The world is sinking, group yourself into one
I miss playing children's games, because the games I find myself playing nowadays are the ones that hurt, maim, and make you go insane.
I miss, particularly, the Boat Is Sinking game at parties. Yeah, that competitive game that is all about camaraderie and alienation, all at the same time. Mostly competitiveness, for an eager beaver like me.
I thought it was a great survival game to teach kids, forming groups so you don't kill yourself when your boat starts to slip beneath the water. Then I saw Titanic and realized, rather bitterly, that it's pretty much every man for himself (and women get to go off in the lifeboats first).
Anyway, I always liked hearing the host go "group yourself into...one," which would prompt me to go jumping up and down, not because it sounded silly, but because no one ever loses that round (unless you were bobo and paired up with someone in that very instant,. So I kiddie-judge you). You didn't have to group yourself with the other kids and risk getting taken out, or get grouped with your frenemy. Duh, it's you. You're the "one" the game calls for.
The only children's game, I suppose, that upholds isolation in tense, disaster-like situations and in some rounds, even guarantees victory. When being alone doesn't always mean having to lose.
I miss, particularly, the Boat Is Sinking game at parties. Yeah, that competitive game that is all about camaraderie and alienation, all at the same time. Mostly competitiveness, for an eager beaver like me.
I thought it was a great survival game to teach kids, forming groups so you don't kill yourself when your boat starts to slip beneath the water. Then I saw Titanic and realized, rather bitterly, that it's pretty much every man for himself (and women get to go off in the lifeboats first).
Anyway, I always liked hearing the host go "group yourself into...one," which would prompt me to go jumping up and down, not because it sounded silly, but because no one ever loses that round (unless you were bobo and paired up with someone in that very instant,. So I kiddie-judge you). You didn't have to group yourself with the other kids and risk getting taken out, or get grouped with your frenemy. Duh, it's you. You're the "one" the game calls for.
The only children's game, I suppose, that upholds isolation in tense, disaster-like situations and in some rounds, even guarantees victory. When being alone doesn't always mean having to lose.