Fursuit Games Thread!

Posted by RoninOtter on Mon, 2007-01-29 17:53

Fursuit Programming

Location: Boston

Hello everyone!
My name is Ronin Otter and I will be your host this year for the Anthrocon fursuit games! Last year I temporarily handed off the torch to my pal LuckyDog who did a spectacular job running them in my stead. My hat is off to him for taking on that commitment last minute due to sudden schedule changes which forced me to leave the convention early.

This year, I will be on premises for the entire duration, so it’s up to me to try and do at least half as good a job as Lucky pulled off for us.

Some of you might be asking “What in the world are the fursuit games?” Good question! The answer is: “A group participation event at the con which will be comprised of several team-based physical challenges.” This can be easily translated to “A bunch of fursuiters running around in a semi-organized fashion to accomplish the vague outlines of a goal, while probably cheating and having a bunch of fun in the process.” The fursuit games are, obviously, for people in fursuit only, whether partial or full. The games will be comprised of numerous relay races, silly stunts, and games you might remember playing in your younger days. Performing these seemingly simple tasks while wearing a restrictive costume makes them much more challenging, and therefore makes the ensuing antics really fun to watch for everyone involved!

For those of you considering participating in the Fursuit Games this year, good for you! It's a group-participation event which benefits exponentially by the more costumes that show up. If you’re just curious and want to show up and maybe start participating as things progress, that’s fine too! I’m going to have volunteers helping out to give you a team “tag” and shuffle you into the action when the next game starts.

Following is a list of games which I usually have in the mix. This isn’t a finalized list at all, so I’m looking for your input! If you’ve got an idea for a game that you think would work really well, post it here, and if it sounds fun, safe and reasonable to pull off in a fursuit, I might have it on the final list!

Also, if there are any of you willing to help out, be sure to get in touch with Con Ops once the convention has started and get yourself a volunteer badge. I’ll be tapping into the con volunteer base in order to get assistance running the event. I’ll need plenty of help, so thank you in advance!

Preliminary Game Brainstorm List: (This list will grow as the con approaches)
• Dizzy race: Relay where each team member has to spin around a funnoodle 3 times, then run a slalom through a set of cones, gets his or her self through a hula-hoop, and runs back! The player then tags the next one in line until all team members finish.
• The Limbo: Pretty self explanatory if you ask me, with a limbo bar for each team, racing to see who finishes first.
• Hula-Hoop Hoedown: Each team is lined up and all members hold paws. A hula-hoop has to be gotten all the way down the line without any mascots paws releasing! The good news is, each team has one member they choose to help get the hoop down the line.
• Musical Chairs: Depending on who you are, this is either your most or least favorite game. Due to overwhelming demand to bring it back, I’m putting it on this list. If you’re for or against having it at the games, post your reasons! If we do end up playing it, we’re going to have strict rules about roughhousing to prevent damage to suits and injury to players. Playing this game will depend on whether our union friends will allow us to move chairs around in the space without their assistance. This is a big problem because failing to return the room's arrangement to exactly what it was before will incur a fine to Anthrocon, and I don't want a raging cockroach on our paws. Eye-wink
• Gryphon Egg Carry: Using a pair of salad tongs, each player must carry a gryphon egg (substituted with a baseball so 2 doesn’t kill us) all the way down from one end of the course and back, handing it off to the next player in line.
• Time Ball: Teams lines up with the first player a little distance back from the line. Each team has a leader who stands on the line facing his/her team with the ball. The ball is thrown to the first member of the team who catches it, and then runs with it to around the rest of their team back to their position. Then, they throw the ball back to the team leader and sit down. The leader throws the ball back over the first player’s head to the second team member who catches it, and repeats the process. The winning team is the one to have their last team member throw the ball back to the leader and sit down. (Don’t worry, everyone else on the team can help with the throwing part.)
• Woodchuck, Woodchuck, MOOSE: This is basically just duck-duck-goose, except the emcee will be calling out the labels as the contestant walks the circle, tapping the other players on the head. (Emphasis on tapping) When "MOOSE!" is called, the standing player has to run around the circle and claim the vacant spot left by the mascot they tapped on the head, who must try and overtake the original player. This game requires a lot of available space, so it will be dependent upon how many costumes we have.