Have you played The Movie Game?

 

Okay… does the title of this post ring a bell?  Have you ever played a game called, “The Movie Game?”  I assume everyone has and also assume everyone has a set of different rules to what they consider “The Movie Game.”

Earlier this week I was scanning through Yahoo Answers and stumbled upon a question about someone who claimed to have “invented” The Movie Game.  Or at least he thought he did.  He said he asked all of his friends and no one has ever heard of such a game, and so he taught them the rules and frequently plays it with them.

So I responded to how I play that exact game he has claimed he invented.  A number of other people also responded with similar responses.  I just found it strange how this person was taking credit to have invented such a common game.  But at a recent party I attended, it came to my attention that this Movie Game wasn’t as common as I thought it was.  I swear that everyone knew about this game, but as very few of us tried to explain it… no one followed immediately.  Maybe it was the state of drunkenness that temporarily blurred their memory, but they really never have heard of this game before.

Okay, for those who have no idea what I’m talking about… this is The Movie Game (and don’t worry, you don’t haave to be a movie buff to play… though the more movies you watch the better you’ll probably be at it).

The Setup:

You start out with a small group of people… Anything more than 8 slows the game down to a snore.  You’ll need to play in an order.  I suggest forming a circle so no one’s turn is skipped and it’s easy to keep track of who’s next.  And to be fair, try to clump those movie-geeks together and the casual movie-watchers together.  You’ll see why.

Playing the Game:

Someone starts out by naming a movie or saying an actor’s name.  Then the next person must respond by either naming an actor who was in the movie, or naming a movie that actor has starred in.

Example:  Tom Hanks – Charlie Wilson’s War – Julia Roberts – Ocean’s 11 – George Clooney – Burn After Reading – Brad Pitt – Se7en – Morgan Freeman – The Shawshank Redemption – Tim Robbins – Mystic River – Sean Penn – etc.

As you can see, this game can go on for quite a while without stopping.  But then you’re always going to have those people who throw out such an obscure answer to try and screw over the next person.  Here is when the “challenge” takes its effect. 

Let’s say for the person who had to name a movie that Tim Robbins was in, he says “Code 46.”  And then everyone playing lets out a, “Huhhhhh?”  Since there’s really no way of checking whether or not he’s simply making it up (unless you’re near a computer, but this just makes the casual game too competitive… you usually give the person the benefit of the doubt) you can “challenge” him.  This means the person who said “Code 46″ now must take the next player’s turn and name someone in that movie.  If he’s unable to, he loses.  If he is able to, the person who challenged loses.  Get it?

Some more additional rules: 

 - You cannot repeat an actor or a movie.
 - To keep the game moving, there should be some sort of a time limit, though to keep the game friendly it shouldn’t be too strict.
 - If playing with a group of people with high movie IQ’s, you can add directors along with actors of people you can name.

Rules differ from how to declare a winner.  You can play the game like in a ‘survivor’ fashion where the loser sits out and the last one standing wins.  But sometimes these games go too quickly or the losers sit out for a long period of time, and that’s no fun.  The way I usually play the game with friends is by making it a drinking game.  If you fail to give a correct response and move the game forward, you must take a drink.  Whether we’re drinking beer or taking shots, that depends on… 1. how drunk we want to get and 2. how often someone gets stumped.

I hope you were able to follow the instructions for The Movie Game.  Of course everyone who plays adds their one rules to suit their own needs.  And yes, this does sound like the 6 Degrees of Separation Movie Game where you pick two people and try to connect them through movies.  That’s a fun and challenging game, but if you want something fast and gets everyone involved, The Movie Game is a blast.