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Pimp my Baby Shower!

JoliJoli
edited October 2008 in Story Games
Hi! So my Sister-in-law is throwing my wife and I a co-ed baby shower at our home tomorrow. Buuut. . .turns out "throwing" for her means "bring cupcakes and sangria, let us handle the rest of the catering, invites, activities, and whatever."

So, there are supposed to be games. Of some kind. And now I have been asked to come up with some. I've searched for icebreaker/party games, and there are a couple of innocuous "get to know you" games that might be, like, OK. But then there's a lot of crap. And since, y'know, games are my "thing," I don't wanna turn out some lame nonsense like "pin t he baby on the pregnant belly" (real "Baby Shower Game!" swear to God!).

So Storygamers, I need your help! What quick and easy game ideas are floating around in your brains, suitable for a party that aren't lame Jr High shit? Assume that they need to be low-prep, low-equipment, and low-explanation. Assume that they need to play in 10-20 minutes. Assume that they will be played by like, a dozen people, maybe more. Assume that they will be played by a mixed crowd of roleplaying friends, hippie friends, punk-art friends, beer-and-pretzel friends, stodgy relatives, Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians and Anarchists. Assume that a "baby" theme should maybe be graftable onto it.

Oh, and assume that I know of Sea Dracula, love Sea Dracula, and probably will not be using Sea Dracula.

Ideas?

Peace,
-Joel

Comments

  • JesseJesse
    Play "It Was A Mutual Decision" and revel in the irony of playing a game about a break up at a celebration of the ultimate expression of union?

    Jesse
  • Caesar_XCaesar_X
    Werewolf
  • JoliJoli
    edited October 2008
    Huh. And here I was thinking that was a White Wolf thread. :)

    A round of Mafia/Werewolf could be awesome. Could it support a baby theme, I wonder. . .? I suppose you could replace "Werewolves" with "Witches carrying the Devil's Spawn," but that might, uh, outrage certain demographics. ;) Best to play it straight, probably.

    Jesse: I only wish I knew about IWAMD 3 years ago, when I was celebrating a quite different rite of familial passage.

    Peace,
    -Joel

    EDIT--people who've played more Mafia or whatever than me: 'bout how long would a game with a dozenish people tend to last?
  • jackson_tegujackson_tegu
    ...totally read IWAMD as "In Wicked Age Medical Doctor" and freaked out.

    good luck!
  • Eero_TuovinenEero_Tuovinen
    edited October 2008
    Werewolf with a dozen people: 30-45 minutes, +15 if playing for the first time.
  • David ArtmanDavid Artman
    As long as we're going with "thread weaving," I'll recommend the ultimate mixed-group game: Zendo. You needn't use pyramids--Legos are fine, too; and even playing cards or matchboxes have enough characteristics (and can be oriented) to make koans. Now, I WILL advise that you drop the player-building and Master/Mondo rules. Instead, just let folks guess and then you make a disproving koan, if they are wrong. The strategic element of Mondo is sort of hard to "get" for non-gamers, but anyone can look for patterns and guess. Zendo also has a neat feature in that folks can come and go, during play, with no real problems--all the koans are there, for a new-comer to study (though it can irk folks when a new-comer walks up and guesses it in one go--distance is often an advantage), and no individual (other than the current Master) is critical to continuing play.

    As for a baby-themed Mafia variant... how about "changlings"? Two fairies kids, in a nursery, with the "villagers" being normal kids, and the "seer" being--I dunno--a nurse or doctor? (FYI, two changlings assumes between 8 and 15 players--add one more, for more total players.)

    I want to recommend Long Live the King, but it takes quite a while to play, and there's only seven "core" roles, with everyone else playing extras (often multiple Status roles, as they are needed). But if you have seven or so "hard core" players, they could enjoy it while others drift in and out of play, as extras. Make your wife the Queen, of course! :)

    Other than those, I'm sort of drawing a blank. There's not many games that support upwards of a dozen players (some non-gamers) while being fast. Texas Hold'Em tourney with small starting chip counts, maybe?
  • Jason_MorningstarJason_Morningstar
    Apples to Apples, after the Baby-themed Werewolf.
  • Eero_TuovinenEero_Tuovinen
    That president rpg could actually be a good choice. The one where you play the USA president's cabinet and deal with all sorts of crises. Takes lots of players, is quick to play and requires no rules-knowledge. Who designed it... it was that Reign creator guy, whatshisname... Greg Stolze, I think he had something to do with this. Executive Decision? Something like that, you know what I'm writing about. The game's free, I think.
  • Chris_GoodwinChris_Goodwin
    Apples to Apples is a great party game, and would easily work with a dozen people. Zendo too. Grab a couple of different Fluxx decks and you've got a good assortment. They're also all good "gateway drugs" into the hobby game scene.
  • JoliJoli
    Oh God, Apples to Apples is so rad, I wish I had a set. I'll look into some of the other stuff here. Thing is, the game(s) should be sort of peripheral, should accentuate the event, not be the event. So, say, AtoA could work. Texas Hold 'Em, not so much. ;)
    Posted By: Eero TuovinenThe one where you play the USA president's cabinet and deal with all sorts of crises.
    Posted By: MelinglorDemocrats, Republicans, Libertarians and Anarchists.
    Hmmmmmm. That could be really awful, or really awesome.

    Probably both.

    Peace,
    -Joel
  • JoliJoli
    Well, we played a cute little icebreaker game and though I had Werewolf "on hand" in myhead to play later, we didn't get to it. Which was fine, the party worked out pretty well. But now I'm just ravenous (ha ha!) to play Werewolf, and SOON. perhaps on Halloween, where it would make a bit more sense anyway.

    Thanks everyone for turning me on to a handful of great games!

    peace,
    -Joel
  • David ArtmanDavid Artman
    Grats, man! Werewolf is a tough one ot roll out with a wandering party (you know--folks are all over the house and hitting the chip bowl and such). But get yourself a group together who tends to "party by sitting" and, in general, just chatting and being close... it's trivial to start. Halloween might help (but in my parts, everyone is out getting stupid).
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