To avoid getting shot, learn and remember names of the people in a group!
Bang! or (The Gun Name Game) is a game of name-recall that works perfectly amongst strangers as an introductions game, but is also a game of reactions that can be played in groups of people that already know each other. Younger boys especially will love it, because any time spent pointing fingers as weapons and shouting “Bang!” is time well spent — and perhaps we don’t even have to be all that young!
Bang! needs a big group to be played — ideally more than 12 people. It takes just a few minutes.
Rules
- Everyone arranges themselves in a circle.
- An organizer, who is not playing, calls out the name of somebody in the circle. For example, let us assume he called out the name “Frank”.
- Frank, upon hearing his name, must duck. The players to either side of Frank, upon hearing Frank’s name, must turn towards Frank with their fingers pointed into a pretend gun, and shout “Bang!”
- If Frank failed to duck quickly enough, he has just been shot, and is eliminated from the game.
- If Frank ducks to safety, but one player shouts “Bang!” faster than the other, the slower player is eliminated.
- If Frank ducks to safety, and both players shout at the same time, all three are safe and nobody is eliminated.
- If any player in the circle makes the mistake of ducking or shooting at the wrong time, they are eliminated.
- The organizer continues shouting names, as quickly as he can adjudicate the results, until only two players remain in the game.
Finale
- The two remaining players stand back to back in the style of a duel.
- The organizer starts callings names of anyone in the room. If the name is called does not belong to either of the duelists, both duelists take a step forward (stepping away from one another).
- If the name of one of the two duelists is called, both must spin around and aim a “Bang!” at the other.
- The organizer decides on a winner, or if it is too close to call has the duelists play the finale again.
To make the finale harder, the organizer could ask all of the eliminated players to shout random names during the duel. The duelists must only react to the voice of the organizer.
