Downtime on the Campground

Aside from hiking and the not so occasional swim, there’s a lot of time to fill on the campground. Depending on where we’re staying, there’s not always a lot to do besides find a café somewhere to hang out or stay on the campground and occupy our time. Games of tag and capture the flag have broken out with the extra challenge of not tripping over tent lines. Late night games of truth or dare occupied our time in the interior when we hid from the cold inside. Word games such as “contact” are a great time filler when we’re waiting for dinner to be ready. Many of the students on the trip have taken advantage of the beautiful Icelandic wool available here and learned how to knit. On relaxing afternoons knitting circles form and a lot of us will have some wicked cool scarves by the end of the trip. A puffin puzzle took up our five days at Holar University. When enough wifi is available. we even had a movie night. On clear nights, we’ve grabbed our sleeping bags from our tents to watch the sunsets and fight off the cold.

But the most time has probably been filled by playing cards. Within the first few days, it became a habitual way to kill the time. More and more of us, including myself, have bought their own decks of cards so that we always have one on hand. In an almost summer camp like fashion I’ve learned more games than I’ve ever known before. Below is a list of some of my favorite games we’ve played so far with links to their instructions.

1. President
President is great for big groups of people and was one of the first games that spread throughout the dialogue. It’s designed for five or six people to play, but we found that if you double the deck size you can get in a game of 12 or 13.

2. Egyptian Rat Screw
This is definitely more an aggressive game that is dependent on speed. I’ll be honest, blood has been drawn in scrambling attempts to slap the pile.

3.  Spoons
A classic that’s great for large groups. If you don’t have any spoons handy you can always play the variation “Tongues” that follows the same rules.

4. B.S.                                                                                                                                                  This game is about getting rid of all your cards, and sometimes to do so you have to lie. It’s a fun time, but bad liars (like myself) rarely win.

5. Rummy
I’d never played rumi before coming to Iceland, but it’s become one of my favorites. There’s countless variations of rules you can play, but the gist is to get the highest score possible by playing runs or three/four of a kind.

6. Spit
A fast paced two-player game that was a childhood favorite of mine. It involves getting rid of all your cards and slapping the smaller deck. As slapping games tend to do, this becomes aggressive and competitive.

7. UNO
Most people are familiar with the rules, but a word of warning: after a particularly spiteful game of UNO, grudges were formed that still have not recovered. You may enter as friends, but you risk the chance ending the game as enemies.

8. Coup
Another game I picked up on this trip. Depending on what cards you draw, you fulfill different roles that decide what actions you can take. Similar to BS, you can lie about your cards, but if you’re caught lying the consequences are dire.

9. Skulls
A quick game in which everyone bets to see how many cards they can flip before hitting a “bomb.”

10. Hanabi
A game where the goal is to create a stunning Chinese fireworks show. Cards of different colors and numbers must be placed in the correct order. The twist: everyone else can see your cards except for you.