What were they thinking? (Part 2)

As promised, here are some more things I discovered about youth group in the 1970s!

2) Being "PC" was obviously not something anyone was concerned about yet:

COMBINED GIRL WEIGHT GUESS: Choose three boys and send them out of the room. Ask the girls (three) for their weights. Add them, and tell audience total. Then bring the guys back into the room, and ask them to guess the total weight of the three girls. Each one guesses, and the one who is closest to the total wins prize; losers get a penalty.

I have a feeling this game would never fly in today's weight-obsessed culture with eating disorders abounding! Besides, isn't there some kind of unspoken rule that you never ask a lady how much she weighs?

THE SIT DOWN GAME: 1. Ask the entire audience to stand. 2. Instruct them to sit down when the "if" characteristic applies to them and remain seated. 3. Encourage them to be as honest as possible. 4. If you have trouble because most are not sitting down, then give some general characteristics, such as: a. Sit down if you are under 15 (over 18, etc.). b. Sit down if you have on white socks. c. Sit down if you are in love.

OK, first of all I have to say that I did play this game in youth group. But we were given things like, "Sit down if you are wearing jeans; if you have brown hair; if you've never had a cavity" -- things like that. They do have some normal suggestions like that in here, but get a load of some of the things they also suggest for this game!

SIT DOWN IF:

You kiss with your eyes open
You went to the drive-in this weekend but didn't see the movie
You dated a loser this past weekend
You haven't taken a bath in a week
You kiss sloppy
You have a pimple on your nose
You are ugly
Your nose is crooked
You read this month's issue of Playboy
You believe in necking on the first date
You believe in necking before the first date
You still suck your thumb
You wear "baby doll" pajamas
You have dandruff
The person in front of you has dandruff
You walk funny
You weigh over 200 pounds
You are going steady, but wish you weren't
You have ever "two-timed" your girlfriend or boyfriend
You are cross-eyed
Your mother dresses you
You have never been kissed
The person in front of you smells
You are on a diet
You aren't on a diet but should be
You aren't on a diet, but the person next to you should be
You are really good looking

Can you seriously even BELIEVE some of these? My word, times have changed! If a youth pastor played a game where he said stuff like this today, he could probably be sued for something-or-other!

3) Youth pastors in the '70s must not have been too concerned about liability issues:

EXCEDRIN WAMP: Have each boy (4 to 6 -- or as many as 100 to 300) put a paper bag loosely over his head down to his ears. Each boy has a rolled newspaper. The object is to knock the other guy's hat off without losing one's own. No one is allowed to hold his hat on.



Yes, let's set a bunch of teenaged boys loose with paper bags over their heads and rolled-up newspapers, giving them permission to whack each other aggressively over and over. Imagine the fun -- especially if there are several hundred of them!

STABBING DUEL: Have two boys tie left wrists together. Each takes a banana in his right hand. The object is to one-handedly peel the banana and stab the other boy in the face. The first to do so is the winner.

Unfortunately, there was no picture accompanying this description. Maybe a picture of a boy with a banana sticking out of one eye wouldn't have made it past the editors of the book. By the way, do you notice how they left the girls out of these particular games?

PASS IT ON: The entire group forms a circle. Everyone is given an object which can be large, small or any shape (such as a bowling ball, a trash can, a shoe, etc.). On a signal, everyone passes his object to the person on the right, keeping the objects moving at all times. When a person drops any object, he must leave the game, but his object remains in. As the game progresses, more people leave the game, making it harder and harder to avoid dropping an object since there are more objects than people very soon. The winner is the last person(s) to "drop" out.

Yes, because passing a bowling ball or other heavy object around quickly in a circle will surely NOT end with said bowling ball or other heavy object being dropped on someone's toes.

4) I can't think of a sentence to describe this next game...let's just say it's somewhat lacking in spiritual discernment.

PLATE HYPNOTISM: Explain to audience that you have had some experience (in college) with hypnotism. Ask for volunteers, "Who will try hard to be hypnotized?" Give them a plate full of magic hypnotic power which they hold in front of them with one hand and you do the same. Then the volunteer does everything you do while looking you straight in the eyes. You rub finger in top of plate and rub between eyes over and over. Then rub edges and finally the bottom of the plate and rub between eyes. You have charred the bottom of the volunteer's plate with a match, so he rubs black soot on his eyes, unaware of what is going on. Work out a good solid routine for this and it is guaranteed to be a winner.


Guaranteed to be a winner! Unless the kids in your youth group go home and tell their parents that the youth pastor tried to hypnotize them.

5) And this game is just wrong on so many levels...

FUNNEL TRICK: Place a funnel in a boy's pants (in front). Have him tip his head back, then place a nickel on his forehead. The object is for him to drop the nickel into the funnel three times in succession. The third time, pour a cup of water into the funnel while his head is tipped back.



Mother: "Johnny, what did you do at youth group tonight?"

Johnny: "They stuck a funnel down the front of my pants and soaked me with cold water!"

(Even though in this picture it looks like the youth group kid is soaking the youth pastor -- which is slightly more disturbing.)
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Well, that ends our "blast from the past" look at one segment of 1970s youth group culture. Hope you enjoyed it! :-)

What were they thinking?

As the director of our church's library, I go through all of the books that are donated. We recently had a retired pastor donate his entire personal library: commentaries, Bible dictionaries, books on Christian living and theology and counseling; and then there were these two gems:

Wow, those covers alone just draw you in, don't they! Curious as to what it would have been like to attend a church youth group function in the mid-1970s, I began to thumb through the pages. Here are some interesting things I discovered (any italics in the quotes were added by me for emphasis):

1) Youth groups in the '70s offered plenty of wholesome activities for teenaged boys and girls, they of the raging hormones and conflicted emotions:

SQUIRM RACE: Place a volleyball (or ball of similar size) between the foreheads of a boy and a girl couple. Without using their hands, they must work the ball down to their knees and back up again. Their hands must be kept behind their backs and the two must start over if they drop the ball. Couples do not have to be of the opposite sex. Two guys or two girls will work fine but a boy-girl couple usually adds to the fun of this event.

Oh, yes...I can only imagine the fun, especially if your partner is the cute guy you've been eyeing across the pews!

GREAT SPAGHETTI RELAY: Divide the group into teams. Each person gets a potato chip (the larger, the better). Each team lines up, and the first person in line holds his potato chip in his mouth. A wet spaghetti noodle is then draped over the chip and the person must run to a set point and back without dropping the noodle or breaking the potato chip. On returning, he passes the noodle on to the next person, who does the same thing. The game continues, and the first team to finish is the winner. The rules: (1) No hands are allowed. (2) If the noodle drops off, breaks, or becomes mutilated, the player must return to the line, get a new noodle, and start all over.

This game must be especially exciting when you have the teams lined up boy-girl-boy-girl, as evidenced by this picture included with the game description:


Why does this guy remind me of Peter Parker from the 70s TV show "The Amazing Spiderman"? Must be the hair...

(Off-topic aside: I did not realize until doing a search for this picture that Nicholas Hammond, who played Peter Parker, also played one of the Von Trapp children, Friedrich, in The Sound of Music!)

ESKINOSE: Divide group into two teams, alternating by sex. First person has lipstick smear on his nose. Winning team is the one who can pass the lipstick the farthest in thirty seconds by Eskimo kissing (rubbing noses). Winners get Eskimo Pies.

See above picture again for an idea of what this game would have looked like in action!

And finally, we have...

JOHN-JOHN: This can be used for groups up to 500. Form a circle using everyone. Selected leaders start the game by running to a person of the opposite sex and yelling, "What's your name?" The person replies, "Linda." The leader looks behind himself and yells, "Linda-Linda...Linda-Linda-Linda" while doing a little dance similar to Mexican Hat Dance. The person (Linda in this case) falls in behind the leader, putting her hands on his waist, and together they run to the opposite side of the circle. This time they both do the above together. After they finish the little dance, Linda makes an about face. The leader does the same and grabs on to Linda's waist. The new person grabs on to the previous leader's waist. Now all three proceed to the opposite side of the circle with Linda leading. She would go to a boy. Each chain continues to get longer until everyone is chosen. There would be many chains and the object would be to keep from getting hit by the other chains.


Whoa there, guy in the stripey shirt...you're getting just a little bit too close for comfort to the young lady in the white mini-dress!

Stay tuned for more inappropriate youth group games from the 1970s!

TO BE CONTINUED...