Читать книгу Montegue Blister’s Strange Games: and other odd things to do with your time - Alan Down - Страница 19

Up Jenkins is an odd parlour game that deserves to be more widely known. What could be better than a game involving psychology, deception and violence, and all played around the dining-room table?

For two teams of three or more players each, one team sits down on one side of the table and is given a coin; the opposing team sits facing them on the other side. Team one now place their hands underneath the table and pass the coin between themselves until the leader of the opposing team shouts out, ‘Up Jenkins’. Each player must simultaneously bring both their hands up with fists closed, and on the command of ‘Down Jenkins’ they must slam their hands, palms down, onto the table.

It is now the job of team two to start asking for hands to be turned over, with the aim of leaving the hand hiding the coin until last. If they are successful it is their turn with the coin next, if they fail they have to be the guessing team again. For variation, the guessing team can add the commands ‘Crawl’, where hiding players must crawl their hands forwards on the top of the table whilst trying to keep the coin hidden; and ‘Fist’, where they must form their hands into a fist. However, each of these can be requested only once in the game.

To play an extreme version, let the team member hiding the coin have a free slap of the opposing leader’s hands if they guess incorrectly.