Spoofers

We went to our favorite Irish bar on St. Patrick's Day and found the place overrun by British sailors on shore leave while their ship was making a port call in Lisbon. A couple of the sailors joined our group for the night as we celebrated the holiday.

One of the guys was convinced that I was actually another sailor he knew named Kyle Blackburne.

However, the most important contribution the sailors made to our group was teaching us a game they called Spoofers. (Full name: Thank you gentlemen Spoofers.) The game is a strategy game in which the loser buys all the other players a round of drinks.

The game requires all players to have three coins. Each player puts any number of the coins, from zero to three in their hand and then holds their hand out in the middle of the circle with their finger pointed. The group then proceeds around the circle with each player guessing the total number of coins held by all players.

No player may guess the same number as any other player. After all players have guessed, players reveal their coins in the same order in which they guessed. If a player guessed correctly, they must stand at attention and say, "Thank you gentlemen spoofers" with a completely straight face.

If the player successfully performs the phrase, they are out of the game. However, if they laugh, smile, or have trouble getting the phrase out, they stay in the game and have to continue playing. This is repeated until only one player is left. The last player remaining must buy a round of drinks for the entire group, the type of which is chosen by the first player to go out.