”Laklave” – The Titoonic Drinking Game
Is democratic multiplayer gameplay with highly dynamic rules, added and removed on the fly, a possibility? Laklave is a highly playable and fun real-life prototype of exactly that – It’s also a fun activity for your next party…
Back in the days – before we all got carried away on the Poker wave – we had a recurring event every time beer was involved Fridays at the Titoonic offices. We called it Laklave, it was our drinking game and it was all good. DO try this at home or in a similar safe environment – It’s fun!
The History of Laklave
The origin of the term Laklave dates way back to the late 90’s in the 3d animation department at A. Film in Copenhagen. The most commonly used penalty when you had made a mistake was called “Penalty Chocolates” – or “Strafchokolade” in Danish. It was very common to start shouting “STRAFCHOKOLADE!” when ever you thought someone qualified for a penalty.
Some day however, Tobias dug a grave for himself and shouted “STRAFLAKLAVE!” instead of -chokolade. It backfired of course and Tobias was immediately awarded the penalty himself. As time passed the term was gradually simplified into the current “Laklave” and the meaning was widened from chocolates to encompass basically any penalty object that you can be awarded or that you give.
Laklave Basics
The game is best played at the point at a party where things are starting to warm up and people are getting slightly silly. You will need the following items to play a successful round of Laklave:
- People
- Drinks
- Dice
- Laklaves (see below)
Laklave is played around a table that accomodates the number of active players. Make sure that you have a decent stockpile of drinks and at least a handful of dice.
Decide who starts the game by drawing lots. The starting player gets to introduce the first rule. From this starting point every player will have to add a new rule when he/she receives the dice. The rules that players introduce can be anything accepted by the majority.
If a rule is deemed stupid, not fun or out of line by the majority of players it is dropped, and the player has to come up with a new one.
When a player fails any rule in the sequence of rules, he/she is awarded a penalty object – a Laklave – and must make a toast and empty his glass. A Laklave can be any object present on the table or in the room where the game takes place.
The players decide in plenum what Laklave a losing player should be awarded. The Laklaves that players are awarded must be present on the table in front of them throughout the rest of the game.
When ever a player has been awarded e.g. five Laklaves he/she is out of the game. The game continues until only one player is left.
Laklave Play-through
A play-through could take place like this:
Thor introduces the first rule “I must roll 12 or more” and rolls the dice. He rolls 14 so he abides the rule he introduced.
The dice are passed on to Britt who repeats Thor’s rule and adds “You must roll the dice with your right hand while holding your left hand on the back!” She rolls 18 with her right hand while holding the left on her back.
Thomas is next in line. He adds a new rule – “You must say: Long live Kylie Minogue! when rolling the dice!” He rolls the dice with his right hand while holding the left on his back while saying “Long live Kylie Minogue!” and states that he must roll 12 or more. He rolls 16 and and passes the dice on to Hans-Henrik who is getting a bit drunk at this point.
Hans-Henrik – who is left-handed – rolls 21 while shouting “Long live Kylie Minogue!” Only he rolled the dice with his left hand and the rest of the table cheers and taunts him. As a penalty he is awarded a pepper grind (a Laklave) and he must make a toast.
The game is reset, and Hans-Henrik gets to start it all over again by making the first rule of the new round.
Cheers!
Drinking games are among the most basic of games as they are played by increasingly drunk people. Yet they can serve as an interesting proving ground for multiplayer gameplay.
In this case we see that something as abstract as democratic on the fly addition and evaluation of rules to a game, can cater great fun for the players – as long as they don’t get too drunk to play.