Now that 2/3 of our kids are of legal drinking age, we thought it was time to up our True American game. Plus, it just needed a refresh. So, I decided to do a little reinventing. It started with a shot glass for every president (I etched their initials into them), making some Impeachment cards, and pulling out a couple of timers.
If you missed how our old game works, you can go back to another True American blog and check it out. But heres how this one works: You still get a random president on your headband you have to guess, but instead of asking the questions, we all fire facts at you (the trick is you can't take too long to fire facts, so if you don't know too much about a president, you're making it easier for your opponent by shouting something obvious at them), once you figure out the president on your head, you still buzz in with 'JFK, FDR, <instert whoever it is here>, but then we flip the timer and you have to traverse the hot lava (the floor is after all, still hot lava) and find the station for your president, and take the shot before the time runs out. If you do all that, you bring back in the empty shot glass and gain yourself a point. As a reward, you also get a snack from that station. However, if you don't make it in time, you still take the shot, you just don't get the point. The person with the most points when all the presidential names have been exhausted is the winner. Now, if by chance you give a wrong hint (deemed so by me), or you take too long to give a hint, you get "Impeached", must wear the impeachment card around your neck, and your next turn is skipped, making it harder for you to get the most shots.
Various presidents got grouped together at different stations throughout the house, with a sign, their pez dispenser, snacks, and shots. We went over the stations, but the most your know about a president, the easier it is to find them.
Herbert Hoover and FDR were at the Boom or Bust station, you know, for the Great Depression. You got Herbert Hoover, and your shot was water, and your snack was a piece of toast. End up with FDR and you've got yourself some vodka and a full size reese's.
At the killers station you find some presidents responsible for the most death: Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, Eisenhower, and Truman. Here you'll find a variety of shots. Heres the thing, Hayden is still underage, so not all shots contain alcohol. Some do, some don't (and the only true 'shot' of pure alcohol was FDR- everything else was mixed). Anyway, the more you get correct the more shots you'll be taken which adds to your chances of getting alcoholic ones.
Over at the Boston Tea Party, you'd find the OGs and some Twisted Tea along with some Publix cookies.
Watergate shots were all water, because obviously.
Of course most of the guys from my lifetime can be found at the 'Tower of Trickle Down Economics"
And then we had all the presidents who had been assassinated OR guys who became president because of an assassination over at Assassination Station, where you also played snack roulette. You spun the nerf gun for either candy or toast.
The Whigs were all (nonalcoholic) jello shots at the station called "Gettin Whiggy Wit It'.
You'll find Polk right where he likes to be: all alone. And, his station is ManiFEAST Destiny where you get a whole bounty of candy if you're lucky enough to guess Polk in time.
The 'I'll help you be Popular' station is a subtle nod to Wicked, and those presidents who did not win the popular vote. Of course, their snack is popcorn.
You'll find some of Asa's hooch (a name that originated during Prohibition) over at the Hooch Daddies Station with the guys who were president during prohibition: Wilson, Harding and Coolidge.
And of course, the rest of them, you'll find over in No Mans Land, which is what Calib and Asa call the guys in the 20s that they have no idea who they are. I put my Ben Franklin finger puppet over there because a lot of people would pick Benjamin Franklin as being president over someone like Franklin Pierce.
The stage was set. (The new couch paired with the blanket fort in the front room also changed things around a bit, but we made it work!)
Everyone did really like this way of playing it, and you avoided the end when Calib is the last one trying to figure out his last two presidents- but Calib complained there wasn't enough alcohol in the shots. I argued he was so bad at it, that he wasn't taking many shots (and I did remind him we still had Hayden to consider).
I, however, ended up as the only person not impeached and thus identified ten presidents- taking mostly alcoholic shots, though I did get lucky with some Watergate guys, and Hebert Hoover with his water and toast. Olivia was the one with the FDR shot, which she said was really.... something. But to be fair, she had also been drinking the night before with friends even though she knew we were playing this, so I say that's on her, not me.
In the end, Asa took 9 shots with the second most, tied with Olivia I believe, and then Hayden came in with a few less, and then, of course, Calib.
A fun reinvention of True American I think we'll stick with. Sadly, I feel like nobody else I know knows enough about presidents to play with us. The next night we had people over, and demonstrated how to play just with the headband thing, and everyone was out.
In other news, we celebrated Ellie's "birthday", which might not be exactly her birthday, but it is the day she was first rescued and taken from her abusive environment to the shelter. And, I'll take any excuse to spoil her with pupcakes. I'm telling you, Ellie is the best rescue dog there ever will be. I love her squishy face, and sweet soul just so, so much.
As always we topped the pupcakes with some whipped cream and appropriate dog "sprinkles". Ellie wasted no time chowing down on hers, she didn't even want to stop for the picture.
It's July, so it's much too hot to have a dog party in the backyard with the neighborhood pups, but we did drop off them for Oakley, Jasmine and Pilot.
In other news, Hayden passed yet another class (Hayden's flying through them, and is already at 'sophmore' status at just 17 years old!). In Waterstraut fashion, we all got taco bell to celebrate, and had it in the blanket fort.
Besides that, we spent some time playing chess, reading, swimming (the neighbors did finally come home- to a well taken care of pool, I might add--- though I did kill a couple of plants. Lukcy for me, Alicia didn't hold it against me).
And, I leave you with some Waterstraut pet pictures. Enjoy the sequence of poor Ellie being pushed and nudged around by Etta insisting on sitting behind her.
I love them all so much. I have been calling them 'kids' lately, so now I'm one of those people. It's what happens when your human children grow up, I suppose.
Next up: Olivia is Arizona bound!
No comments:
Post a Comment