A Fun Winter Activity that Has Nothing to Do with Snow (We Promise)

There’s no denying it: Snow is fun. Especially if you’ve got a copy of  Snow Play by Birgitta Ralston. But even the most devout sledders, skiers, and snow sculptors can get tired of the stuff after a while.While I love a good snowball fight just as much as the next person, sometimes I’d rather get my jollies in the comfort of my cozy, warm living room. Lucky for us, there’s The Games Bible, Leigh Anderson’s awesome guide to having fun the old-fashioned way. Below is an excerpt from the book: one of my favorite games, Four on the Couch. I love it because it’s perfect for when you’ve been cooped up for days and desperately need to move around and act silly, but don’t want to spend an hour pulling on layers of winter gear (only to realize that you have to pee). Stay warm, and have fun doing it!

Four on the Couch

Four on the Couch is a group game of strategy and memory in which two teams shuffle seats until one team gains control of all four seats on the sofa, thereby winning the game. The trick to the game is that you are not you—you are playing the role of someone else in the group, and someone else is playing you. And each time you change seats, your role changes too. This is kind of a grown-up version of King of the Hill, in which (in my household, at least) kids wrestle for control of the sofa, frequently rolling off the top and collapsing in a heap.

Players: 8-14
The Gear: A couch, which counts as four seats. If you don’t have a couch, pretend that four adjacent seats are a couch. Seats, arranged in a circle, one seat per player, plus one empty seat. The couch (or couch-replacement) counts for four of these seats. Slips of paper, pencils.

The Game Plan

• Divide the players into two even teams. One team should distinguish themselves from the other team by wearing hats, rolling up their pants legs or shirt sleeves, etc. Or just pit men against women.
• Instruct the players to write their names on slips of paper and put the slips in a hat.
• Each player draws a slip and examines it, but does not reveal the name to the other players. Each player assumes the identity of the name on his or her slip (not to act like or imitate that person—although you could play that way if you want—just remember that if Eileen’s paper says “Mary,” Eileen will have to move whenever someone calls “Mary”).
• To start the game, have the players sit in the chairs, alternating team members so that no two team members are sitting next to each other. Seat two people from each team on the couch. There will be one empty seat, but not on the couch.
• Play begins with the player to the left of the empty seat, who calls out a name at random. It is permissible to call out either the name of someone on your own team or a member of the other team. (In the beginning, players will not know the “identities” of the other players, so it will be random. If Bob calls out “Mary,” he will not know, at this stage, that Eileen’s slip of paper says “Mary” and that it will be Eileen who moves when Mary’s name is called.)
• Whoever has that name on his or her slip must move to the empty seat. His now-vacated seat will be the new empty seat.
• The player who was called trades slips of paper with whoever called him. The players who have traded slips of paper assume their new roles. Trading the slips of paper every time someone moves makes it more difficult to remember the slips people have.
• Stealth Strategy: If you can’t memorize who’s playing what role, at least try to memorize who’s already on the couch and the roles that those people are playing. Avoid calling out names that would remove your teammates from the couch and do try to call out a name that would put your team on the couch.
• Play always passes to the player to the left of the empty seat.

Winning: When all four people on the couch are from the same team, the game is over and that team wins.

—Avery, who really could’ve used this book when she was a camp counselor.