Box of Lies

If you haven't heard of Box of Lies, then HAVE YOU BEEN LIVING UNDER A ROCK?!  Admittedly, I hadn't heard of it until our FLYP training in November, and as far as late-night television goes, yes - I do live under a rock.  I go to bed at 10:30.  The world could end and be resurrected again, and unless it pops up in my FB feed the next morning, I would probably have no idea.  That said, I'm usually pretty good at keeping up with Fallon.  

Anywho- I was getting off topic.  Do yourself a favor and take a few minutes to watch a few of the videos.  Melissa McCarthy and Jennifer Lawrence are good ones, as is Tina Fey - who helped test out the game.  If you're too lazy to go watch those videos (really?), then here's the basics:

1. The contestants sit across from each other at a table, with a barrier blocking them from seeing anything but each other's faces.

2.  They select one of the boxes lined up next to them.

3. They open the box, and then describe the contents of it.  They can choose to tell the truth or lie.

4.  The other contestant has to decide it they are lying or telling the truth.  If the are right, they get the point.  If they are wrong, the other contestant gets it.  They play until someone gets two points.

Sounds easy, right?  Well the thing I love about the show is they put some of the most bizarre things in the boxes!  Rubik's cubes in jello, an egg roll in a bird's nest, a Jane Fonda workout video in a loaf of ciabatta bread.  Stuff like that.  Really easy to trip people up if you tell the truth.  As you'll see in the videos though, sometimes people try to get even crazier with their lies and that's what messes it all up in the end.

SO - I decided to play this with my teens.  I went through my house grabbing all sorts of weird stuff and then raided the library too.  They loved it!  We had things like a lizard puppet wearing mardi gras beads, or two wooden troll dolls and a box of cake mix, a bag full of jellybeans with lip gloss, etc.  The problem was, they wanted to make the boxes, but couldn't do it if they wanted to play again.  I had all my stuff in one box, and then they'd see my stash and know if someone was telling the truth or not if they happened to see it while they were filling a box for someone else.

The next Fallon game I want to try?  Egg Russian Roulette. 

Ocean Trivia Double Dare

This past summer's theme was water, and every year we like to do a trivia game with our tweens. This year was no exception, but to up the ante we decided to bring back an old school game show - Double Dare. Though we didn't have an OCD Marc Summers to host, we weren't deterred and came up with a diabolical game to delight and thrill ourselves (who cares if the kids had fun).

The tweens were split up into two teams. We randomly chose which team went first and began our game. Team A got the first chance to answer the question. If they answered it right, they got full points, if they answered it wrong, they got nothing and Team B had a chance to steal. However, if Team A wasn't sure, they could always dare Team B to answer the question. Team B would then have the chance to answer (for less points) or double dare Team A. Team A could then try to answer (for even less points now) or take the physical challenge.

There were two physical challenges they could choose from - an activity or eating a gross food. If they chose gross food, they got more points. Gross foods included nori (sushi seaweed), wakame (seaweed salad), canned clams, clam juice, a goldfish (the cracker - though we didn't tell them that unless they picked it), shots of cold clam chowder, anchovies - I think you get the idea. They had to eat the whole thing (and not puke) to get full points. Activity challenges included searching blindfolded through a bowl of Jello for the shark fruit snacks, playing a round of Charades, hopping around the room on one leg singing the Spongebob Squarepants theme song, etc.

Teams A & B would take turns having first crack at questions until the game was over.  The tweens had a great time - and really?  I don't think anyone was *too* grossed out by the food.  In fact - some of them were asking for more when we were done.  Guess I'll have to get my Schadenfreude somewhere else.

Teen Tech Month: Part 3

Just so you're not wondering what happened - we played video games. I don't have pics, and since I already covered gaming in another post, I won't really talk about it much here.

I did discover an awesome game that one of my teens brought - Mortal Kombat vs. DC Comics. Sweet! They had a great time watching the Joker's bizarre moves and antics. I suppose there could be some debate, as this game was probably rated M for Mature, but I'm fairly certain they're all above 16 at least I wasn't too worried. I did stop them from playing one of the other games they had brought that was a lot worse.

Gaming Days

I would be remiss if I didn't at least mention gaming days, since they have become a staple of my teen programs. My supervisor was hesitant to do them because they have nothing to do with a library, but has since changed her mind.

This summer we did our first gaming day, and it was a HUGE success. We had 50 or so people show up for our program. Our gaming days since then haven't had nearly the response, but since I haven't done as much advertisement (as they've been a part of our weekly teen programs), it wasn't really expected. We have not as of yet done anything with board or card games - just video, but here are some tips and tricks I've learned.

1. Have a snack. Sure video games are fun enough on their own - when you're the person playing. When you're one of the ones stuck watching (even if only for a short time), it's good to have something to snack on. My library has them for free. Generally we do chips and sodas, but this last time we had several boxes of cereal and some milk and it was a great hit. My friend Mary works for a library, and when they do gaming events, they charge for snacks. However, the money from this goes into a scholarship fund that they have for their Teen Friends, so it evens out.

2. Ideally, your gaming event will be several hours long, but it really depends on group size. The way my schedule is right now, I can only do mine for an hour (not including setting up/taking down equipment). The first one we did was 2 or 2 1/2 hrs long, which was great - of course that was the one with 50 people. The ones I've done lately have averaged about 10, so an hour is sufficient.

3. Here is a list of games that ALWAYS appear to be a hit:
A. Rock Band or Guitar Hero. Rock Band or Guitar Hero World Tour are ideal because up to four people can play at one time. If you have just Guitar Hero, try to get 2 guitars, because you can at least challenge against the other person and add some competition to the mix.

B. Dance Dance Revolution. This is one that is two player, and involves a lot of moving so make sure you have the room. It's dancing on pads and following the arrows.

C. Super Smash Brothers. Every time I watch this game, I have no idea what's going on. It's just sensory overload. Basically, it's a just fighting game. You can have up to four people fighting at once, or you can have the computer make up for the other players if less people are playing.

D. Nintendo Wii. Ok - not a game, but Wii Sports, Wii Play, and Wii Music are all good games that you can get for the Wii. Depending on the game, up to 4 people can play. This is an ideal game if you have tweens. This is another game that requires a lot of moving around, so make sure you have plenty of room so someone doesn't get hit.

E. Old school Nintendo. I was really excited when one of my teens brought this the last time, but we weren't able to play it. The projector I was working didn't have the old school cable hookup, and he only brought one controller anyway. However, if it had worked out, I'm sure they would've loved playing it.

4. It's always a good idea to have multiple tvs with games set up. I can't imagine a more boring time than if there was only one TV set up with one game. Snoozeville. If you have multiple games set up, there are more chances for teens to play and less waiting around. Plus, they can switch it up instead of playing the same game over and over.

There are other people who probably have more experience with gaming than I have, but here's what I know. I hope it helps out someone.