Consequences is an old
parlour game
A parlour or parlor game is a group game played indoors using speech (from French Parler). They were often played in a parlour. These games were extremely popular among the upper and middle classes in the United Kingdom and in the United States d ...
in a similar vein to the
Surrealist game ''
exquisite corpse
Exquisite corpse (from the original French term ', literally exquisite cadaver), is a method by which a collection of words or images is collectively assembled. Each collaborator adds to a composition in sequence, either by following a rule (e.g. ...
'' and ''
Mad Libs
Mad Libs is a phrasal template word game created by Leonard B. Stern, Leonard Stern and Roger Price (comedy), Roger Price. It consists of one player prompting others for a list of words to substitute for blanks in a story before reading aloud. ...
''.
Each player is given a sheet of paper, and all are told to write down a word or phrase to fit a description ("an animal"), optionally with some extra words to make the story. Each player then folds the paper over to hide the most recent line, and hands it to the next person. At the end of the game, the stories are read out.
Example game
The exact sequence varies, but an example sequence given in ''Everyman's Word Games'' is:
# An adjective
# A man's name
# The word ''met'' followed by an adjective
# A woman's name
# The word ''at'' followed by where they met
# The word ''to'' followed by what they went there for
# The words ''he wore'' followed by what he wore
# The words ''she wore'' followed by what she wore
# What he did
# What she did
# The words ''and the consequence was'' followed by details of what happened as a result
# The words ''and the world said'' followed by what it said
The same reference book gives the following example of a completed story:
Variations
Consequences can also be played in a drawing version, sometimes known as
picture consequences
Exquisite corpse (from the original French term ', literally exquisite cadaver), is a method by which a collection of words or images is collectively assembled. Each collaborator adds to a composition in sequence, either by following a rule (e.g. ...
, where the first player draws the head, passes it unseen (by means of folding) to the second player who draws the body, then on to the third player who draws the legs. The composite person or creature is then revealed to all by unfolding the paper.
Although Consequences originally is an analogue game there are digital versions available, some of which are slightly modified and adjusted to a digital roam. Examples: FoldingStory™, Unfolding Stories,
etc.
References
{{reflist
Comedy games
Paper-and-pencil games
Party games
Random text generation