1.CONVINCE ME!
(2-6 Players, Rules Expand with More than 2 Players):
Convince Me! is a debate game which allows one player 5 minutes to convince the other of his or her position towards an issue of frequent debate: if it’s talked about on social media, on television news shows, or at family dinners and cocktail parties, it’s a potential topic for an earnest and heated game of Convince Me! Methods for selecting the specific topics for debate are described in further detail below. However, if you understand half of a nighttime talk-show host’s opening monologue, you are well-equipped. Since Player 1 chooses the initial stance being taken on the first round of Convince Me!, he will choose to go right, left, in the middle, or altogether different in his debate.
After each player completes his or her 5 minute argument (aka: does a Convince Me!), the other player will articulate a 15-30 second summary of their “opponent’s” view: this is merely a brief restatement of the original argument, allowing player 2 to communicate he/she understands the original viewpoint and clear up any misunderstandings. Player 1 approves or corrects the argument if necessary – this is NOT a time to debate the topic further, however. Its sole purpose is clarification and it shouldn’t take longer than 30 seconds. The next step is for Player 2 to articulate a differing view from Player 1’s (his or her opportunity to perform an opposing Convince Me!). It should follow all of the same steps to express, restate, and clarify as the original Convince Me! – and should do it in the same time allowances. At the end, if this is more of a conversation than a game, you can debrief your Convince Me! and how you really think…or just allow the conversation to proceed organically. If this is being played as a game, particularly if there are more than 2 players (but no more than 8), it has to be played as a partial spectator sport: when the two active players are doing a Convince Me!, the remaining players should be actively watching and/or participating in some other way (cheering, encouraging, picking sides, whatever). Then after the 1st
Convince Me!, the table goes to the next player pair. They play their own turn of Convince Me! Choices must be made as to whether extemporaneous pairings are made immediately before play or at the very beginning; whether topics of debate are chosen immediately before play, selected for them by the group or another playing pair, or even chosen arbitrarily from scraps containing topics previously-brainstormed by the group or printed from a standardized list
*There is a difference between the conversational version of Convince Me! and the wildly popular game version. If you are simply playing conversational Convince Me! you can choose to debate the topic of your choice. Some experts even recommend using the Convince Me! framework as a means for resolving marital and relational disputes.
2.FIVE MINUTES
You will receive 5 open-ended questions selected by the other player and will have 30-60 seconds to answer each to the best of your ability within that time frame. Examples include;
1. What’s your favorite musical composer, group or band and why?
2. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the last 5 years and why?
3. Do you like your older daughter’s new husband? Why or why not?
4. What is your son’s most native gifting and do you encourage its expression?
5. Think about a moment in time when you remember saying to yourself: “I am so happy. What were you doing and what was going on around you?
Next, player 2 gets to ask the same 5 questions or a different set of questions. Methods of selecting questions are the same as they are in Convince Me! (selected extemporaneously by the asking player, selected randomly from scraps of previously chosen questions, provided by spectator players, or chosen from a standard list).
3.SELL YOURSELF
You have 30 seconds using real-life examples to state why you’d be the perfect person to fill a position as a ___________ (insert other player’s choice). An example is “Why you’d make an excellent PLUMBER or BAKER or AUTO MECHANIC using real-life experiences. The more challenging and incongruent the better, though you can start easily and work your way up to the harder ones. After player 1 finishes, it switches over to next player, but in any round, he or she is allowed to say “You’re Fired” if you’re not REALLY trying!!
4.EXPLAIN IT TO ME LIKE I’M A GUY (or GIRL):
Here you explain something to a member of the opposite sex the exact way you’d explain it to friend of your same gender. The most interesting explanations come from questions of an interpersonal nature. For example:
1. “Explain your last breakup to me like I was a guy (or a girl, depending).”
2. “Explain the reasons for your divorce.”
3. “How do you feel about your daughter’s boyfriend?”
4. “Describe your dating experience so far.”
Provide the explanation (between 60-120 seconds, unless you opt to relax the time constraints – it’s more exhilarating with the limits; more relaxed without). Switch to the other player and have him/her answer the same question the same way – as if to a good friend of the same sex.
5.EXPLAIN IT TO ME FROM A MAN’S/WOMAN’S PERSPECTIVE:
This isn’t explaining the topic TO a member of the same sex; rather it’s explaining it to your date (or friend of the opposite sex) from the perspective of someone of your gender. It’s not a debate, it’s a creative game and there are no right or wrong explanations. You can play it stereotypically (all Andrew Dice Clay-like or Stepford Wife-like) or didactically. It’s one player’s chance to get the opposite sex’s view on topics of interest. Or simply to create a spontaneous, amusing, or even over-the-top farcical explanation from the point of view of a character – like a drama exercise. The choice is yours. Some topics could include (female-generated for men to expound upon):
◦ Why men are interested in the whole “Sugar Baby Concept”
◦ Do men really “get scared” sometimes and need to pull away, or is that just a line? And why?
◦ Why do so many men watch pornography?
◦ What do most men watch when they watch it and then why?
◦ What does it feel like to have lots of testosterone combined with youth (ie, what does it feel like to be a teenage boy?)
(Maximum 3 minutes for each issue).
6.FIVE FAST FREE-FALL:
(15 seconds each)
1. 5 favorite bands
2. 5 favorite songs
3. 5 favorite movies
4. 5 nouns that begin with the letter J
5. 5 verbs that begin with the letter I
6. 5 adjectives that could describe a bike
7. 5 best cities for museums, musical performances, and other forms of artistic expression
8. 5 best cities for a romantic vacation
9. 5 happiest moments (45 seconds for this one)
10. 5 kitchen items and their Spanish equivalent (30 seconds)
11. Last time you felt scared (only 1 answer needed; no time limit)
Extra credit round:
—Last 5 times you were disappointed (45 seconds)
—5 Best Vacations Ever
7.IMAGINE
You start by stating your story situation. This is a good default:
“Imagine you were the King of Texas, like a member of a monarchy. You have jewels and mansions and personal wealth and you can never be removed from the job. You wake at leisure from a beautiful bed and the first thing you do is………….. ‘because you want to’ ……… “ (you have to provide a reason for what you do before handing it to the other player). Then player 2 says:
“Then you ……….. because you want to ………”. It goes back and forth like this until the story runs its course or you can tweak the method of play by setting an arbitrary time limit in which the challenge is to think and answer quickly. Both types of play constitute a fantastical game where together you build an entertaining story. You can play it straight and easy, but it’s actually more fun if you each ‘reach high’ and the player who follows you has to provide answers that actually make (even unrealistic or creative) sense. The goal is to create a story without bounds, being clever but silly in the process. The benefit of this game is that it usually results in laughter – which we all know is good for the soul and contributes to overall “salud.”
I think most of these games are best with 2 players sitting face-to-face, but they can all easily be modified to include up to 6 players.
WHO WRITES THIS KIND OF STUFF?? AN ENFP, I GUESS.
May, 2021
