Whose Game Is It Anyway? (Group Game)

Okay, I mentioned that we played a wacky (but really fun) game, that six of us on the game committee made up, for the entertainment at our Relief Society Dinner.  I'm going to share the basic idea with you and then if you ever want to play it you can adapt it to fit the occasion.  It could be a lot of fun to play at a family get-together/reunion so keep that in mind as you read through the post.

The name of the game is "Who's Game is it Anyway?"  It's a conglomeration of  a bunch of games all pulled together into one:  "Who's Line is it Anyway? (the title), Jeopardy, Minute To Win It, Pictionary, Family Feud, Monopoly, and The Price Is Right.  It's also loosely based on the board game Cranium.

We set it up for four teams, but you could have as few as two.  The game board has five colors.  Four of the colors each represent a different game and the fifth color is wild.  For example:  Green-Family Fued, Blue-Jeopardy, Pink-Minute To Win It, Yellow-Pictionary, Purple-Wild (choice of which of the four games they want to play).

What you'll need:

• A host and a 'Barkers Beauty' (to assist the host and present the prizes) who are dressed up funny with big hats, old prom dresses, etc., with made up names.
• CD with the theme music of the game shows:  Jeopardy, Family Fued, Minute to Win It, and The Price is Right.  I found them all at Amazon MP3.
• 25 large colored paper squares, 5 each of 5 different colors for the game board
• Masking or duct tape for the start line
• 4 Objects to use as markers, like in Monopoly.  For example:  A shoe, an iron, a stuffed animal, a toy, etc.
• 4 Small White Boards and dry erase markers for Jeopardy
• 2 Large Chalk boards or 4 large dry erase boards
• 5 or 6 Brown paper bags with all of the necessary items inside to compete in a Minute To Win It challenge
• 4 Bells or buzzers for Family Fued
• 1 or 2 large dice made from a square cardboard box

We discovered a few flaws with the rules, so we took the liberty of making up a few as we went.  It was fun!  We wanted to involve as many people as possible, so the teams competed against each other after every roll of the dice.

How to Play:

Roll the die to see who goes first.

The first team rolls the dice to see how many spaces the teams are playing for.  Let's say that they rolled a five and landed on the color yellow, which is Pictionary.  Each team sends one person up to draw while the other team members try to guess what they are drawing first.  The first team to finish the challenge takes/steals the points.  The winning team moves ahead the 5 spaces and then rolls the dice.  They keep moving forward until someone beats them at a challenge, then that team rolls the dice.

Here is where the game can be adapted.  We focused the questions around the history of the Relief Society, using questions from Daughters In My Kingdom (a book about the history and work of the Relief Society) for Jeopardy (Download the Daughters In My Kingdom Jeopardy questions here.), a survey I found online with church related answers (This survey would be great also.) for Family Fued, and related words for Pictionary.  For a family get-together/reunion, you could use your own family history, or survey family members and use their answers for Family Fued or just search 'family fued game' and there are many free survey results to choose from.  

For the Minute to Win-it challenges, I played the 'blueprint' music, which happened to be just over one minute long.  When a player finished, or the music ended,  the challenge was over.  Some of the challenges were:  stacking 6 dice on the end of a Popsicle stick that you are holding in your mouth, stacking cups, blowing cups off of the table with a balloon, etc.  We didn't have any challenges that would embarrass anyone.

For Family Fued, the first person to buzz in said their answer first, if it was the top answer they automatically took the points.  If not, the other teams gave an answer and the top answer won.  Jeopardy was played the same way.  Each team sent up one person, the answer was read by the host, and the first person to write the question down on their white board correctly and turn it around took the points.  These two games were a little tricky to play with four teams so we had two judges who had the final word.

After the first team crosses the finish line (or when time is up), the top two teams compete against each other in The Price Is Right Showcase Showdown.  The showcases might include:  a washer and dryer set (a washcloth and dish towel), a new car (red Matchbox convertible), $800,000 (package of 8- 100 Grand candy bars), etc.  Be creative with the showcase items.   They bid on the cost of the item if they were to buy it in real life (not from the dollar store).  Follow the rules of the showcase showdown for bidding.

I'm sure that I left some things out, but these directions are already feeling pretty long!  If you have any questions, or if anything doesn't make sense, please ask.  The game takes some set-up time, but it's a fun one to play in a large group if you want to involve everyone and give them a chance to work together.

 Today's Fabulous Find...
The Game Show Music--it Really Made the Game!