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Players: 3 or more (ages 7+)
Playing Time: 20-30 minutes
If there’s one thing that kids love even more than doing silly stuff, it’s watching grown-ups do silly stuff—and that’s why the outrageously silly family card game 100 Really Dumb Things (You Have to Do While Playing This Game!) is such a hit with kids.
The game’s basic rules are pretty simple. Before the game begins, each of the four youngest players gets to draw one of the four Prop Cards. Each card comes with a prop—a pair of silly glasses, a tambourine, a ring, or a cat nose—and instructions that explain what to do with the prop. If you get the glasses, for instance, you need to wear them until another player stands up. Then you have to pretend to be a teacher, say something smart, and pass the glasses to your left.
Players then take turns drawing a Dumb Card from the deck and do whatever dumb thing it tells you to do. If the card is an Always Card, you have to do that dumb thing whenever it’s your turn. If it’s a Whenever Card, you only have to do that dumb thing when you’re instructed to do so.
Play continues—with players doing more and more dumb things with each turn—for a predetermined number of rounds (the rules suggest eight). Then, at the end of the game, players add up the point values of their cards (which varies, depending on the dumbness of each activity)—and the player with the most points wins the game.
As you may have noticed, you don’t need any special skills—nor do you need to come up with any clever strategies—to play 100 Really Dumb Things. The game doesn’t really have any kind of structure—and there’s nothing especially competitive about it. Instead, it’s just a half hour or so of all-out, non-stop silliness.
Of course, if you’re a competitive person, 100 Really Dumb Things will make you crazy—because there’s really no way to control the outcome. Even the Prop Cards have no influence on the end result; it’s all just the luck of the cards. It does make the game frustrating at times—because it feels completely random and arbitrary—but, well…that’s the point.
Similarly, if you have any inhibitions whatsoever, 100 Really Dumb Things will make you very, very nervous. But if you’re ready and willing to make a complete fool of yourself in front of your family and/or friends, this game is guaranteed to make you laugh until it hurts. Simply put, it’s sheer pandemonium. Before long, the room will be filled with the din of animal sounds and brainy declarations—while players pace around the room, crab walk across the floor, and do the Twist. So, at the very least, 100 Really Dumb Things is good exercise—because you’ll most likely spend very little time in your chair.
If you’re looking for a silly game to play with your family—or to play at your child’s birthday party—look no further. It just doesn’t get much sillier than this. But Grumpy Guses and Shy Sallies need not apply.
