Hide - A Little Book of Silly Games: Stuff to do for the whole family

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First published in Great Britain in 2020

Some content previously published under Tiny Games for Home, Tiny Games for Work, Tiny Games for Trips, Tiny Games for Kids, More Tiny Games for Kids

Copyright Alex Fleetwood and Bloomsbury 2014, 2020

Alex Fleetwood has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication data has been applied for

ISBN: PB: 978-1-4482-1794-6; ePub: 978-1-4482-1795-3

Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI (UK) Ltd,

Croydon CR0 4YY

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This book is not designed to be read in order.

Skip this introduction and open any random page to get playing.

In this book you will find lots of games, all of them very silly indeed. They can be played when youre bored, or when the electricity has cut out, or when you dont know what to do with all those spoons. There are games you can play with a group or games you can play on your own

So, if you want to race like a slug, visit the invisible zoo, or play wolf croquet this is the book for you.

In this game you put a slice of cucumber on your forehead, then race to wriggle it into your waiting mouth...

Youre going to need at least one thin slice of cucumber for every player. Cut them and put them on a plate in between all the players. Now, put the cucumber ON YOUR FOREHEAD.

Using only your facial muscles, you need to move it into your mouth. If you drop it, start again with a new slice if you like. The fastest player wins.

Count up how many things you THINK there are in your house, and then see how close you were.

Without getting up and walking around, your job is to guess how many of a certain thing there are around your house. Things like light bulbs, chairs, empty bottles, hats, left shoes.

Once you choose something, have a walk around your house and take inventory. Were you close? If you were one or two off, thats pretty good. If you were exactly right, thats amazing. Isnt it amazing what you find when youre looking for something else?

This is a game about holding plastic cups to your face through the power of suction alone. The tricky bit is, theyll be filled with water.

Get a plastic cup for each player, and half-fill them with water. Put your cup over your mouth, suck in, and keep it there. You cant touch it just see how long you can keep it on your face. Obviously, if you laugh, its going to be more difficult...

The last player left with a cup on their face wins! Admire their bare-faced skills.

Try and traverse your home, while looking only at the ceiling. Stand straight up and make binoculars with your hands (you know, making them into tubes and peeking through.) Then, with your hand-noculars firmly over your eyes, youll bend your neck back so youre looking straight up at the ceiling.

Without looking down (or peeking out the side of the hand-noculars) attempt to walk from your starting point to another room in your home. For an easier challenge, try to make it to the next room over. For truly brave players, choose somewhere far away. And thats that! Walk slowly and prepare your shins for coffee table-impact.

In this game both players secretly pick a DVD or a book from a shelf. Now its question time! Start with the player who went to the cinema most recently. Take turns to ask each other a yes/no question is it part of a series?, say, or does anything explode?

You must answer all questions truthfully. If you dont know, the asker gets another question. The first player to guess, and formally ask Is it [whatever it is]? on their turn, wins. Remember, you can ask any yes/no questions you like!

In this game youll take turns to be a Magician, who conceals an object behind a tea towel. As the Magician, you name a few objects that you might have hidden. Your Audience Members try to guess which object really is concealed. Finally, you whip the tea towel away with a magic word, revealing the truth...

First, select your Magician. Now, fetch a magic cape/tea towel. Audience Members: close your eyes. Magician: choose an object, and hide it behind a tea towel. The Magician will tell everyone to open their eyes and name THREE OBJECTS that might be hidden behind the towel. Two of the objects should be decoys, and the other should be the real thing.

All the Audience Members shout out what they think it is! And the Magician whips the cape/tea towel away with a suitable magic word. Now, all the Audience Members who were right what a terrible trick! Call out boo! Everyone else how unexpected! How magical! Cheer wildly!

If half or more of the Audience Members are booing, the Magician leaves the stage. How many tricks can you perform in a row before you get booed off? Keep going till youve all had a turn as the Magician.

In this game youll be playing Rock, Paper, Scissors but instead of boring old hands, youll be playing with silverware. Your timer? The toaster. The player with the most utensils when the toast is done is the winner.