Week 2

The main way my team and I have been finding inspiration for our folk game is through past experiences in our childhood. I was an involved theater student and I remember playing plenty of folk games during our class times, although I didn’t know it was called that at the time. Some of the ones I remember most prominently are a game where you have to walk around and when the teacher shouts a number, you have to get into groups of that number. If you can't find a group, your out. You keep playing until there are only two people left, who are the winners. Sometimes it would be more complicated than just getting into groups, like a group of three would pretend like they were rowing a boat, or a group of four would lie on the ground and pretend to be sardines. My teammate also had ideas from when she was a camp counselor over the summer and had to play several folk games with the kids. 

The research that we will have to do consists of looking up different types of folk games that we might not have thought of on our own and how they are played. We are looking for specific games that take little to no equipment and don't discriminate based on who is the tallest, fastest, or strongest. The main thing I would like to change in a folk game is when you get out. I hate it when I get out of a game early on and have to wait for everyone else to be done so that I can join a new game. This can be modified by creating a mechanic that allows the player to re-enter the game by doing something or help from the other players, like in freeze tag where you can get unfrozen when another player tags you. This can also be remedied by just creating a game where everyone plays until someone wins, or someone loses and everyone else wins. 

There are many things that make for a good folk game. For one, a good folk game can be played by anyone, anywhere. It does not need a designated playing field with designated equipment and gear. It is very informal and spread around through word of mouth (or the internet). It is not a game that needs to be practiced to get good at it. There is no prize and the game itself is the incentive to play. The game makes it to that everyone can have fun, laugh, and have a good time.