A 'game' for two players to play with a video game if the game itself fails to amuse.
You'll need:
- a game console with two controllers
- a game that allows both controllers to manipulate the menus
The objective is for one person to try and activate an option in the game's menus (like, starting a game) while the other person tries to get them as far from that menu item as possible.
I'll describe how we played it. We had Nascar Thunder 2003 on XBox, which is literally minutes of fun until you realize if you crash the game switches on an autopilot. Bored, I was wandering through the menus and discovered EA Sports' promotional stuff, of rednecks shouting "It's In the Game!"
I kept playing it, and my housemate kept hitting B to stop me, and trying to get to the 'start race' option. We furiously fought over the movement of the cursor with our two controls, me trying to click on the video sequence again, him trying to get to the race options. For five side-splitting minutes we struggled over who could move the cursor fast enough, or stop the other getting into the right menu. It sounds weird, but if you're a bit drunk then it's more fun than the game itself.
There is a computer variant which can be played on any laptop PC with an external mouse. My laptop allows for three players: one on the touchpad, one on the little knobbly joystick thing, and one on the USB mouse. The furious mouse dragging to get the cursor going the right way is a riot.