2008apr24. Secreted deep within an ask.metafilter post about a “travelling” party game is this gem:
There’s an exceptionally difficult-to-get version of this which goes as follows. You ask any question which has a yes or no answer, and anyone who’s “in” on it can reply with a yes or no.
Typically the questions are about a journey like “Can I go to Dundee?,” “Can I go to Zimbabwe?,” “Can I go to Boston by train?,” “Can I go to Boston by train now?” and so on.
The game is very confusing because the answer to the same question can change, and yet everyone who’s “in” on it will agree on what the answer is.
Of course, the poor victims come up with increasingly elaborate rules about vowels, starting letters, longitudes, latitudes and so on, until they finally get it.
It’s best played slightly drunk and with more than one person in on the secret, because otherwise people tend to suspect that there IS no secret. But there is. And it’s this:
If the person says “um” or “err” in the question, the answer is yes, otherwise it’s no. So, “Can I go to Paris?” is no, but “Can I go to, um, Paris?” is yes. Typically, when people think they have it cracked, they start to “um” a lot more, so get a string of false positives.
It’s viciously cruel, but fun.
