except this year there was no board involved. Mom opted for Pictionary Man. It’s like regular Pictionary, except you draw on objects. there’s a rectangular box-shaped thing, a sort of cylindrical part and—a man. with a butt. the thing you’re supposed to draw is digitally displayed on the guy’s foot and once you press a button, he keeps track of time, too.
it all seemed a little convoluted to me—trying too hard, Mattel?—but we decided to play last Wednesday when my Aunt Val, Uncle Mark and two favorite boys came to Pennsylvania for a belated Christmas visit.
well, the whole experience was sort of a train wreck. sure, it’s novel and funny to write on the little white man, but since one has to hold the object in one’s hand while drawing on it, it’s nearly impossible for teammates to see what is being drawn. it sort of takes the hilarity and insanity out of the game (i.e. “baby fishmouth! baby fishmouth!” — bonus points in my book if you can name that reference).
however—per the usual—having Scotty involved made the game so much better.
for most of his turns, he would consult with my Uncle Mark about what the thing was or a strategy for drawing it. but on one particular turn—the clue was "person"—i heard him tell his dad, “i know what to do, i know what to do.” he took to drawing on the white man what looked like a sort of Medusa. crazy hair, angry face, ugly glasses, some sort of…outfit.
then on the rectangular box, he drew a scared-looking stick figure. he acted out a little show, then, with the Medusa-like character seemingly screaming at the stick figure. the rest of us were yelling out things like, "teacher! mean parent! bully! getting grounded! Scott!" but were wrong every time.
Scotty kept miming the shrew yelling at the stick figure until time ran out.
"what was it?!" we all yelled.
and Scotty replied, "mother-in-law."
the laughing went on for about 10 minutes. we were pretty much doubled-over from laughing so hard. this kid is eight years old. where does he come up with these things?
[oh, and Henry gave the game a shot as well, though every time it was his turn to draw, no matter his clue, he drew a teacher. it was awesome.]
mbm
Posts
