Ideas for specific type of puzzle / activity / game

The Game Room
1

I’m looking for some fresh ideas.

I’m putting together some “passive” activities for a wedding reception to keep guests entertained while photographs are taken, etc. I have three activities in the bag, and I want one more. Each activity will be presented on a free-standing 18"x22" display.

To give you an idea of what I’m after, here are the three I’ve got so far:

(1) A display with entertaining anagrams of all wedding guests’ names. For instance, “Acclaims Ed” (as in Zotti) for Cecil Adams. (Or perhaps “Acid Camels”?)

(2) A “spot the difference” puzzle. I’ve photoshopped an outdoor photograph of the bride and groom to make two slightly different versions. Guests can search through the photos for the 14 differences.

(3) A “who said it?” quotation puzzle. There are ten famous quotes from the groom’s country of origin and ten from the bride’s. (The twenty names are given at the top.)

There are many possibilities for puzzles in general, but I’d like to find another one that satisfies two rather limiting criteria:

Criterion 1: It needs to connect to the wedding in some way. The above examples do this via (1) guest names, (2) picture of bride and groom, and (3) countries of the bride and groom (and all guests). A example of something that fails this criterion might be an aerial photography quiz, with shots of famous landmarks around the globe for people to figure out. It’s a good quiz, but it has nothing to do with the wedding. (BTW - I’ve already considered a similar quiz restricted to the two countries. It wouldn’t work for a few reasons.)

Criterion 2: It needs to be something people can puzzle over for some period of time. This eliminates pure trivia puzzles, where whether you know the answer or not, you’re done in, like, 20 seconds. I’m looking for at least some level of “extended playability”.

So… who’s got ideas? They obviously need not be perfect, as any ol’ suggestion might seed a new line of thinking.

Thanks!

2

My favorite activity at a wedding reception is “The Open Bar” game. In it, guest are giving the challenge of filling a cylindrical container with ice and liquor.

3

One of my cousins had a questionnaire contest at his wedding reception, with questions about the various family members in attendance (things like “Who once took a monastic vow of silence?”, “Who once fought a boxing match with a kangaroo?”, “Who had a pet bull as a child?”, plus one asking how many states were represented among the attendees. I knew several of the stories from my side of the family, of course, but not all of them, and most folks didn’t know any from the other side. So you had people wandering around trading answers with each other, and asking each other what state they’re from. I thought it was a great idea, since it not only kept everyone busy, it also encouraged everyone to mingle with each other, especially the folks they didn’t already know.

4

Bingo-every time you talk to/about a guest, cover the name.

5

There … I fixed it for you.

6

Yes, I imagine the “Open Bar Game” will be popular at the event, with several skilled players. Its suggestion offers a good seque into another, previously under-emphasized, criterion that has added to the difficulty of coming up with ideas:

Criterion 3: The activities should be “passive”. If they aren’t your thing, you can ignore them, and they should ignore you. This eliminates anything that forces game-driven interactions away from the displays, for example.

In other words, I don’t want the time taken over by the puzzles. This way, if someone is actually just looking to have conversation, there won’t be people bugging them with quiz questions or whatever. But, if someone is bored or simply enjoys puzzles (many guests will), they can shuffle over to one of the displays and pass the time.

7

A lone bump for the post-holiday-weekend crowd…