Blog by Sumana Harihareswara, Changeset founder

13 Dec 2005, 12:14 p.m.

Mind Games -- The Good Kind

Hi, reader. I wrote this in 2005 and it's now more than five years old. So it may be very out of date; the world, and I, have changed a lot since I wrote it! I'm keeping this up for historical archive purposes, but the me of today may 100% disagree with what I said then. I rarely edit posts after publishing them, but if I do, I usually leave a note in italics to mark the edit and the reason. If this post is particularly offensive or breaches someone's privacy, please contact me.

My column this week discusses party games Taboo, Balderdash, and Once Upon A Time. I also address the fundamental problem to which party games are a solution.

Some of us need a foundation or a skeleton for a get-together, something to provide a structure for the evening, without which unalloyed conversation is as uncomfortable a prospect as a tightrope walk or an impromptu speech.