Wanted: Party Games

I've been invited to a party! Big deal, you might think, like wow, a party, there's original! And it is, cos little me has friends who don't have parties, and as I don't hold parties either (!) it's a rare occurrence. Don't worry though, I'm bearing up...

Anyway, I'm not here to divulge how stunningly interesting my social life is (haha) but to ask if any of you know of good party games. The friend who's organising it all asked me, probably the only one of her friends who doesn't go to parties and only knows suitable games for 8-yr olds.(My kids and their mates loved their kiddy birthday parties. The favourite game was bashing each other with old tights filled with a small quantity of flour - messy, brutal, active - perfect! Maybe not so appealing to adults however.)

Before you suggest 'Last one to drink 15 vodkas is a sissy', I don't think ribald drinking games are what she's after - we all have to drive home afterwards. And stripping games à la happy student days are not on her list either.

So I'm at a loss. I've looked in the internet and sent a couple of links, but if you have any zappy ideas, do let me know.

Playing with History

It struck me the other day, from something my eldest said, that video games could be a useful source of learning about history. I can't remember which game he was referring to, but he said that he'd learned a lot about that period of history by playing it.

Today, in Le Figaro, I read that Ubisoft has made three short movies relating to their game Assassin's Creed. It's a story set in the Italian Renaissance period and the realism of the backgrounds is stunning as you can see from the image above. I have no idea whether other historical information is either included, accurate or ignored, but it seems to me that video games could incorporate a lot of historical accuracy and actually serve a purpose other than pure entertainment.

There are many wars and many heroes throughout history which could be used in a video game based on reality. Just think of historical fiction and how stories are woven into an accurate historical context. Sometimes the only difference between historical fiction and a textbook for accuracy is in the style the book was written, and it's much more fun learning from a gripping novel than wading through a dry list of facts. Indeed, there was an article on that very subject in The Times recently.

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel has just won the Man Booker Prize. It's a story set in 1520's England, with Henry VIII on the throne and is, apparently, a brilliant account of the period. If it can be done in fiction, it can be done in gaming too.

As Antonio Senior, the author of the Times article says, "All of world history can be viewed through the prism of a handful of extraordinary fictional characters."

Games, indeed ones based on historical fiction, could make reference to:

• the country
• the ruler of the moment
• the politics
  
• the Treaties
• the threats
• the social problems (risk of riots, famine, over-taxation, disease)
• agreements with neighbouring states
• other leaders/generals/decision-makers

If the story is good, it would do no harm to pick up useful, accurate historical information along the way. History teaching focuses very much on empathy these days, well, why not something more exciting - a story, social context, political context, action, war and 're-writing' history. It may even encourage kids to pick up a book and read more about what actually happened and why.

For kids who don't like reading, but do like playing video games, it would be an easy way for them to ingest otherwise unpalatable facts and provide an alternative to merely empathising with peasants.

There is huge interest in historical fiction, let's generate an equally huge interest in historical gaming. Over to you, Ubisoft.

Pass le Tomate

My youngest's teacher wanted to see me this evening. From the look on my son's face I guessed something was up. It seems that a mother had complained that some children were playing a game called 'la Tomate' in the playground last Tuesday, and that my son was implicated.

I had no idea what she was talking about so she told me about the game, sometimes called le jeu du foulard, rêve indien or rêve bleu. It amounts to a game of asphyxiation where the kids hold their breath or strangle themselves until they go red (hence tomato). My son is 6!

She told me as much as she knew, said that she had talked to my son and that she hoped he now understood the dangers and would do it no more. I hope so, because 15 children have died from this game since Jan 2006. It's a very widespread game - a million and a half kids have tried it - which is pretty worrying.

I talked to my son once we got home too. He's not exactly Mr Communicative, but I just about managed to discern what had gone on although he maintains he can't remember who he played it with! From Tuesday! I sometimes wonder about his memory...

His teacher did say that apart from this incident, he is a joy to have in the class, is a very intelligent lad and has a fantastic general culture which surprises me greatly as he never seems to be paying attention to anything much. Just goes to show really! She also said that he goes right to the edge of acceptable behaviour, which I know about. My mother calls him The Barbarian after, at the age of 2, he head-butted her poorly knee opening up a recently healed wound, and my ex-h had to do emergency surgery on the bed and put in a drain. She's never forgotten that...

I'm kinda dreading his adolescence...