Today’s game honors the pessimistic optimism of Puddleglum and can be played with any number of friends.
How to Play:
The first player begins a story with a terrible event. The next player continues the story with “But…” and comes up with a good twist to the story.
For example:
Player 1: The morning was cold and foggy. Suddenly a dragon burst into sight over the marsh, setting cattails ablaze!
Player 2: BUT one brave Wiggle took up his fishing pole and beat the dragon soundly about its underbelly, driving it away.
Player 1: BUT the dragon came around for another pass, snatching the fishing pole and snapping it in its jaws, scorching the hand of the poor, brave Wiggle.
Player 2: BUT the dragon flew off to fish in the ocean and the Wiggle shared a kettle of eels with a lovely lady Wiggle who had come over to apply salve to his hand, while they regaled the younger Wiggles with tales of his exploits.
Obviously you’d want the game to go longer, so you might set a limit on how many turns before a player can wrap up the tale with a happy ending. Besides being a good game in the practice of optimism, it’s good creative writing practice as you come up with new challenges to put in the
way of your heroes.
Enjoy!
