FN Blog - Seven heads are better than one!

We’ve all played Trip to Jerusalem, Bring Me, and the Boat Is Sinking countless times. So at your next family reunion, why not try one of these party games?

Kim Jong Il. I learned this game from Eugene Levy, who played Jim’s endearing dad in the American Pie movies. He was talking to David Letterman about how his family spends the holidays, and he brought up this game. He said that, translated, it means “Name that tune”!

The mechanics: Create different song categories, e.g., show tunes, rock, 80s classics. Then come up with songs for every category. You’re supposed to get your teammates to guess the songs by singing the first three notes of the song using the words “Kim Jong Il,” and they have to guess it by singing the actual words that follow. Eugene sampled a bunch of different songs, including, “Show tunes: Kim Jong Il…a female deer.” You get the idea. “It’s my holiday gift to you,” he told America.

Malas na lang if you can’t carry a tune!

Samson, Delilah, and the Lion. This is just a modified version of rock, paper, scissors—played in teams.

The mechanics: Divide players into two teams. Each team, should discuss what their next move would be—whether it’s Samson, Delilah, or the Lion. Each one has a corresponding action: for Samson, just flex your muscles; for Delilah, act all flirty and malandi (this is hilarious when you see men play this game); for the Lion, let out a mighty roar, claws out. Samson beats the Lion, the Lion beats Delilah, Delilah beats Samson.

Once your team has decided, form a line, with your backs turned. The opposing team does the same. Given the signal, you all turn at once to face each other with your chosen move.

CSI (Crime Scene Iksakto). My friends and I were getting ready to go out one night and Nuts Entertainment was on. The show had a modified version of the hilarious human tetris show that was a big hit on YouTube.

The mechanics: Put cutouts of people on the floor (like a crime scene). Players are given the go-signal and have to lie directly on top of the cutouts and copy the shape. We decided to play this game at a recent Christmas party—I volunteered to make cutouts so that I would be excused from actually joining the game. Ha! (Dondi got creative and added props to his cutouts, like a walis tambo! Lei created tandem cutouts, meaning two people were required.)

The Celebrity Game. I’ve played this with the Warriors numerous times (thanks to Nana). It’s kind of like charades with a mix of Taboo, but with three rounds. Best for groups of 20 or less. Any more than that and it’s absolute chaos. But it’s hilarious!

The mechanics: Everyone is given a few pieces of paper. On each piece, write a name of a celebrity, politician, athlete—anyone who’s recognizable, whether living or dead. These names are all put into a bowl (or hat or whatever). Divide into three or four groups.

Round 1: The first team selects a representative. A timer gives the go-signal. The rep picks a name from the bowl and has to describe the person indicated—no translations (e.g., If the name is “Jason Kidd,” you can’t say “His last name is the English word for bata”), and no “sounds like” (unless you’re describing what it sounds like. E.g., If the name is “Bobby,” you can’t say, “Sounds like ‘lobby.’” You can, however, say, “It sounds like the area near the entrance of a hotel.”). Your team has a minute to guess as many names as they can. No passing! If you don’t know who the person on the piece of paper is, sorry na lang!

Round 1 ends when there are no more names left.

Round 2: You use the same set of names, but this time, you can only use one word to describe the person on the piece of paper. So you have to pay attention to the first round, and pick the word that best describes the person. You’re not going to go far with a word like “babae,” so be more creative! (One person once used “noodles” for MAGGIE dela Riva.) No acronyms—you can say “basketball,” but not “NBA.”

Round 3: Charades! But it ain’t that easy, considering these are all people, and not all of them have distinguishing characteristics or quirky actions. So you’d be forced to stretch your imagination.

Happy holidays, everyone!