Here’s a relatively simple yet fun Halloween party game that uses the power of suggestion to make it gross. Kids absolutely love this, because their vivid imaginations make it easy to believe it’s real. Basically, you have to touch witch or wizard body parts. Here’s how.

Use some kind of a story, like how you were walking around in the dark last night, and you looked up and saw a witch or wizard, flying on a broomstick. The next thing you knew, she was flying erratically, making zigzag patterns in the sky.

Suddenly, you saw her plummet down to the ground and crash. You ran over to her and discovered she was already dead. So you chopped her into little pieces and put the body parts in boxes (or bags.)

“Now you get to stick your hand in the boxes and feel her body parts. You’ll have to tell me what you feel. Maybe you’ll be lucky, and only touch her hair. Maybe you’ll feel her heart. Or maybe you’ll get a squishy, wet eyeball!”

To set up the game, you’ll need several bags, boxes, or containers that you cannot see through. Inside each box or bag, put a different “body part.” Make some of them dry, some of them wet, some hard, some soft, and definitely have something smooshy and disgusting.

Cut holes in the sides large enough to stick a hand through, but not large enough to see into. If you’re using bags, gather the opening together and tie a piece of yarn or string so that it can only be opened partway, enough to stick a hand inside.

Here are ideas for what to use for different body parts:

Eyeballs–grapes, canned lychee fruits, olives, cocktail onions

Brains–boiled head of cabbage or cauliflower, or a gelatin mold

Guts–canned tomatoes, cooked spiral pasta, the “guts” from a pumpkin jack-o-lantern

Fingers–small sausages, baby carrots

Hair–steel wool, corn silk, yarn

Skin–fruit leather, tortillas, limp cabbage leaves

Heart–pudding or applesauce in a plastic bag, whole stewed tomato

Blood–chocolate syrup, corn syrup, maple syrup

Fingernails–seeds from pistachio nuts, sunflower seeds, or pumpkin seeds

Noses–avocado, mushrooms

Mystery part–tofu

This gross Halloween party game will be a hit with your little goblins this holiday. Part of the fun is just getting messy. Kids love to get their hands dirty, and when they can do so without being scolded, they take full advantage. Also, thinking something wet and mushy might be blood and guts makes them think it might really be true, even though a part of them knows it’s just pretending, and not really feeling wizard brains.

A game concept statement, or premise, is a short, direct description of the situation of a game. It describes the player’s goal, the opposition to that goal, and the means through which that goal will be accomplished. When dealing solely with the narrative portion of the script, the game concept statement reads like a screenplay pitch. Realistically, game play is described because it effects some elements of the storytelling. A short example might read as follows:

“In Trick or Treat the player characters have been trapped in the labyrinth of an ancient haunted house. They must escape by destroying adversarial monsters, avoiding traps, and solving the maze. Trick or Treat is a third person perspective action game.”

The goal of this writing is to give the reader a sense for the game. It should answer these basic questions:

• What is the goal of the game?
• How is the goal of the game accomplished?
• What are the challenges to the game?
• Where does the game take place?

Most people want to add marketing jargon and implementation specifics. This is simply a mistake. Reporting that is it is the best game ever, or that it will be available for the PS10 in 2020 just does not strengthen a concept. To put it bluntly, ths statement is about the concept. Concepts are general, high level notions. The concept of a car, for example, did not begin with the use of carbon fiber at the Indianapolis 500.

Do not include the following elements in a your writing:

• Game platform (e.g. for the NES because I’m retro-chic)
• Game rating (e.g. “M” for mature)
• Game play specifics (e.g. controls)
• Game programming details (e.g. uses recursive algorithms for speed)
• Marketing (e.g. “more exciting than a ride on a roller coaster”)

There are exceptions to every rule. There are times when it is important to add implementation details. These are exceptionally rare situations, such as a game designed solely to exploit a new type of controller or for use on a non-standard game platform. In these cases, it makes sense to touch upon the distinguishing detail.

If playing poker is your cup of tea, you already know that gathering with a group of friends for Dealer’s Choice provides hours upon hours of exciting entertainment. Dealer’s Choice poker offers a plethora of interesting and exciting fast-paced games with nearly endless possibilities. One such game, which happens to be one of my favorites, is called “Splits,” or “Hit the Number.”

Rules and game play for Splits are extremely easy to follow. To begin the game, two random target numbers are chosen, with the object being to obtain a point total as close to or equal to one of the two chosen numbers. More common target number choices for Splits include 7 – 27, 5 1/2 – 21 1/2, or 13 – 33. In each of these examples, there is at least a 15-point difference, and one of the sets even works with half numbers. This is for a couple of reasons. First, Splits is, a split-pot poker game, in which the winnings are almost always divided between at least two players. For example, in 13 – 33, at the end of the game, the gamblers nearest to 13 points and nearest to 33 points split the pot down the middle. Second, all face cards are worth a mere half point, while aces are worth either 1 or 11 points. All numbered cards are worth their face value. Therefore, if playing 5 1/2 – 21 1/2, it is possible to hit half numbers, as well as whole ones.

Splits is dealt out like 5-Card Stud with one major difference. The game is not even close to being over after each player has five cards. A player can choose to draw as many cards as he wants, even if he has already opted not to draw during a previous round. To explain, after antes have been paid, the dealer gives each player two cards in a normal clockwise rotation, one face down and one face up. For the sake of betting after each round, the player with the highest point total showing on the board starts off by either betting checking. After a round of betting, the dealer then (once again in a clockwise rotation) asks everyone if they would like another card. If at anytime your point total matches the amount of points required for that particular Splits game, then do not draw anymore cards, as you are already guaranteed half of the pot. A player can pass on drawing a card at anytime, then come back and draw on a subsequent turn if desired. This is sometimes done by a gambler to increase pot size if he is already locked in for half of the winnings, and increasing his point total, even by 10 points, will not matter.

After each round of drawing a card, a round of betting begins. When no one wants to draw anymore cards, there is a final round of betting, then the hand is over. The two players closest to the two selected Splits numbers with their own total points are the winners. Therefore, if you are playing 13 – 33 and you have 13 points on the nose, you split the winnings with the one closest to 33 points since those are your target numbers. Also, unless there are exceptions, a player can overshoot a number and still be closest to it to win (i.e. 33 1/2 points is still a winner over 32 points if playing 13 – 33). The only times a pot is not divided directly in half is when either one player can total both amounts by using aces (i.e. three aces will give a player both 13 and 33 points, like The Wheel, giving him the entire pot) or if two players are equidistant from a target number (i.e. if one player has 12 points and one has 14 points, they will each take a quarter of the pot, while the player closest to 33 points takes the other half). And since two people usually end up splitting the winnings, pot sizes in Splits can become fairly large, adding even more excitement to an already fun-filled, Dealer’s Choice poker game.

Even if by some odd reason you become bored with Splits, variations can be easily utilized. Some ideas include changing the dealer after each betting round, using number combos that are further apart (like 21 – 51 or 9 1/2 – 44 1/2), just counting red cards and making black cards worth zero points, or not being able to exceed your target number (as in Blackjack or 21). Whatever options you decide to choose will definitely increase the excitement level of the game. In fact, even without any variations applied, I am sure you will find Splits to be very fulfilling, constantly keeping you on the edge of your poker seat.