Crazy Frowns

This is an example of a great frown.

To combat boredom while in class, my friends and I would invent games every now and then. Every game that we created was named “Crazy (something).” I thought it would be fun to recount some of these games—many of which never got past the idea stage. This is about Crazy Frowns.

This is one of the most popular games I had a hand in creating. I’m sure much of that is because this game doesn’t really have a possibility for injury like many of the others do.

Number of Players: 2-5
Others Needed: Game Judge
Time Limit: None
Injury Risk (1-10): 1
Penalty for Losing: All losers shake the hand of each player who finished ahead of them. While shaking hands, the losers must say, “You’re better than me.”

How to Play
-All players must gather around in a way wherein they can see each other—across a table, in a circle, etc.
-The game judge will count to three, and then say go. When the game judge says go, the game begins, and all players must begin frowning.*
-Players are encouraged to make sounds and motions that could make other players laugh.

Rules
-You cannot pause the game for any reason. If a player needs to pause the game, they will just have to swallow their pride and accept the loss.
-Touching is not allowed. If one player touches another, the offending player is eliminated.
-Covering your face is not allowed. Any player covering their face is eliminated.
-All eliminations are decided by the game judge. This is so other players don’t risk elimination attempting to call attention to another player’s offense. If the game judge doesn’t see the offense, play continues as though nothing happened.

When is the Game Over?
- The game ends when only one player is left frowning. That player is the winner.

SUGGESTION: For a twist, try running the game in a bracketed tournament style.

*A frown is defined to us as arching your lips so that both corners of your mouth are lower than the middle. The moment that a player’s mouth is straight across (or smiling), that player is no longer frowning, and they lose the game. We recognize that certain individuals are actually unable to frown in the way we have defined. That means they cannot arch their mouth farther than a straight line. Unfortunately those individuals can’t play—if they did, it would be an automatic loss.