MetaChat - does anyone know what this game is called?

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10 December 2007

does anyone know what this game is called? its made out of paper, and the endproduct resembles four bird beaks, and you stick the indexfinger and thumb of both hands from below and you write down 8 (or 16?) options on the inside and you take a friend and you squak at them with a rhyme and they have to choose aaaaaaargh what is it

post by: sushiwiththejury at: 13:24 | 23 comments

That's a Cootie Catcher!

posted by jrossi4r 10 December | 13:25

We always called it a Chinese fortune teller, but I've also heard it called a "cootie catcher."

posted by occhiblu 10 December | 13:25

Sounds like you're talking about making a cootie catcher.

posted by dersins 10 December | 13:26

I think we always called it a fortune teller as well as cootie catcher.

posted by bassjump 10 December | 13:27

aw dudes. srsly teh awesumz. answered in one minute! merci bucu.

posted by sushiwiththejury 10 December | 13:29

oh wait. i'd chant something specific as a kid. do you guys have songs to go with it?

posted by sushiwiththejury 10 December | 13:30

Yeah, fortune teller. You'd find out the name of the man you would marry. I inevitably used to end up with Alvin Stardust or Noddy Holder instead of Donny Osmond or David Essex.

posted by essexjan 10 December | 13:38

Alvin Stardust? Is this Ziggy's long lost brother?

Did David Essex have a prolonged career in the UK? In the US, "Rock On" was his one and only hit.
(Great song on a mediocre record. Produced by Gus Dudgeon who produced most of Elton John's early output. Percussion on this song is by by Ray Cooper who is also an Elton John alum).

posted by doctor_negative 10 December | 14:01

In my pre-PC childhood we also called them Chinese Fortune Tellers. I remember once an older girl (I think she was 10!) told my fortune and said I would die poor and alone. But what upset me more was that she wouldn't show me how to make one - she said it was magic and I wouldn't make it work right anyway. My only revenge came via Madlibs and my knowledge of cruel adjectives - but it just didn't have the same oomph in the playground as the mighty Chinese fortune teller.

posted by Slack-a-gogo 10 December | 14:11

I've mailed my sisters for a rhyme they used with their girlfriends. Will post ASAP.

In the mean-time, here's a cute little book on the subject - only $1.99! And here's a quick history of the Catcher from Google Answers.

posted by MonkeyButter 10 December | 14:17

We called them "Finger Things."

posted by muddgirl 10 December | 14:42

Except we didn't have a rhythm. The outside would have colors, the inside would have numbers, and the very inside would have insults or fortunes. They pick a color, you count off the letters as you fold. They pick a number, you count off the number. They pick another number, and you read them the corresponding fortune.

posted by muddgirl 10 December | 14:44

Rhyme. We didn't have a rhyme.

posted by muddgirl 10 December | 14:45

Looks like Mud's got it (acording to my sis.'s. (Although I remember there being a rhyme related to "my mother.")) So, the colors and numbers where chanted out as the Catcher was moved. See PDF here.

posted by MonkeyButter 10 December | 14:48

A fancy-dancy one pictured at Wikipedia.

posted by ericb 10 December | 15:10

I've only seen two episodes of Southpark... the World of Warcraft one (so good) and the one where the guys decide to infiltrate a girls-only sleepover party and steal the device that only girls know about - the device that lets them see into the future. One of the boys pretends to disappear somehow and then reregisters at school as a girl and makes friends with the one that's throwing the party, goes to the party, spends all night begging to play the game where they predict the future. He steals the cootie catcher and brings it back to the boys. Of course, none of them can figure out how to harness its awful power.

Silly boys.

posted by iconomy 10 December | 16:40

i was trying to make one of these through sheer will power on Sunday while some kids at church stared with curiosity.

will power does not origami make.

oh, wait til next week.

posted by pokermonk 10 December | 20:28

I think we used "Eenie Meenie Miny Moe" for our rhyme. Or the pick-a-number thing described above.

Cootie catchers were about the same but didn't involve fortune telling.

posted by shane 10 December | 21:22

Actually, I think I personally usually just put bird faces on mine and bit girls with them.

posted by shane 10 December | 21:25

(Although I remember there being a rhyme related to "my mother.")

Hmm. "Eenie Meenie" ends with "My mother told me to..."

posted by shane 10 December | 21:31

Yes Shane, that's what I finally came up with, too. My dear friend told me that eenie meenie was used in conjunction with spelling colors and numbers. "And my mom says to pick this one." And then you find out the Leif Garrett is your soul-mate.

posted by MonkeyButter 10 December | 22:23

And then you find out the Leif Garrett is your soul-mate.

Right. I think I was supposed to be married to Cheryl Ladd by now. Or maybe Lynda Carter. Wow, I think maybe I had those two images hanging on my wall.

posted by shane 10 December | 23:58

It was: "My mother told me to pick the very best one and you are not it" at my school 30 years ago.

posted by brujita 11 December | 10:46

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