Mud Pie Games

Bartel lays out the “unofficial official rules” for Calvinball, a game characterized by mayhem and nonsense. Those of you familiar with Bill Watterson’s comic strip Calvin and Hobbes will recognize that Calvinball is a free-for-all where the rules change on the whim of the player who has the upper hand.

The interesting thing about games is that you need rules for the play to be enjoyable. But the rules should have some flexibility – consider how a golf handicap makes it possible for players with different levels of skill to play together.

We’ve played a modified version of Calvinball with our youthgroup. It’s a lot of fun to play once in a while. To keep the game engaging we played it like this: the game starts off with the same rules as half-court basketball. At any time the player in possession of the ball my change one rule. Typically the game morphs into something like soccer or dodgeball.

The rules layed out on bartel.org imply that anyone within a Zone can call a rule-change at any time. The zones can be changed but there must remain zones on the field in order to play.

It’s a fun and worthy way to kill an afternoon. But be prepared to play a classic game of stickball if your group isn’t energized by a game with ultimate flexibility.

You gotta be careful about pranks because they can so easily backfire. For instance, some time ago I was out and about and found a five dollar bill on the ground (see above.) I tucked the bill into a book I was holding and forgot about it. Recently I found the book – and the fiver – so I tucked the cash into my wallet, feeling so much the richer.

The other day my daughter asked me if she could have some cash to buy firewood for a beach bonfire with her friends. Remembering my great find I took the five bucks out of my wallet and handed it to her. When she went to put the money in her wallet she unfolded the bill and discovered that she was suddenly FIVE BUCKS SHORT! Hardy-har-har! She was in a hurry and didn’t find the joke very funny in the moment, but I cracked up because it turned out that the joke was on me. I wasn’t as generous as I had thought I was.

But here’s what was not so funny about the joke. When we turned the bill over and looked at the back we discovered that it was a Gospel tract. “Disapointed? Jesus won’t let you down.”

Wow. I really can’t image a scenario where the message on the back builds hope. Handing these fake bills out to homeless people is just plain mean-spirited. Dropping them on the floor of the Mall is a little better, but still – the feeling of having your hopes crash to the floor is so unlike the promise of salvation that the whole thing just feels like sick humor. It would be better to attach the tract to a real five-spot. At least  real money would send the recipient’s hopes in the right direction.

Bottom line: short bill = funny gag. Short bill + Gospel message = Thanks for playing. Try again later.

It’s been just a little over a month since Mud Pie Industries launched. In this time we’ve:

1) Created and tested a three-session “open source” series on resisting temptation (which I hope to make public before the end of June)

2) Started collecting and publishing fun, in-a-pinch games for small groups

3) Made it to page 27 in Google Rankings for “Youth Ministry Games”

4) Have been learning a lot about educational games. And there’s a whole lot more to learn!

I’m looking forward to the month ahead and would love to hear from you about how you use games, puzzles and special activities with your youth group.

We all need a human touch

I’m learning that some of the of the top websites for youth ministry games and youth group activities aren’t human. They are run by media companies that sell everything from air purifiers to vacation packages. Typically these sites generate traffic by crowd-sourcing their content or outsourcing it to the lowest bidder. They’re not really concerned about quality, they simply want generate traffic.

What makes a website human? Well, humans do. If you click on the “About” page you can find a name, maybe a photo, possibly an email address or a place to post comments. Human websites are powered by people and people have reputations that can be validated. You can have a conversation with a people. Not so much with a not-human website.

I’m not saying that some of these huge websites are evil. Some of them provide a useful resource by providing a platform for people to share knowledge. But they are a little bit like Starlings, an invasive species that crowd out the natives. When you have a site called Best Bible Games on page 1 in the Google rankings, and it’s run by perfectly decent agnostics who have a swarm of linkbait sites that can elbow their way up in search results, it might mean that people are missing out on real gems like Wayne Rice who don’t make it on the front page of Bing!

Here’s what you can do to help the situation. If you link, try and link to a human. They need all the help that they can get.

This is a fun indoor game for group play with a dozen or more. It can be played as a warm-up activity or stretched out over a longer period, such as weekend work project.

One person gets to be the detective. They leave the room and go to an isolated “sound-proof booth.”

The rest of the group selects one person to be the criminal. Make sure the group doesn’t use their selection to stigmatize or single out someone who is a little bit on the fringe. Everyone in the room needs to think of an alibi, something simple (and easy for each person to remember) that explains where they were at the time the crime occurred. For example “I was putting my hair in pin curlers on the train” or “I was oiling my baseball glove in my third floor apartment.”

Once you have a criminal, the detective returns to the room and asks each person, one by one, to state their alibi. When each person states his case the detective interviews everyone a second time. Everyone needs to state their alibis in exactly the same way as before – except the criminal. The criminal gets to make one tiny change to her story.

The game continues until the detective catches the criminal in the act of lying.

Because there’s no real setup or preparation – though you could make this part of a fun mystery night using props and costumes, Detective is a great game for group participation that you can pull off in a pinch.

[Photo by Penarc]

Inviting homeless players into the game

Our youth group has a regular activity that we call “sack lunch evangelism” where we go into the downtown area and share a meal with someone we think would appreciate it. At the same time we share our stories and listen to other people’s stories. It’s a great time.

But our activity is based on the presumption that homeless people need food. Maybe homeless people need something else as well?

Reading about the Homeless World Cup, an organized tournament of street soccer that brings together homeless and disadvantaged people from around the world in a global trophy challenge, I got thinking. Homeless people also need the ability to participate, develop or restore a sense of self worth, they need teamwork. And they simply need to do something fun every now and then.

Some ideas: Checkers on the Square. Arm your kids with checker boards and send them downtown in teams. See if they can strike up some play with people on the street.

Soccer for a Change. For a youth group activity play some street soccer. Show some video clips to get some discussion going on how we can find creative ways to reach out to others in our community. TIP: Check out this crazy freestyle street soccer clip!

Board Game Street Soccer. For a rainy-day small group activity, try this Street Soccer board game. Follow up with video clips and a discussion of the Homeless World Cup.

Taking it to the Streets. Grab some kids and a soccer ball and start a pickup game in public alley or square. See who joins in. Discuss.

More freestyle Street Soccer Videos:

Football Freestyle
Freestyle Futbol (atop skyscraper, skeery)
Street Futbol from Brazil

Dorodango, a mud pie polished to perfection

There is something uniquely Japanese about taking a handful of mud and patiently refining it until it takes on the gemlike quality of a fine ceramic.

Dorodango, or shiny mud balls, have been preoccupying Japanese youth for about a decade, after nearly becoming a lost art.

These marbley marvels take more perseverance than talent to make. Bruce Gardener details the steps, which can be summed up as:

1. Mix fine dirt with water to make a doughy ball.

2. Squeeze and shake the ball to remove moisture and air pockets.

3. Add a layer of fine, dry dirt and gently shape the ball into a spherical shape.

4. Remove excess moisture by placing the dorodango in a plastic bag for a few hours.

5. With very fine, dry dust shape the outer capsule of the ball until perfectly smooth.

6. Polish with soft cloth.

Fumio Kayo has even more detailed instructions including a short video clip on his very busy website.

Photo – Bruce Gardener