Turn off the technology and suspend any notions of cool as you embrace your inner cornball with author Pat Louis Sapia and his collection of parlor games, brain teasers, and silly sleight-of-hand magic tricks.
Will Ten Games You Can Play at the Drop of a Hat …Plus! make you the life of the party or help you find love, as Sapia slyly suggests? Probably not. But the easily accomplished activities that he describes as “fun for dummies” are in truth not all that dumb and could be quite engaging if participants are willing to play along.
Sapia is noted for hosting murder mystery parties. His ebook is laid out simply with easy-to-follow instructions, although the writing, especially in the introduction, is unnecessarily over the top (“The purpose for this collection of frivolous fillers of failed fun gatherings, is three fold…”) and tries too hard to hook people. This is not a book for everyone and those who pick it up probably won’t need much convincing.
By far the best games are those where the host pretends to have telepathic powers and, with the help of an assistant, unlocks some mystery. In fact, Sapia shows that such feats are easily accomplished with a little trickery and distraction. Some games, such as Going to a Picnic, where players must name something they will bring that starts with the first letter of their name, or Jonny Whoops where participants must follow every movement of the leader, are less challenging and probably more suited for young children – or players who have had too much to drink. Sapia also throws in some riddles and brain busters, including a real stumper to find the mistake in the cover art.
We are all a bit jaded these days in our quest for high-tech, instantly delivered entertainment. Sapia, while unabashedly goofy, just might have found a refreshing antidote.
