Games


    1. What is ZAR?
      A card game similar to Uno, but much more fun. Popular in 1988-1992. It had all but died out by 1995. The game was brought to Blacker by Mark Montague (fr: 1985, grad: 1993) who had found it in a store in the Bay Area. As the game caught more decks were sold in Blacker. The game became a great coffeehouse past time as they had two decks for use. The game then spread to Dabney. The downfall of the game was that the game went out of print and most of the existing decks graduated. Blacker played with a number of Hovse rules that made the game a little more intereesting. ZAR is now back in print and can be found here.

    2. What is a game called Sweat?
      A two player game played on a standard pool table using the cue ball and a second ball.
      Rules
      • You must win by 2 points--games are usually to 5 points.
      • All tosses must be made from behind the base line of the table.
      • The opposite side of the table is defined to be the half of the table farthest from the tosser, with the middle defined by the line between the two middle pockets.
      • If a toss leaves the table and lands somewhere other then the table, the thrower looses the point.
      • If the object ball leaves the table and lands somewhere off the table, the player who hit the ball last looses the point.
      • You may only toss the cue ball directly at the object ball if the object ball is on the opposite side of the table than the tosser.
      • You may attempt to hit the object ball if it is on the near side of the table, only if the cue ball is reflected off of a bumper on the far side.
      • When the object ball stops moving (is "dead"), the player who last hit it with the cue ball wins the point.
      • If the object ball falls into any pocket, the player to hit the object ball last with the cue ball wins the point. (Polite players will hold up sagging pockets to give the opposing player a fair shot of sinking the object ball in a nearby pocket)
      • Play starts with the object ball in the center of the opposite side and the opposing player behind the opposite side of the table. The server attempts to strike the object ball in any way they choose. If the object ball comes to a stop 3 times with out touching the object ball, the other player wins the point. If the server sinks the object ball without the object ball hitting any bumpers, it is called an "Ace" and the server gets the point.
      • The players alternate serving.
      • After the server hits the object ball with the cue ball, the opposing player must grab the cue ball and get to one end of the table or the other. The player may make as many tosses as they are able until either they hit the object ball (whereupon the other player has to get the cue ball,...) , or the object ball comes to a complete stop (and the player looses the point). Play alternates until someone wins the point.
      • If a player touches the cue ball out of turn, they loose the point.
      • If the cue ball falls into a pocket and the object ball is still live, the player may attempt to retrieve it from the pocket. If you are playing on a table with ball return, it is customary to place 3 balls on the floor near each end of the table to take


    4. Alley Dodge Frisbee
      A Game, usually played in Hell using a Frisbee. Two people take up positions at opposite ends of the alley, the throwers. One or more players are in between the throwers. The object of the throwers is to hit one of the people in the middle. The object of the people in the middle is not to get hit by the frisbee. If thrower hits a person in the middle, then the thrower moves to the middle. The hit player, then is removed from the game to await another turn as thrower. A new thrower volunteers. All hits by the frisbee are valid (richets, etc). The person in the middle may move around in any way that they wish. Play continues until people get bored/tired and less than 3 people are left playing.
      And interesting variation involves turning off the lights and using a strobe light.
      Smoke detectors are also frisbee detectors if hit hard enough.
Page last modified 22 January 2007