Table Story

Age: Adults and children with good vocabulary/storytelling skills

No. of players: 3 or more (4-8 is good)

Equipment: None

Time: As long as you want (10 minutes+)

Aim: To keep a story going by adding to the existing story.

Table Story is a fun parlor game which uses no equipment and has no winners or losers. Any size group can play but 4 to 8 players keeps the story flowing easier.

1. Players sit in a circle around the table with the best story tellers sitting next to each other as the first and last players in the circle.

2. The first player starts a story on any subject with about 2-5 sentences. For example; “Harry and Mildred drove their little, old car to their local shop one morning. They bought some tea and sugar, and a packet of sweet biscuits for morning tea. Although they had visited the store every morning for three years, they realised something was different today.”

3. The second player then picks up the story and continues it for another few sentences before the third player takes over the story, and so on, round and round the table. Each player can add to or change the direction of the story but it must continue to make sense. A story about princes and castles may suddenly have aliens arriving for dinner or an enemy using a bulldozer to break down the castle wall! Players should listen carefully to the story as it is told around the table.

4. There are no particular rules for storytelling. However, players should be quiet and listen carefully without making fun of any other player’s story. Also, players should not try to influence the direction of the story to suit themselves when it is not their turn. New players can enter the game at any time, but they should have a good idea of the story so far before they begin.

5. The story can finish whenever the players have had enough of the story. For children, it may be reasonable to finish after 2-3 rounds, while adults may like to continue the same Table Story for half an hour or more. The last player should provide a good ending, preferably tying together all the ideas from the story.

6. A new story can be started, either with the same beginning or a completely new Table Story.

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