Hide The Mermaid Game

In our house this is called The Mermaid Game, however, it is not limited to mermaids. You know those little glass figures that come in the boxes of Red Rose Tea? Well, that's where our Mermaid came from. But, if your box happened to come with the Sailboat, you could definitely play the Sailboat Game. This could also be called the Army Man Game, the Purple Dice Game, the Little-Pebble-I-Found-Outside Game. You can use anything. 

Now, you may be asking, "What is the Mermaid Game?" Well, basically it's just a game of hide and seek that never ends. 

I don't actually remember how this game started for us. Although, I do know that when it started we didn't expect it to go on for 2+ Years... but I'm so glad it has! Believe it or not, we moved and the mermaid game has continued in out new house. When we were packing everything from our old house I slipped the Mermaid into my pocket, re-hid it at the new house, and simply let the game live on. 

The game-play is really very basic. You find some item you would like to play this with, let your family know (I think we kind of skipped this part and it just happened), and hide it somewhere in your house. Everyone goes about their life as normal and if someone comes across the item they take it and hide it somewhere else. It's that simple. 

As with any game, this game does have rules. Unfortunately, by writing up this post, I have to break the first and most important rule. 

Rule #1: Do not talk about the Mermaid. 

The Mermaid is not discussed. Having said that, there are instances where this rule has been broken. Of course I am breaking it right now, but there was also an instance when it seemed months had gone by and there had been no sign of her. I called an emergency Mermaid meeting and we all agreed, she was missing. A Mermaid hunt ensued, we found her, and the game continued. So yes, we do not talk about the mermaid unless completely necessary.  

Rule #2: Do not remove the Mermaid from her hiding spot or put her into a new hiding spot if anyone is around to see you. 

If you happen to stumble upon her and retrieving her would require climbing on top of furniture and calling attention to yourself, you should definitely wait till the room is not full of people to take her. If you are able to stealthily slip her into your pocket, go ahead. But if there's a chance of being spotted, it can wait. The same goes for putting her into her new hiding spot. 

Rule #3: Do not hide the Mermaid anywhere too difficult to find. 

Clever hiding spots are great. funny hiding spots are great. But hiding her where no one can find her just isn't fun. She should never be completely out of view unless she is in a location that is frequented by most of the family. E.g. The medicine cabinet, the cookie jar, etc. 

Rule #4: Do not hide the Mermaid in any of the bedrooms. 

This rule may not be necessary in every household, but in my house our bedrooms are not high traffic areas. Usually the only people in the bed rooms are those that it belongs to. If your family has two children who share a bedroom and parents to tidy for them and tuck them in every night, then the bedroom would probably be fine. We considered making a no bathroom rule before we decided that it was one of the highest traffic areas as well as one of the most entertaining rooms to hide her in.   

Easy enough right? We take the Mermaid Game very seriously in our home and you will be scolded if you are found breaking any of the rules. You may also be asked to relinquish the Mermaid to whoever caught you and let them hide it, rightfully losing your turn. 

Another good idea is to put a limit on how long she can be in one spot. If you have hidden the Mermaid and 3 weeks later you realize she is still in the same spot, then it's probably too difficult of a hiding place and she should be moved. 

Here are just a few ideas to help get you started on your own game. 

 Surround the Mermaid with colors that camouflage her. This can make hiding in plain sight especially fun. If she's camouflaged the eye of your opponents will pass right over her.

Use the flaws of your home's construction. Little spots like this one pictured below are perfect for the Mermaid. 

 Hide the Mermaid in unexpected places. No one expects her to be in with the straws. Think about where you would be least likely to look and hide her there.

Incorporate her into your seasonal decor. It's extra fun to use things that are not always there. Just make sure she is not packed away with your Easter eggs when spring is over. 

I hope you enjoy this game. Please share your family's thoughts and any rules you would add in the comments. I'd love to hear how this game took off in your household! 

Trivia Game

Here's a super fun game I created for our new years party (To read more about my epic party, click here) I'm not entirely sure what to call it. Jenga Trivia? Tower Challenge? Stacking Quiz? Maybe just Stacked? Well, whatever I decide (or if I decide not to decide) you should definitely play it at your next party or gathering. All the questions I have are New Year related, of course you don't have to use my questions. You can totally make up your own questions or find others online somewhere.

If you do play this game, wind up loving it (which you are bound to), and post a lovely account of it on your own blog, please add a link to my blog. And also leave a comment here with a link to your blog so I can read about your party, I would love to see what fun you had with my game.


What you'll need to play

To play you will need is a block stacking game (like Jenga) with numbered pieces. If you have Jenga you could number them with a sharpie (or a wood burner if you're feeling fancy.) I ordered one that was already numbered from Amazon (and, lucky for me, it was also the cheapest one on there.) HERE is the link. It comes with 3 dice which you won't need but are pretty to look at.

You will need a set of questions. There should be one question per block, that's 48 questions if you're using the game previously linked.  HERE is a link to a PDF of the questions I had for the New Years party. They are not easy questions. Some are easier than others, but they are all pretty difficult. If you're playing with a lot of young kids I would suggest using a different set of questions. If you do a Google search for "(whatever theme you want) trivia questions" there will be other options for you

Now recruit a lot of people. You will need all the people who want to play (The more the merrier. If there's a lot of minds at work, there's a better chance of someone knowing the correct answer) and you will need one person to be the question asker. This person is the game master. The one who gets to hold the sheet of questions and cackle loudly while everyone else hurts their brains. It's fun.

Lastly, you will need a timer of some sort. I used my pocket watch but you could use a game timer, a stop watch, or just a clock. You can get this nifty set of timers HERE if you don't have anything that keeps time.

Printable Trivia Questions 

Doesn't she look like Princess Leia when she's knelt beside R2D2?

Game Play

There are two different ways this game can be played and it mostly depends on how many people you have playing and how smart they are. If you have a few people who are very smart I would play version two. If you have a larger gathering of moderately intelligent people I would play the first version.

For each version you will need everyone comfortably seated and the stacking game neatly stacked where everyone can see it. They will also need to be able to reach it if you are playing at a table. We played in the living room and just had the players stand up when it was their turn to take a piece.

Version 1 (The version we played):

• Form teams. I had everyone sit down then I divided the room in thirds. It ended up being 3 teams of  5.
• Have the first team designate a player to remove a block from the tower. They will return to their group and tell the game master which number is on their block. 
• The game master will say the question loud enough for everyone to hear. 
• The team will then be given 60 seconds (Or 30 if you want) to consult among themselves. They have one chance to answer the question and must have team consensus when their time runs out. 
• If they answer the question correctly they get to keep their block and the next team takes their turn. 
• If they do not answer correctly they pass the block clockwise to team 2 and team 2 goes through the same rigmarole and so on until each team has had a chance. 
• In none of the teams answer the question correctly there are 2 things that can happen. 1) the block can be returned to the top of the stack or 2) you can give the block to the team that answered closest. For instance: if they are trying to guess a year and team 3 is only 2 years off while team 1 is 7 years off and team 2 is 408 years off, the piece should probably go to team 3.
• Game ends when the tower can no longer maintain its balance. Which ever team has the largest amount of blocks wins. 

Version 2:

Version 2 is played very similarly to version 1, the difference being that there are no teams and everyone has to try for themselves. I would say this is the harder of the 2 versions. 

• Player 1 picks a block from the tower and tells the game master the number. 
• The game master asks the question loud enough for each player to hear.
• The player is given 30 seconds (Or whatever seems fair to you) to ponder the question then must make a guess when the time is up, or before that if they are ready. 
• If the player answers correctly they get to keep the block and it is then player 2's turn. 
• If they fail to answer correctly they must hand the block over to player 2 and player 2 has the same amount of time. This goes on until one player is able to correctly answer.
• Or, if it has gone all the way around and no one knows the answer, it can either go back to the top of the stack or to the player who answered the closes. For instance: If they players are trying to guess a percentage and player 2 guesses 99% while player 1 guesses 45% and Player 3 Guesses .5% but the correct answer is actually 97%, the block should probably go to player 2. 
• The game ends when the tower tumbles and whoever has earned the most blocks wins the game. 

TIP:
Some of these questions are more difficult than others. On some of the tougher ones, as game master, I gave the players a little help. For instance: if they are trying to guess what the Italians do to bring good luck the game master could tell them "It is something they wear" because otherwise they will be guessing WAY off and the GM will get a headache from all the face palming.

Good luck with your party, I hope you have as much fun with this game as we did. Although I do think everyone was ready to kill me by the end....

I also wrote up instructions to another game we played involving silly phrases and people making fools of themselves. You can find that HERE along with a PDF that you can print of the phrases we used.

If you have any questions or ideas please leave a comment. I love hearing from you.