How to split an odd number of people into 2 teams?

May 1, 2005 3:13 AM

How do I organize a team game (charades, in this case) with an odd number of people (5 or 7)?

And before I get suggestions on having someone be the scorekeeper, I have to add that it's important that everyone plays (we're a small group of people trying to get rid of social phobia and playing is part of it). btw I only know exactly how many people there are on the spot, when we all get there (until now half of the time it turned out to be an odd number).

Any ideas for me?

posted by mirileh to sports, hobbies, & recreation (11 comments total)

For something like charades, I wouldn't have thought that one extra person in a team would have made much difference to the game. In fact, with charades, you could probably adapt the game so that you don't need teams at all: you could just set it up so that one person is acting and all the others are guessing.
posted by chrismear at 3:29 AM on May 1, 2005

Another option, since house rules in these games tend to vary, is siphoning one lone person into an umpire class that you designate "evil overlord" (or something else more fun than "umpire"), who in addition to the adjudication of friendly disputes, is the definitive source of the rules that both teams must comply with (ie can rewrite rules at whim, for fun or profit). S/he also watches for rules breaches, calls on who got it first when it's close, can be bribed with chocolate/beer etc etc :-)
posted by -harlequin- at 4:15 AM on May 1, 2005

Are you in some position of power or just one of the attendees on equal footing? If you're the organizer or some such, I guess you could always include yourself if it is odd in order for it to be even, but sit out if it is even.
posted by cmm at 6:27 AM on May 1, 2005

For something like charades you could alternate who gets the extra teammate between rounds, though it seems strangely anal for charades.
posted by substrate at 6:38 AM on May 1, 2005

Symmetry is an over-rated virtue. Asymmetry is much more interesting. In fact, you likely wouldn't be around to play these games were it not for a slight asymmetry in the energy/matter of the universe. This is a great ice breaker for your group. Ask if anyone has a split personality. Have one member jump back and forth between teams, with different voices, Robin Williams style. Penalize the winning team by subtracting members. The "evil overlord" idea is great--people might compete just to get that job.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 7:15 AM on May 1, 2005

You might be able to use it as an opportunity for self-disclosure and mingling by deciding that the guessing team always has 1 extra person who is decided by some rule each round.

So, one way might be to prepare a second collection of pieces of paper (in addition to the charade answers) that has a personal characteristic (e.g., tallest, or youngest, or person with a birthday closest to the winter equinox, or person born the furthest north, or person with the most vowels in their given name, etc) on it.

Each time the teams take turns, you can pick a characteristic and have the person in the other group with that characteristic switch to the guessing team.

I just made this up, so there may be some complications (you may or may not want to make someone immune from switching two times in a row for example) that I haven't considered.
posted by i love cheese at 7:16 AM on May 1, 2005

Different call here.

Some group will have a ringer. (or a couple who is). Set the teams up so the team with the better Player(s) has the disadvantage of less players.
posted by filmgeek at 8:27 AM on May 1, 2005

Sound ideas everyone - when I've been in the situation I've always liked making numbers-lopsided teams. The best 2/7 people vs the other 5, usually 'best' meant 'the two who thought that they were hot shit' - and I'd throw myself into the numerically superior group...
posted by PurplePorpoise at 9:53 PM on May 1, 2005

thanx for the ideas! (btw, as we're all social phobics, there aren't really any better players. and I'm one too. so that rules out a lot of the good suggestions made here)

just got one myself. it's more of a mathematical solution. since winning charades is a matter of who has the lowest overall time, if there's an uneven number, the winning team will be the one with the lowest average time (overall time divided by the number of players). i think that could work, couldn't it?
posted by mirileh at 12:13 AM on May 2, 2005

Simple.

You either participate or don't. If the numbers are odd, join a team and make it even. If they're not, you just officiate.
posted by SlyBevel at 11:25 AM on May 2, 2005

you could alternate who gets the extra teammate between round

All-time QB worked great for backyard football with odd numbers. The best QB would be QB for both teams, and he couldn't sneak since there was nobody guarding him. Works great.
posted by thedevildancedlightly at 4:11 PM on May 17, 2005