Another diversion from Memento Mori Theatricks & Jared A. Sorensen
About the Game
This is a zany storytelling game specifically made for playing in
a Chinese restaurant.
Set-up
Everyone picks a teammate – teammates should be seated across
from one another. Also, everyone needs a pair of chopsticks, a cup of
tea (for refreshment!) and a fortune cookie.
Titles
The host (whoever suggested that everyone go out for Chinese)
comes up with a title based on suggestions from the teams. The host
tells the player on his left what category the word must fall into.
The player answers, then prompts the player on his left with a
category. That player must first say the word chosen by the first
player, then add his or her own (based on the new category). This
continues, with each subsequent repeating what has already been said
and then adding a new word, until the host’s turn comes up again. The
host then declares the title, deleting words as desired and adding
“small words” (of, the, and) and punctuation at the end (like ther
ever-popular exclamation point). It is permissible for the host to
modify words (“Gold” becomes “Golden,” “Furious” becomes “Fury,”
etc.). Titles must contain at least two of the words and no more than
four.
The categories and some examples of each are (in no particular order):
Naturally, examples should fit into the Kung Fu Theatre mentality. So you shouldn’t choose “Radiation” or “New York” or “Linux Programmer” for any of the categories.
Some example titles could be:
After announcing the title of the Kung Fu movie, the player to the left of the host begins the game with dialog.
Dialog
Each player gets “one breath” worth of dialog. This means that it
is “their turn” for as long as they can talk without drawing another
breath. When their turn is over (by choice or by virtue that they
runout of breath), the next player takes his or her turn…and so on,
and so on. Players whose turn it is to speak are called “actors.”
Actors should use in-character dialog to describe their actions whenever possible. So instead of saying “Chang crossed the river with one mighty leap!” you should say, “Aha! I shall now cross this river with a mighty leap!” Sound effects are highly encouraged! If you feel it necessary to narrate your scene, hold a hand up to alert your teammate not to lip-sync the action.
Also, whenever speaking a line of dialog, your teammate should lip sync your words and mime any action going on at the time (you don’t have to jump, perform kicks and whatnot as this is a sit-down game…facial grimaces and hand gestures will suffice!). If the teammate does not mimic the dialog (accuracy is not important here!) or doesn’t want to mimic the dialog, he must forfeit one chopstick to the final scene’s stake (see below).
Interrupting
To interrupt a player, toss one of your chopsticks into the
center of the table. This is called a “challenge.” Unless countered
by the current actor or his teammate with a chopstick of his own, the
challenger gets to cancel the current actor’s last action and may add
his own dialog. Play progresses to that original player’s left. If
you do not counter a challengem you keep the chopsticks in the center
of the table (the “stake”). If an actor successfully counters a
challenge, he may start over again (cancelling his own original
dialog) or add an additional breath of dialog.
The final scene stake is separate from the stake won during challenges of this nature.
Ending the Movie
When the host’s turn comes up again, he may either continue the
movie by adding dialog OR can throw in a chopstick to break open his
fortune cookie and state the final scene. This can be countered as
usual, except that the challenger (if he wins the challenge) states a
new scene that will allow the movie to continue and then play
continues to the host’s left (the stake remains in the center of the
table). Keep this stake separate from any chopsticks thrown in during
an interupt challenge.
If the host can successfully use the message on his fortune cookie in the final scene, he gets to keep the chopstick he tossed in.
If the game has not ended (if the host was challenges and successfully countered), play continues as normal except that now, anyone can end the game by tossing in a chopstick and breaking open their fortune cookie.
If there are several chopsticks at stake, the person who ends the game using his fortune cookie’s message gets to claim all of the chopsticks.
When the game does end and the movie is completed, the team with the most chopsticks is declared the winner. It is customary for the winner of the game to pick up the tip.