Sometimes an adventure benefits from rules. No the kinds of rules that limit your adventure by telling you to not swim with the sharks or go cliff diving. I’m talking about the rules like the ones in a sport, that set parameters so the adventure becomes how you can make the most out of the smaller box you’ve made for yourself. There isn’t a culture around the world that doesn’t enjoy some kind of sport or game. But sometimes we get bored with the same thing, we want our adventure to be unique, our own creative invention.
One of my favorite games I’ve ever played is a game my friends and I made up in college; we called it “The Game” (real original, right). To give you some tips on how to invent your own game for a fun adventure, I’m going to explain how “The Game” was made:
1. Start With Something You Know and Have
At the time we were playing a lot of golf and would practice chipping the ball on a lawn. So “The Game” started with some golf balls and our sand wedges (equipment that we already owned), and chipping, which is a part of the bigger game of Golf.
2. Add New Obstacles
It’s not a whole lot of fun to just chip the ball into a random splotch of grass, so we set up a cooler (like the one you put ice and drinks in) with its top removed for a target. Turns out we weren’t too good at getting the ball in the cooler so we added a bigger target by placing sticks in a ring around the cooler. This way we would occasionally accomplish something.
3. Get Competitive
It wasn’t any fun to stand around waiting for your turn to chip at the cooler, so those of us on the sidelines at some point decided to pickups some planks of wood and smack incoming balls away from the cooler. To balance this, those with the planks had to start in designated areas that weren’t too close to the cooler or its surrounding ring. Additionally, there was someone who was on the team of the person chipping the ball, and they held the lid of the cooler to try and smack fly balls into the cooler or the ring. Reverting to Tip#1, this stage in developing “The Game” was inspired by baseball.
4. Have Clear Rules
Hitting a ball in the ring is 1 point. Having your teammate knock your ball into the cooler is 10 points. Sinking the ball in the cooler without your teammate touching it is an automatic win (this has yet to happen in the history of “The Game”). Knocking an opponent’s ball with your plank gives them a strike. Three Strikes and you switch sides. Simple as that.
It’s been a few years since I’ve played “The Game,” but writing about it has reminded me of how much fun we had. Feel free to play it yourself, but I hope you spend the time to invent your own game to fit your own style of adventure.
