67) Telephone

Supplies
* none

How to Play
Non-Competitive:
Have group form a circle, and start with one person, by whispering a "message" in that person's ear. He/she must then pass the message along, each person whispering the same statement into the ear of the next, until the last person has heard it. Anyone who is unsure what he/she heard, may say, "operator," and have it repeated once. If the player is still unsure, he/she must do his/her best, saying what it sounded most like. He/she cannot ask in return, "Did you say.....?" When the message gets to the last person, that person must say aloud, what they heard the message to be. The group may want to try again several times (with new messages to different individuals) to get it right.
The facilitator may then start a discussion. Try to find the point at which the message first changed, by asking what each person heard and said. It may be that someone believed that's what he/she heard, or had to guess because he/she couldn't hear the message. Occasionally, someone will purposefully sabotage the message. Use these factors to discuss gossip, which can be miss-heard, misunderstood, added to, or sabotaged/ purposefully changed.

Competitive:
Split group into two teams, and have each team form a line. Give the same message to both groups, and see who comes closest to the true message at the end.

Strategy
tongue-twisters, meaning-less phrases, and statements with many similar-sounding words can make the game more tricky.

from 2/4/07