Two variations by Lo Manho, with a few adjustments by MN.
“Beat the fears”
- Joker separates the class into two groups: Demons and People.
- The Demons have to make a list of twenty five things that the people in this particular learning group (e.g. university students, Sanitation workers) strongly fear, writing each fear on a separate index card. Ideally it should be something specific to that group, but people should feel free to name basic human fears, like death, too.
- The People have to identify the twenty five most powerful and hopeful things in their lives, again being specific to their experience, writing each fear on a separate index card
- The two groups stand facing each other.
- The first Demon starts the game by stating something from their fears list. S/he should feel free to ham it up, acting menacing. The first Person has ten seconds to beat that fear by shouting back, naming a hopeful thing that trumps the fear. (E.g. if the fear is “Death,” the hope can be “life after death”) Fellow people can give the person hints. The Joker then judges if the People's hope is strong enough to trump the fear stated by the Demon. A scorekeeper keeps track of the wins/losses.
- Once a fear or hope has been played, it can't be played again.
- If the Demon fails to come up with a fear within ten seconds, that round goes to the People, and vice versa.
- Play continues, with the next Demon and the next Person, and continues until the Demons have no more fears with which to attack the People.
- The final scores are counted. Demons lose if they cannot state twenty [*] horrible things in ten [*] minutes. The People lose if they fail three times to identify something hopeful to trump the fear.
[* ]Adjustable values
Discussion should start with description of the game, how it went, which fears were unbeatable, which hopes were strongest, etc.
Second Lo Manho variation
“Demons out!”
- Joker gives players a list of people's “Top 110 Fears”(http://www.saviodsilva.net/top-10-fears-phobias-ten-common.htm)
- Joker asks players to form groups of two or three. Each group has to discuss and identify the top ten[*] ways to get away from fears/misfortunes in life: e.g. to be a rich man, to have a first aid kit, to have great knowledge...
- They write their top ten [*] ways on slips of paper, one slip of paper for each way. These papers will later become their “beans.”
- The Joker picks (randomly or intentionally) one item from the “Top 110 Fears” list and writes it on the board. That fear is represented as a Demon e.g. the Demon of Death, the Demon of growing old...
- One person volunteers/is chosen to play the role of the Demon. S/he moves to a different part of the room and has three minutes to think about things to shout at the people to scare them. (E.g., the Demon of Death can shout, “you will die! Sooner or later we all die! Death is coming to you!”) You can also ask the Demon to make a simple paper mask that represents this fear.
- While the Demon is preparing, players in the groups must choose the best bean (way) from their bean basket (the top ten [*] ways list) with which to defeat that fear.
- The Demon “attacks” the first group, yelling at them, making menacing gestures, trying to intimidate them. The members of the group have to shout back their best way to stand up to the demon. If their group has no way strong enough to chase away the demon, [or if they say it too quietly, weakly], they lose and must join the Demon as new Demons. The Joker is the judge (alternative: the other groups judge).
- Once each group has been tested in this way, the game ends with a final mass attack of the Demons upon the surviving players. Before the attack, the group members roll up the slips of paper into paper beans and throw them at the demons shouting, “Demons out! Luck in!”
[* ]Adjustable values
Lo comments: “I believe it would be a complicated but funny discussion while players are identifying which is the best way to make themselves invincible and lucky. Although some ways are really powerful and can solve most of the problems or feared things like “being a superman,” there are some things a superman cannot solve, for example, “growing bald.” Therefore, players must identify their the top ten ways list carefully; the group discussion would be the funniest, and also most important part in this game.”