Here they are.
Game 1.
Heston Blumenthal's Christmas Pudding.
Player 1 starts by saying:
This is the recipe for Heston Blumenthal's Christmas Pudding.
Ingedients:
Take ONE ........
The following word must contain at least two instances of the same letter. Not necessarily adjacent. Thus both cabbage and asparagus (Or asparagus. Two double letters in this word.) are accepatable.
If for example the first word was cabbage the next player then says:
This is the recipe for Heston Blumenthal's Christmas Pudding. Take ONE cabbage and TWO apples.
Player three then says:
This is the recipe for Heston Blumenthal's Christmas Pudding. Take ONE cabbage and TWO apples, THREE avacados.
Player four says:
This is the recipe for Heston Blumenthal's Christmas Pudding. Take ONE cabbage and TWO apples, Three avacados and a pinch of turmeric.
Note. Only the proper noun of the ingredient counts. So 'pinch of', 'dash of' or 'spoonfull of', 'an ounce of', 'three litres of' etc. do not count.
So in the example above it is only the word turmeric that counts.
Should a player hesitate, or get the list wrong, another player may challenge by crying out HESTON! and then repeating the correct list plus an added ingredient.
One point is then awarded to the challenger and the game continues passing to the player on the left of the challenger.
If a player chooses an ingredient without at least two matching letters they can be challenged by crying out the word BLUMENTHAL!
If the challenge is correct the the player at fault is out. The challenger takes one point and then repeats the list with a correct ingredient and the came continues.
For example should Player Four say:
This is the recipe for Heston Blumenthal's Christmas Pudding. Take ONE cabbage and TWO apples, Three avacados and a pinch of nutmeg.
The first player to cry out BLUMENTHAL! and point out that nutmeg has no two matching letters would win the point and continue the game.
The game continues until only one player is left. The last player gets five points. The player with the most points wins. This might not be the last player left.
Players may also challenge the ingredients on the grounds that they are inedible or poisonous by crying out HESTON! if the objection is valid they gain a point and continue by repeating the list and adding an acceptable ingredient.
For example:
For example should Player Four say:
This is the recipe for Heston Blumenthal's Christmas Pudding. Take ONE cabbage and TWO apples, Three avacados and a spanner.
Other players could challenge on the grounds that spanners are inedible.
That's it simple seasonal fun for two or more players.
Note. If a challenger shouts HESTON! when they should have shouted BLUMENTHAL! and vice versa they loose a point, the challenge is void and the game continues.
Game 2.
If I had a Mole Wrench
Game two is a singing game and is delightfully easy to play.
Though I have to admit I have had some resistance to it here in Liverpool.
Most of you know the popular song that begins:
If I had a hammer
I'd hammer in the morning
I'd hammer in the evening
All over this land.
Player One begins by singing this verse.
Player Two repeats the verse subsituting some other tool for hammer.
For example:
If I had a mallet
I'd mallet in the morning
I'd mallet in the evening
All over this land.
Player Three continues:
If I had a chizzle
I'd chizzle in the morning
I'd chizzle in the evening
All over this land.
And so on.
If a player hesitates, giggles or uses an inappropriate word that is not a tool of some kind they are out.
For example:
If I had a monkey would not be allowed.
as would
If I had a grapefruit.
But If I had a monkey wrench would be fine.
If I had a tractor might require a democratic vote to decide if this counts as a tool.
Game continues with much hilarity until only one player is left.
Please send in your own examples of original games we can play when we have run out of ideas of our own.