Has anyone played this pen-and-paper drawing game?
April 3, 2013 2:12 PM Subscribe
About a decade ago, in high school, I remember playing a pen-and-paper drawing game, where players take turns drawing things to stop or start a cartoon-y situation. We called it "The Awesome Game," but I wonder if it has another name?
To start the game, a situation is drawn on the paper, for example, an anvil about to fall on a duck. Taking turns, one player tries to stop the situation from happening, while the other player draws things to make sure the situation goes forth. In the above example, the first player might draw a brick wall in-between the anvil and the duck. Then the second player might draw a bomb to blow up the brick wall. Then the first player might draw a rain cloud to put out the fuse on the bomb. This kept going until one of the players, mentally exhausted, gave up.
It wasn't really a "game," it was more like a collaborative drawing activity, because the final images were so fun to look at. We called it "The Awesome Game," but, predictably, my google searches for this name are not returning what I'm looking for. I'm wondering if the game has another name? I want to see if anyone else on the internet has played the game, and has uploaded images of their final drawings.
To start the game, a situation is drawn on the paper, for example, an anvil about to fall on a duck. Taking turns, one player tries to stop the situation from happening, while the other player draws things to make sure the situation goes forth. In the above example, the first player might draw a brick wall in-between the anvil and the duck. Then the second player might draw a bomb to blow up the brick wall. Then the first player might draw a rain cloud to put out the fuse on the bomb. This kept going until one of the players, mentally exhausted, gave up.
It wasn't really a "game," it was more like a collaborative drawing activity, because the final images were so fun to look at. We called it "The Awesome Game," but, predictably, my google searches for this name are not returning what I'm looking for. I'm wondering if the game has another name? I want to see if anyone else on the internet has played the game, and has uploaded images of their final drawings.
Best answer: A friend and I used to play this. Interestingly, I remember getting the idea from a childrens / YA book, but have no idea which one, so there is a written precedent. We had no name for it though.
For us, the game would typically end with me scribbling over the existing elements and drawing a big oval around everything. I called this move "Flush It All Down The Toilet".
posted by nedpwolf at 2:31 PM on April 3, 2013 [2 favorites]
For us, the game would typically end with me scribbling over the existing elements and drawing a big oval around everything. I called this move "Flush It All Down The Toilet".
posted by nedpwolf at 2:31 PM on April 3, 2013 [2 favorites]
It's not quite the same, but there was a cool online collaboration going for a while called The Superest, in which two players (both illustrators) took turns drawing super heroes that could defeat the power of the previous hero. It was bizarre and pretty fun to read through.
posted by duien at 2:39 PM on April 3, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by duien at 2:39 PM on April 3, 2013 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I think I've heard this called "drawing fight" or "draw-fighting" or something along those lines.
posted by Metroid Baby at 3:01 PM on April 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Metroid Baby at 3:01 PM on April 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
My husband and I played this when we were first dating. Neither one of us can remember what we called it.
posted by Lyn Never at 3:15 PM on April 3, 2013
posted by Lyn Never at 3:15 PM on April 3, 2013
Best answer: We call it "Kill the cat" because the object of death is always an innocent cat.
posted by zug at 3:44 PM on April 3, 2013
posted by zug at 3:44 PM on April 3, 2013
Best answer: Hah, my brother and I played this game, but we always thought we'd made it up! We called it "One Up" but "The Awesome Game" is way better
posted by blue_and_bronze at 4:45 PM on April 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by blue_and_bronze at 4:45 PM on April 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I learned it from a friend (actually a former camp counselor) who called it War and lumped it in with various other surrealist art games. She and I kept a game going for a good while that we mailed back and forth.
posted by naturalog at 5:35 PM on April 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by naturalog at 5:35 PM on April 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
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