Animal Game (Who's the king of the jungle)

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Prep Required

Circle of seats for participants with 1 seat gap somewhere in circle to denote the end of the chain.

Concept

A game where no-one is ever out but you're out if you're wrong at the same time.

A game of concentration and memory especially with a large group but has been used with as small a group as 6 people and is still effective.

Rules

Animals are assigned to SEATS rather than to PLAYERS

Each Animal is denoted by a unique Sound AND Action – both of these are required to denote a specific animal

This sound AND action is refered to as an IDENTIFIER from here on

If you hesitate, do the wrong action or make wrong noise then you are back to the bottom of the chain

Playing

Players seated in a circle (with a little room between each chair to allow for animated actions) and with a 1 chair gap in the circle to denote the end of the chain of people.

The start of the chain is the Pig - "Snort" - Twist of nose

The end of the chain is the Lion - "Roar" - Two claws up to chest

Initially all players to decide on an animal and its depiction (for ideas see list below of previous animal depictions). The important thing is that the depictions of the animals are distinct enough in both sound and action that you can tell who is being done even if done badly and also if an IDENTIFIER is mis-matched.

Once all have an IDENTIFIER that animal is stuck on a specific CHAIR and NOT on a PERSON.

To play you perform your identifier followed by that of another player.

The person you identified must then perform their Identifier followed by that of another and so on.

You cannot pass the game back to the person who sent it to you

All players must remain alert at all times not only for the game coming to them but also for a mis-matched identifier

If a person fails to perform their own or the following persons identifier pair correctly (as people commonly put wrong action with noise) then they are deemed out and return to the start of the chain as PIG

If a person breaks the chain by mis-matching symbols, returning to sender, or hesitating too long then they become the pig (physically move to pig seat) and all players below their previous position move up one. Players now take on the a the IDENTIFIER of the CHAIR in which they have move to.

Once again the Pig starts

(This game can just keep going to fill time if required but after a long while players will start to flag, you may also find that some symbols become more frequent than others so the occasional reminder of "Who are you Katy" in between rounds can be useful to remind all of the less common Identifiers in the game)

Example

Pig - Duck, Duck - Bat, Bat - Cow, Cow - Bat Last player becomes Pig for returning to sender and all players between current pig and bat move up one adopting new IDENTIFIERs.

Suggested animal Identifiers as used in previous games;

• Pig - "Snort" - Twist of nose
• Lion - "Roar" - Two claws up to chest
• Cat - "Miaw" - One limp paw above head
• Star fish - "Twinkle Twinkle" - Outstretched hands, two claw movements
• Tarzan Sheep - "Meeeh, Meeeh, Meeeh (in tarzan style)" - Bounce on imaginary vine in both hands
• Duck - "Quack" - Flap wings
• Monkey - "Oooh HOooh" - Scratch armpits
• Polar bear - "Mmmm Fish" - Rub stomach
• Dolphin - "Click, Click" - Diving motion in front of face