Invention Game Rules

When this game was proposed I told the committee that it would be too confusing but the proposer said, “No, it’s simple. Really.” Yeah. So much for simple. If I were judging

The judge announces that the game will be Invention with the judge choosing 4 contestants.  The actors will be given the name of an invention.  The four actors will depict a scene regarding how the object was invented. For example, the judge might call “The Invention of the toothbrush.” One actor becomes a caveman dentist with an assistant. A third caveperson enters moaning and groaning with a toothache. The dentist asks how the moaner cleans his teeth. The moaner says he uses a rock. The final patient moans and groans and we find that he/she uses a tree branch. Bad idea. The dentist then plucks a few hairs from his pet saber tooth tiger, squeezes them together and says. “Here! Me call it ‘Toothbrush!’” Ideally the judge will let the scene go until the object is actually invented, but if time is a problem then the scene may be stopped at any time.  b: The invention of Ketchup. Columbus and crew are sailing across the Atlantic Ocean and they’ve been eating fish for 30 days straight, getting very tired of it. They try various things on their fish sandwiches to improve the taste. . . salt water, whiskey, parrot feathers. All are yucky. Then a crew member accidentally steps on a tomato and the juice squirts out onto another seaman’s fish sandwich. “Avast! This be mighty tasty! Let’s call it Ketchup!”  The performers will continue until the judge says, “Stop!” The game may be repeated with a new prompt.  The invention will be provided by the IESA.