The Lethe

While it’s not the first game we came up with, it’s probably our finest work up to this point. It’s a shame that playing a kissing game with your friends is freakish and so this will likely never be played. Especially since this game is based on small-town politics. So… at least it’s not a betting game? If you do end up playing this game, call me. Seriously. My number is 555-EAT-MY-SHORTS

How the game works:

Setup

Every player Starts with 5 tokens. These tokens represent your political clout. Use them sparingly.

( ˘ ³˘)♥(´ ❥ `)

Gameplay

You spin the bottle and whomever it lands on, you must kiss. If the person has already been kissed or the kisser, you choose the next closest person.

After the kissee and the kisser are decided, a panel of 3 judges is formed. One of the seats is taken by the kissee. The other two are given out in bidding wars. People use their political clout tokens to bid for one of the seats. The seats are given one after the other, in two separate bidding wars. In addition, once you spend tokens to bid for a seat, you lose them whether you get the spot on the panel or not. So spend your clout wisely. The seat goes to the highest bidder once nobody is able or willing to outbid them. 

Then, the kiss is performed. The judges will score the kiss out of 10 based on its quality – write their scores privately on whatever notation method you have, to ensure honesty. Then, scoring is decided.

( ˘ ³˘)♥(´ ❥ `)

Scoring

The kissee is not able to earn points, as there shouldn’t be political motivations influencing their judgement. Kissers earn points via averaging the scores of the panel of judges (The mean score, rounded up). Finally, the judges besides the kissee earn points by getting their scores as close as possible to the kissee’s ruling. After all, you don’t want to stray too far from the opinions of your constituency. No matter how strange or reprehensible their rulings may be, you must cater to them. So, the points you earn are equal to 5 minus the difference between your score and the kissee’s score (minimum 0). E.g. The kissee gives the kiss a score of 7. I, as one of the other judges, give it a score of 5. This means the number of clout tokens I earn is equal to 5-(7-5)=3 tokens. Get it? Good.

This game loop continues until all players have given and received 3 kisses. Whomever has the most political clout by the end, wins. May God have mercy on your souls.