Games to Take With You on the Road!

If only Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty had these to pass the time, they would have avoided a lot of trouble, and everything that ended up making On the Road worth Reading. Anyways, here are three nifty games for all of you blessed with an intellect and too much time!

1) The Robert Byrd Game

Normally I would think it is too soon to be talking about West Virginia’s beloved and recently deceased senator-for-life. Sometimes you should be nice to the dead, because they may come and haunt you. However, since I named something after him (along with half of West Virginia) I feel it is okay.

The rules? Well, basically all anyone does is talk about how old Robert Byrd is, and how long he has been a senator. The game can take several forms, but the one I use with my friends involves the “fun fact” method”

Person 1: Want to hear a Robert Byrd fun fact?

Person 2: Okay.

Person 1: Robert Byrd voted against the Gadsden Purchase!

You can replace Byrd with the oldest current senator, if you like.

2) The Before and After Game

This one is taken form Jeopardy and Wheel of fortune. You simply combine the end of one name with the beginning of another. It also works with laws, songs, battles, cities, movies, novels, really anything.

Here is one that recently stumped my friends, and by friends, I mean people I pester on Facebook:

Before and after: name me a famous boxer and a failed conqueror of Mexico.

I like the answer to this one because it has two answers and involves people on both ends who knew one another. You can either have Archduke Maximilian Schmeling or Joe Louis Napoleon Bonaparte.

The chains of names can be as long as you want:

Before and after: name me the creator of King of the Hill, a British comic strip hero, an important Supreme Court case, and the cartoonist behind Dilbert.

The answer is Mike Judge Dread Scott Adams.

The winner is the first person who can figure out a way to use this guy.

3) The Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall Game

This one is best played while under the influence, so playing it in the car can be risky. Personally I find it easiest to play while walking up and down Second Avenue (I’m not positive about Fourth Street). Unlike the other games, this one can be done with just one person. Playing it is simple enough, you try and make up verses for Bob Dylan’s song, “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall,” based on whatever you see around. You can incorporate any person, place, or thing. Random combinations and descriptions that could be symbolic are the goal of the singer, and yes, this game has to be sung.