Course Three: Practice 129
upon a time...” or “Long, long ago in a galaxy far
away...” or “When I was your age,” or “One time, at
band camp....”
So the way the Never-Ending Story goes is like
this: You start the story by saying something like:
“Once, long ago, I set out to...and this is what hap-
pened....” And you make up a silly, outrageous, funny,
weird sequence of events that took “you” to a bizarre
cliff-hanger situation—like on a TV series where they
say, “To be continued....” Don’t take too much time
in your turn—I recommend getting a three-minute
sand timer, and passing it around to each person in
turn to time themselves. Wind up by saying some-
thing like: “So there I was (hanging upside-down over
the alligator pit), and then....” And that’s when you
pass the timer—and the story—to the next person,
who has to pick it up from there, with “...and then...”
Each person continues telling the story in the first
person (“I”). The Never-Ending Story can go any-
where your imaginations can take it, as you’ll have
no idea where the adventure will be at when it comes
your turn to pick it up. The most important thing to
remember is, at the end of each turn, when the sand in
the timer runs out, the story-teller must say, “...and
then...” as he passes the ball to the next in line. There
are no losers in this game—everybody wins!Word Games
Hinky-Pinky: Hinky-Pinky is a traditional Wiz-
ard game—and a fun one to play in the car on a long
trip! It can be played with as few as two people. It’s
about creating two-word expressions in which all the
syllables of one word rhyme with all the syllables of
another. Depending on how many syllables the words
have, these are called “Hink Pinks” (one syllable),
“Hinky Pinkys” (two syllables), and “Hinkety
Pinketys” (three syllables). It’s played like this: You
think of a rhyme (the Hinky Pinky), and then come
up with a definition that you offer as a riddle. Other
players have to guess the Hinky Pinky that answers
it. Here are some easy samples—you’ll have to build
up your own collection yourself:“What’s a Hink Pink for an obese feline?”
Answer: “A fat cat!”“What’s a Hinky Pinky for a magical snowstorm?”
Answer: “A Wizard blizzard!”“What’s a Hinkety Pinkety for magickal embroidery?”
Answer: “Witchery stitchery!”The thing about Hinky Pinky is you can just
spring one on anyone who knows the game, anytime
you feel like it—even with other people around, like
in the lunchroom. This is my favorite word game! So,what’s a Hinky Pinky for the favorite beverage of a
Celtic Priest?Fictionary: Fictionary requires a dictionary—pref-
erably one with really obscure words. There’s one we
like to use called Mrs. Byrne’s Dictionary of Unusual
Words. This game plays best with 5–10 people. Ev-
eryone needs to have a little notepad and an indelible
pen. Each player in turn gets to be the Fictionaire and
take the dictionary and search for some really odd
word that no one playing would know. Then the
Fictionaire writes down the word on a paper and writes
under it three definitions, numbering them in random
order. Two of these should be completely made up,
but seem plausible; the third should be an actual defi-
nition from the dictionary (if there are more than one,
pick any one you like!).
Then the Fictionaire reads the word aloud to every-
one, and the definitions, numbers 1, 2, and 3. The play-
ers write it down and try to guess which is the real
definition, and write that number down on their
notepad. Anyone who gets it right scores a point. Then
you pass the dictionary to the next person in turn.The Wizard’s Cat: This game is best with at least
a dozen players, and can be done with many more.
It’s especially good around a campfire. Sitting in a
circle, everyone chants together: “The Wizard’s cat is
a _____ cat!” Taking turns around the circle (deosil,
of course), one at a time, each person has to fill in the
blank with a one-word adjective describing the
Wizard’s cat. But the trick is, each person’s word has
to start with the next letter in the alphabet! An ex-
ample might be:1 st player: “The Wizard’s cat is an Angry cat!”
2 nd player: “The Wizard’s cat is a Beautiful cat!”
3 rd player: “The Wizard’s cat is a Calico cat!”
4 th player: “The Wizard’s cat is a Dirty cat!”...and so on through the alphabet, and around
the circle. The chant has to move right along with no
pause between each turn. To keep the rhythm steady,
everyone claps on the main syllables: “The WIZard’s
CAT is a HAPpy CAT!” If someone cannot think of a
word when their turn comes, they have to drop out.
You can make it tougher as it goes along by slowly
increasing the tempo of the clapping. The game can
go on as long as you want, or until you reach the end
of the alphabet, or until there’s only one survivor.Wizards’ Whispers: (Say it aloud several times
rapidly!) This is a variation of “Telephone”; the more
players, the better. Everyone sits in a circle. You start
by writing down a magickal term and a short defini-
tion, just like in the Glossaries I’ve put here and there
in this Grimoire (in fact, you can just use these glos-- Practice.p65 129 1/14/2004, 4:21 PM