Herd Mentality

Big Potato Games • 2020

A question card is read out — something like "Name a fruit" or "Name something you'd find in a teenager's bedroom". Everyone secretly writes their answer. Then all answers are revealed simultaneously. If your answer matches the majority, you score. If you wrote something unique, you don't score. If you wrote the only unique answer, you get the Pink Cow — a rubber cow token that blocks you from scoring until someone else takes it from you. That's the whole game. You're trying to think like the group thinks. Not the cleverest answer. Not the funniest answer. The most average, predictable, boring answer. Which sounds simple until you realise that everyone else is also trying to be average, and second-guessing what "average" means gets messy fast. "Name a fruit." You think Apple. But does everyone think Apple? Or is everyone thinking that everyone will think Apple, so they'll write Banana instead? By the time you've spiralled through three layers of meta-thinking, you write Orange and hope for the best. The Pink Cow is the perfect punishment mechanic. It's physical, visible, and silly. The person holding it is always trying to get rid of it. The threat of getting it keeps people playing conservatively. Plays 4-20 with no real upper limit. The game takes 20 minutes and can stop at any point. Question quality varies — some cards produce boring unanimous answers, others split the group in unexpected ways. You can also make up your own questions, which older groups often prefer.