).

Graham - Hello! I like your idea for turning this into something more metrical (since that is what your space here is about). It also makes potentially wrangling them into a forum-game easier. I'll have another think as I think it's possible - for example, if potential players identified themselves, then they could each be allocated a rhyming end-word through PM.

Matt! I agree with you that some of these are probably better suited to zoom. I think to play on a forum it'd again have to be people saying they were 'in' and then being allocated either Q or A, then a kind of interesting melange as everyone posted Q/A in whatever order they liked on the forum.

(My favourite is 'Directions for Use')

Thanks for thoughts everyone - I'll keep on thinking too.

Sarah-Jane

Julie Steiner 03-03-2021 06:12 PM

I've played Pictionary-like and other games using a combination of Zoom or Facetime plus a phone-based apps, to keep answers hidden from other players while still allowing interaction. But the app has to exist already. And people have to have multiple devices.

Matt Q 03-03-2021 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jane Crowson (Post 461429)
I'll have another think as I think it's possible - for example, if potential players identified themselves, then they could each be allocated a rhyming end-word through PM.

The cool thing about Graham's suggestion is the each person comes up with a question and answer that rhyme, so rhyme words wouldn't need allocating.

I guess to work on the forum you'd need your players to declare themselves in advance and not post anything until everyone had prepared their entries. Then you'd need a mapping: A posts their question, B posts their answer, C posts their question etc. or whatever

One possibility would be to do it in a round -- which works with both even and odd numbers of players: A posts their question; B posts their answer (as an answer to A's question), then posts their own question, C posts their answer (answering B) and post their question, and so on, with the last player's question being responded to by A.

Using Graham's examples, you'd get:


(A) What measure take, if time be dull?
(B) -Shake twice a lamb's tail, then a leg.

(B) How long is best to boil an egg?
(C) -I went and looked, then ran to hide.

(C) What's the weather like outside?
(D) -A dozen cops - perhaps a score.

(D) Who's that knocking at our door?
(A) -A visit to the Isle of Mull.

But I guess once you know how many people are in you can arrange them in any form you like.

In Graham's examples the question and answer each individual player comes up make sense together, but that's not a necessary constraint for the game.


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