In Hoose Entertainment

Thought I’d better update you on my week. Now where did I leave you?

ah Wednesday I guess!

Wednesday. ummm. Not much happened on Wednesday. we lost against Northern Ireland (and you can see what I thought about that below!) but not a lot else! so let’s leave it at that!

Thursday - the start of the last test match! COME ON ENGLAND! I did spend rather a lot of time watching the game but eventually made it into work and typed up a proof and a lemma (excitement!) then went out to play hockey.

Of course it started to rain about 530 and we started to play hockey at around 630, it was wet, we got wet, the light disappeared around 8pm but we played on til 830 for some reason (by which point we could no longer see the ball!) the rain made for slippy conditions and people kept falling over, which would’ve been comedy if you’d been watching it (though presumably in a nice warm house with a cup of tea… mmmmm tea) and sticks kept flying out of hands - memorably Lukes (whose stick slammed into my knee!) and Mahinda’s (who nearly knocked out Cathy) we made the right choice eventually and went down to Hardy’s for the post hockey pint.

the score? no idea, I’m pretty sure we won and I scored loads.

Friday:
Watched some cricket (though this was the first day of the rain, so not a great deal) and proved another lemma (the one I wrote down yesterday (more excitement!)) headed out to the footage for around 5pm and met Linden, Squiz, Rosy & Paddy; the latter three had been there since 2 and Squiz was soon to start on his second bottle (shared with Alsion who turned up around 6 (I think!))

Linden, Rosy and I went down to meet Mahinda at 7pm in the Square Albert only to find, when we got there, that

a) It was closed!
b) Mahinda hadn’t even left yet!

So Rosy espied “The Rising Sun” a small corridor type pub with a nice range of beer, and we went there for a couple whilst we waited.

Mahinda turned up with his friend, Jeanette, a dentist, whose probably thoroughly fed up of people talking to her about their impending fillings…. :s

On to Tampopo - a noodle bar - nice, very nice, but (imo!) not as nice as wagamamas which is *great*.

We left there and headed down to FAB café, where we met up with alsion again, and her sisters.

much dancing, drinking, cavorting took place.

On the way home Linden had the beezer idea of a kebab, I was the only one who agreed (the others all flaked away) and had a decent kebab in Rusholme before catching my bus home and arriving back for 4am or so.

good night out

Saturday
More cricket (of course) looking decent for us now as the darkness and rain has given us hope of the draw.

Spent most of the day recovering from a hangover (don’t do the crime… etc etc…) and went shopping at some point; Listened to the footie (Spurs 0-0 Liverpool) and wrote out some of my songs neatly (I figure that when I next form a band — soon — it’ll be easiest to teach my songs to people if they’re written down - I’m going to make some tapes as well). Linden wants to be in the band so it’s already started to shape up nicely.

Speaking of the GBOF PFE BAHONS etc etc….. She called around 7pm asking if we fancied another trip out. Still feeling a bit broken from yesterday I said “Yes!” - of course. one ibuprofen and nicely cooked dinner later and I’m ready to play.

We meet up with Linden and her friend Celia in the Paramount and drink whilst the PFE does her work (I’m on vodka today to avoid a hangover) and we decide to try Tribeca. Benn is also there, and we find him at the bar, he joins our group.

Tribeca is a nice bar and it has good seats. Unfortunately it’s a bit pricey. True they did accidentaly give me a triple, but I feel I paid for it .

Linden introduces us to the game of “Quarters” or “Ten P’s” and much coin bouncing ensues. The game only ends when we run out of drink and Linden breaks a glass (a few photo’s exist of this, and I’ll have to try and get me one!)

I’ll explain what “Quarters” is in a reference post after I’ve finished this one. It’s a fun game.

Due to the expense we agree to move on (oh, I almost forgot Sleazy Rich and Aussie Nath have joined us by this point!) but we can’t seem to agree on where.

Fifth Avenue is the choice of the cognicant but we’re not sure whether they will let us in so we consider Funkademia and the Baa Baa before I point out that fifth avenue is about a 2 minute walk away so we can go and check out whether they will let us in and if they don’t we can go 2 mins the other way to the baa baa.

Fifth Ave. let us in.

“So what do you like about this place”

-Sleazy Rich to Celia

Fifth A. Is packed, and they start with a good stream of indie, followed by a misguided section of dance and finishing off with another stream of indie. had a very good time.

Dancing took place on a large scale. the dancefloor was packed and there was plenty of push and shove, but nothing inappropriate (oo-er!) a game of beer popping takes place (hitting the top of a bottle to try and make beer gush out of it) Rosy is the overall loser until mahinda gets me with a doozy. D’oh!

home! no food today but I think that’s common consent! Tiredness has struck!

Sunday:
I got up; texted a few people, and now I’m typing here whilst listening to the cricket. 3 wickets have dropped today and that is largely responsible for the title of the post (I thought it was a good enough pun (that means it’s really bad, I know!).

Off for Sunday lunch around Adrians. Next week is my turn!

Anyway, I can’t stay to natter all day. Tarra!

Fun? in a pub?! do they mix??

They Do Now!

Quarters

Quarters, named for the American coin that spawned the game involves 2 shot glasses (or more for a bigger group) and 2 10p’s.

The game is this

If you have a shot glass in front of you you have to try and “Bounce” the 10p coin into the shot glass. (i.e.) throw it into the table and hope that it goes in.

If you get it in first time you can pass the shot glass to your left or to your right.

Otherwise, pass it to the left when you finally get it in.

If you end up with two shot glasses in front of you, you have to down your drink! (we drunk fingers because Tribeca is too expensive!) you keep one of the shot glasses and pass the other one around the table. start again.

That’s it! very simple, lots of fun!

Twenty-One

My favourite drinking game.

After I introduced Mahinda to the sport, he wrote a brilliant description in his blog. I’m not going to attempt to improve upon it, so I’ve shamelessly cut and paste it into here.

“Twenty-One, as referred to in my last entry, is a common drinking game. The rules are simple (well, they start off simple, anyway):

Basic Premise

Going round in a circle (or thereabouts), you aim to get to 21 by taking turns to say one, two or three consecutive numbers. Numbers must always go up consecutively, i.e. if your neighbour says “1″, you must then start your turn with “2″.

Eventually, someone will have to say “21″…in which case they:

1. Drink.
2. Specify a new rule.
3. Start the game off again, from 1.

More about new rules later. As far as the drinking goes, it depends how hardcore you’re being - often either two fingers, your whole pint, or a swig of the penalty drink is required.

If someone messes up on the way (and there are many ways to mess up), he/she must:

1. Drink.
2. Start the game off again, from 1.

Note that this drink is usually less severe, e.g. just two fingers’ worth. Also, you don’t get to add a rule.

Starting the Game

Whoever starts the game must specify a direction, and then say one, two or three numbers, starting from “1″, e.g. “To my left…ONE, TWO”.

The next person, in the specified direction, must then continue. Of course, exactly who is the next person depends on how many numbers the starter has said…

One, Two or Three Numbers

Whether someone says one, two or three numbers has a direct influence on who goes next:

* One number - play passes along smoothly, going in the original direction on to the next person.
* Two numbers - the order of play is reversed.
* Three numbers - same direction, but skipping the next player.

Naturally, speaking out of turn, or saying the wrong number, results in a penalty drink and the game restarting from 1.

A cunning rule that was introduced to me last night was the one that you must say a different number of numbers to your predecessor, e.g. if he/she said “1″, you must continue with either “2, 3″ or “2, 3, 4″ - saying just “2″ would entail drinking.

New Rules

The most important part of the game!

Once someone has had to say “21″ (and then drunk something), they get to specify a new rule. These can be just about anything within reason, and can include substitutions, actions, etc. For example:

* When saying “3″, you must stand on one leg.
* Instead of “12″, you must say “Wibble”.
* For all numbers divisible by 4, you must touch your nose.

It’s usually up to either a nominated gamesmaster, or group discussion, as to whether or not a rule should be allowed. For example, in some circles, “all numbers divisible by 3 must be said in binary” would be considered fine. However, most people regard (quite rightly) the sort of people who’d play that particular rule as freaks.

Rules can act concurrently, e.g. using the new rules specified above, when you get to 12, you’d have to say “Wibble” and touch your nose.

Naturally, if you get it wrong, you drink, and the game starts again from 1.

Ending the Game

After an hour or so, the rules usually get far too complex to follow, expecially given that all players should now have consumed a fair quantity of alcohol. At some point, players will just decide that they can’t be arsed any more, and play a different game.

The exact complexity of the rules at this point is a fair indicator to how successful your game has been.

Example Game

The game that we played in The Friendship Inn, the evening before this post, ended up with the following rules (in number order, rather than order of introduction):

* Instead of “1″, you must say “Ecky!”
* Instead of “2″, you must say “Ecky! Pitang!”
* Instead of “3″, you must say “Ecky! Ecky! Pitang!”
* For all numbers divisible by 4, you must pinch your nose.
* For all numbers divisible by 5, you must instead say “Quack!”
* The numbers 6 and 8 are swapped, but their actions stay as-is.
* When saying “11″, you must stand up.
* When saying “11″, the players to your left and right must give you bunny ears.
* When saying any number with two syllables (i.e. 7, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20), you must cup your hand to your ear.

So, as far as order of numbers goes, you’d have to do this:

1. Say “Ecky!”
2. Say “Ecky! Pitang!”
3. Say “Ecky! Ecky! Pitang!”
4. Say “Four” while pinching your nose.
5. Say “Quack!”
6. Say “Eight”.
7. Say “Seven” while cupping your hand to your ear.
8. Say “Six” while pinching your nose.
9. Say “Nine”.
10. Say “Quack!”
11. Say “Eleven” while standing up, and having your neighbours each give you a bunny ear.
12. Say “Twelve” while pinching your nose.
13. Say “Thirteen” while cupping your hand to your ear.
14. Say “Fourteen” while cupping your hand to your ear.
15. Say “Quack!” while cupping your hand to your ear.
16. Say “Sixteen” while cupping your hand to your ear AND pinching your nose.
17. Say “Seventeen”.
18. Say “Eighteen” while cupping your hand to your ear.
19. Say “Nineteen” while cupping your hand to your ear.
20. Say “Quack!” while cupping your hand to your ear AND pinching your nose.
21. Say “Twenty-One”…then swear loudly, drink, and add a new rule.

So, fun.

I Have Never

The Classic.

Someone says “I have never … ” and names something they’ve never done.

Anyone who *has* done that thing then has to drink.

Simplicity itself, but it works sooooo well.

Mats (added)

We invented mats on a hazy evening in “The Big Hands” (sometime in October ‘05) It’s a great, if somewhat messy, drinking game that can only really be played in pubs with adequate tables and beermats.

The idea is to remove beermats from your pile, and add them to other peoples.

The rules are:

1) You must lift up your pint when you want to take a drink
2) You cannot touch any mat when your drink is grounded
3) You must take a drink if you lift up your pint
4) you can only move 1 or 2 mats with every movement.
5) you can only place mats on unprotected piles (i.e. no pint on top of them)

there are no winners or losers, just drinkers and people who get soaking wet (generally this is LW).

Table Football

Not really a drinking game but I had to include it for the fun factor.

Three coins (preferably the same, I’ve found 5p’s work best, but any coins will do)

the “Defender” makes the “Rock” sign with their hand (see Leeds Bibliography) and places it on the table with the two fingers outstretched on top. This is the goal.

the “Attacker” starts from the other side of the table with the three coins placed together with 1 behind the other two in the centre.

Start by flicking the coin at the back through the two in front.

The second and third shot must send one coin through the other two. The third shot is your “Shot on goal”. If you hit the back of the hand making the goal, you’ve scored. swap roles and start again.

There’s only one other rule, if any coin leaves the table then your go is over. (Offside!)

There are many variations on this including table rugby, which requires just one coin, but they’re not as fun so I’m not going to bother with them!

Beer Popping

This is a game to be played when you’re in a place selling cheap bottles of beer.

If you tap the top of someone elses beer with your own then it “excites” the beer inside and - if the bottle is full enough - if will lead to an explosion of fluid. Very amusing, quite messy!

Thumb Master

Generally played in conjunction with another game (it works very well with 21) this game involves someone being nominated thumb-master.

At some point the t-m puts their thumb on the table, serrepticiously, but visible (i.e. placing it behind your pint is considered bad form) Everyone else around the table must follow suit as soon as they notice. The last person to do so has to drink.

They then become the t-m and the game continues.