Last weekend, I got about an hour into a longish post about creativity tools that I use at work and in my personal writing. And then I hit the wrong key combo and lost all that work. Pissed me off. So I don’t want to re-write that post just yet.
Instead, I’m going to tell you about another creativity tool. One that I use with my 6-year-old son, Dan. Often on the back of paper placemats at Bob Evans restaurants. I’m not sure how it started, but I do know that I made it up myself at one point when Dan wanted to draw, but wasn’t sure what he wanted to draw.
The game is called “My Team, Your Team” (MTYT). Its rules are very simple.
1. You draw a character with a power.
2. I draw a character whose power cancels your guy’s power.
3. Repeat.
You do this until your chicken tenders and smiley fries arrive, or until you run out of paper, or until you are hysterical laughing. You can intensimify the game if you like by only allowing:
- robots and cyborgs
- bugs
- dinosaurs
- robot bugs
- cyborg dinosoar bugs
- aliens
- alien robot bugs
- fire and water powers
- underwater creatures
- things with wheels
- things without wheels
- blah blah blah
You get the point. You’re really better off playing free-for-all your first few times, especially with kids, as they go bananas on you. Really. The stuff Dan comes up with blows my mind. Here’s our most recent game as an example for you. We’ve started numbering the drawings as it helps us explain what the heck was going on to Chris (Mom) later.
1. Giant Ice-Crystal Guy.
(Dan) He is made of one giant ice-crystal.
He can blow super-cold freezing wind at you.
2. Waffle Iron Clam
(Andy/Dad) He’s a giant clam (yeah, I know he looks like a hamburger… so sue me) with waffle irons for feet. They are hot all the time, and so when he walks on cold things (like giant ice-crystals) they melt. Ha ha!
3. The Whistling Chef
(Dan) With a humungamoid pot of boiling water, this fellow is ready to make some sea-food chowder for everybody. But his real power is his musical ability. He can whistle a tune that no clam can resist (that’s what’s coming out of his mouth… the irresistable clam tune)! Drat! And the clams just walk up and hop right into the boiling pot. Ouch!
4. The La-Z-Bot
(Andy/Dad) A hard day’s cookin’ sure must make that chef tired, eh? So the La-Z-Bot just wheeeels up behind him all quiet like, and waits for the chef to sit down and get comfy. Then, when the chef is asleep, the chair rolls him to the edge of a clif and flings him off! Spoing! Please note the gratuitous antennae and radar dish, a feature of many MTYT bots.
5. The Chair Store
(Dan) Simplicity itself. This is the best chair store in the world. And so the salespeople (that’s them, the little black, stick-figure dudes) go out and round up all the chairs everywhere and bring them back to the store, where they are watched by the other salespeople (see them in the windows?). Trapped inside, the La-Z-Bot can’t get to the chef. Cursik!
6. The Caution Cone Ninja
(Andy/Dad) Moves in front of the rest-room doors whenever anyone in the chair store tries to use the facilities. Can hop, run, glide, jump, swing, etc., in order to cover any/all bathrooms. Eventually, the salespeople will need to leave the building to go potty, and the La-Z-Bot will be able to escape. Take that, Your Team! My Team rocks!
7. Girl Cone Ninja
(Dan) The female of the species. Note the curly hair, lipstick and eyelashes. Distracts the Caution Cone Ninja with her feminine wiles. Nuff said about that.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, February 8th, 2006 at 8:15 pm and is filed under .
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
February 8th, 2006 at 11:51 pm
Andy, this is awesome! Thanks for sharing the game you and Dan use. He’s an excellent artist, by the way. Sorry about the post you lost. That stinks. Happens to me once in awhile and really bums me out, too.
PS - hmmm, so how does such a young man know about feminine wiles? Are we that obvious??
February 13th, 2006 at 10:54 pm
Wow. Genius. The Chair Store? This kid has stolen my brain. A brounter if I have ever seen one. Be careful when he starts beating you at tic-tac-toe with one move.
February 18th, 2006 at 1:45 pm
I suppose, since you already fulfilled my earlier request for a post about poetry, it would be unfair to ask that it be retro-amended to “Hey, man, could you write some more posts about games — your posts about games totally rock.”?
Or, better yet, just write more about your adventures with Dan. And games.
March 4th, 2006 at 7:10 pm
Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant. I love the way kids’ minds work. Who could possibly resist the charms of the Girl Cone Ninja?
November 23rd, 2006 at 8:16 am
Wow - that sounds incredibly fun - I gotta find someone to play this with!
November 28th, 2006 at 3:36 am
that… is a genius game. o___o
August 3rd, 2007 at 7:07 am
I know it’s been said, but I too must call you a genius. What a great method to inspire creativity when kids are asking for suggestions on what to draw. Why not draw a game with them? Thanks for the great idea. I will be borrowing it for our road trip games with the kids.
October 24th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
[...] An ongoing match of My Team, Your Team. [...]
October 26th, 2007 at 1:30 am
[...] on the illustrator’s game of My Team, Your Team; Kevin Cornell and Matthew Sutter have taken to pen and the imagination of the ridiculous to [...]
November 1st, 2007 at 2:34 am
Brilliant game. Can’t wait to play it with some friends.
November 13th, 2007 at 5:46 am
[...] annulent ceux du héros précédent. C’est parti du jeu My Team, Your Team (qui vient de TinkerX). Y’a aussi Bayou Battle dans le même genre… faudrait organiser ça sur la [...]
November 14th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
[...] Superest sprang up as a result of a comment made on Cornell’s site by Andy Havens at TinkerX (listen up, you Pioneer Valley Comics Schmooze folks; I think we need to do some of these the next [...]
November 25th, 2007 at 9:18 am
[...] forum version of "My Team, Your Team" has been started by Tom Conger at the Brakenwood Forum. Bookmark [...]
December 2nd, 2007 at 1:56 pm
[...] is a great, simple little idea for a blog. It’s sole purpose is to play My Team, Your Team, a drawing one-ups the previous drawing. Works are mostly provided by Kevin Cornell and Matthew [...]
December 8th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
Great idea. I think a lot of people are finding out about it on The Superest…
I played a variation of it called “Mr. Snowman” — one person draws a snowman and is the appointed defender, drawing counters for all the attacks the enemy doodler comes with. Here’s an annotated edition of one game:
http://kisrael.com/2006/12/24/
December 9th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
Kirk: Neat idea! Thanks for the variation suggestion. I’ll blog that for sure.
December 9th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
[...] variation on “My Team, Your Team” has been pointed out by a reader; a game where teams of creations alternately attack and [...]
June 17th, 2008 at 1:18 am
Blogging this! What a great idea - and I don’t even have kids - but my husband and I love this sort of thing, and he’s sick, and it’s been rainy for days… so this is perfect.
October 15th, 2008 at 6:53 am
This is the best thing i’ve ever seen today
Thankyou for making me smile!
December 13th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
[...] According to the site this concept is based on the game My Team, Your Team created by Andy Havens. Some of you out there might think is ridiculous, but give it 5 minutes and I promise you will be [...]
March 14th, 2010 at 10:50 pm
People in the world take the home loans in different creditors, just because that is comfortable.
April 6th, 2010 at 2:41 pm
Now i am interested what CMS your website is built on? It seems to be actually good and I just like all the visitor features that are offered. I’m sorry if this is the inappropriate place to ask this but I wasn’t sure how to get in touch with you - many thanks.
April 9th, 2010 at 11:08 am
I must say that by and large I am really pleased with this website. After reading your post I can tell you are well educated about your writing. Looking forward to future posts.Cheers!
April 15th, 2010 at 5:10 pm
La trousse a outils de console de Shinobii est une trousse a outils de 19 pieces contenant tout ce dont vous avez besoin afin de demonter toutes les dernieres consoles telles que Wii, DSi, PS3, XBOX 360 et PSP 3000.
Naturellement, nous n’avons pas oublie les proprietaires de consoles classiques, donc ce kit inclut egalement des outils pour ouvrir les consoles plus anciennes telles que DS, DS LITE, PS2, PS1, XBOX, PSP1000, PSP2000, GAMEBOY, GAMECUBE, PSTWO, N64, SNES aussi bien que les cartouches de jeu.
April 15th, 2010 at 6:38 pm
I really love your site! Thanks for sharing and keep it up. I will be back again!
April 21st, 2010 at 1:40 pm
I don’t understand the many details put forth by you, but you do come up with a strong case!
May 4th, 2010 at 4:14 am
I am having trouble viewing your homepage in Opera. It’s all messy. Can you please help?
May 4th, 2010 at 2:34 pm
Another new write-up with logical points, We’ve been a lurker right here for some time but hope to become a lot more involved from now on.
May 7th, 2010 at 8:24 pm
man i can’t wait for this gamewow , i can’t wait for this game
May 8th, 2010 at 9:54 am
Me along with my hubby are expecting our first little one within four months’ time. As a soon to be new mama I am aiming to be able to find out as much as doable. This particular blog has been exceptionally beneficial. I am looking to get new material some the time in addition I definitely really like to learn and as a result I read quite a bit. If, perhaps you have got any authors and literature with respect to new mothers anyone could quite possibly endorse I definitely like a tip.
May 11th, 2010 at 3:53 am
What a fantabulous post this has been. Never seen this kind of useful post. I am grateful to you and expect more number of posts like these. Thank you very much.