The goal of the game is bonding. You bond by guessing each other.

The bachelor party organizer tasked me with creating an activity. Here’s what I did:

The Method: 

0. Learn the constraints. How many people? What duration? When? Where? Vibe (chill/athletic).

• 10 people, 60-90 minutes, outdoors sitting around a firepit

1. Learn the goals. 

• First or second activity at a bachelor party: bonding, getting to know each other.

2. Select a theme. 

• The groom loves Pokémon, so Pokémon it is.

3. Coalesce. What is the easiest way to achieve the goals in theme?

• A simple game of “who’s that Pokémon.” 

4. Research. 

• Ask the groom: what Pokémon would each person be, and why?

5. Make simple game. 

• Show a picture and read a description of the Pokémon, then see who can guess which person it is. Then read the groom’s description of them and prompt new guesses. Repeat for all people.

Bing, bang, boom.

The Field Report 

We ran the activity today. 8/10 people enjoyed it. 1/10 demonstrated boredom two-thirds of the way through. The last 1 gave side-eye throughout the entire night, so it’s probably not exclusively about the activity that he gave it side-eye too. 

No one was offended. Most people enjoyed their Pokémon. When the experience dragged, we sped it up. 

My one misstep: after my own Pokémon was guessed, I forgot to have the groom describe why I am the Pokémon he said I am. (This step existed to enable group understanding and friendship-forming and bonding.) So the event worked well for everyone else, and only 80% well for me. 

8/10 and 80%? Sounds like a win.

I originally met the groom on an interview tour of an arts school. We connected because I was the most aggressively-forward social butterfly in the group: during the hour-long tour, I spoke with every single one of the 20 aspiring students. The groom had noticed my occupying this social position, and therefore decided he didn’t want to meet me, from a “this social position only has room for one” mentality. Having met everyone himself, we finally chatted in an elevator near the end of the tour. The conversation was so delicious we went out for drinks that night and spent a decent part of COVID playing video games together from a distance. 

I didn’t have the chance to be introduced to the group? Sounds like it’s time to turn on that social butterfly again, introducing the rest of the party to the same version of me that’s the reason I’m here at all.