Zaturdays: Games of SKATE

Before we all started spending every second staring at our phones we used to actually talk to each other. Especially on road trips. With hours to kill each day, and no Instagram, we’d pass the time by playing games of SKATE. I’m not talking the one they play at the Berrics. I’m talking about games of SKATE you can play while sitting there in the car, driving. You should try it. Here are four you can start with. If you have more, by all means, spill ‘em.

LETTERS

This one is really easy and can go for hours. Here’s how it works: I say the name of a pro, and then you have to name a pro whose first name starts with the same letter of my skater’s last name. So if I pick Andrew Reynolds, you need to think of a skater whose first name starts with the letter R. Like…Ryan Lay. Then the next person in the game has to come up with a skater whose first name starts with L. So…um…Louie Lopez. The other rule is that if I come up with a name where both the fist and last names start with the same letter, like Louie Lopez, then the order reverses. Simple. To make games go quicker, narrow the pool of names by limiting the choices to 80s pros, or 90s vert skaters, or amateurs, or skaters from various other countries, or whatever.

GOOFY OR REGULAR

You’ll need your phone to verify some of these, but test your skate stance knowledge and put a ten second time limit on it. Cyril Jackson, goofy or regular? You’re running out of time!

LINES

This game is by far the toughest. It’s just like putting together a line in the streets. Here’s how it works: I start by naming a pro, and then, as a group, see if you can add another name to it that begins with the last syllable of that persons last name. For example, if I start with Christian Hosoi. You’d add a name that starts with a sound that rhymes with “soi.” Miraculously, the group comes up with Soy Panday. From there, Daewon Song….and then.??? This one is will be way easier with a big group. You get a double high five if you can get last and first names to completely overlap.

LISTS

This isn’t so much a game as it is an attempt to talk about skate stuff. You probably all do this already. For you kids, it also works well via group chat. Come up with topics, like Skaters Who Should Have Had Way Better Careers, Pros With the Worst Styles, Best ATV Skaters, Most Successful Pros that Did the Least, Biggest Kooks in Skating, etc. These lists will provide hours of entertainment, debate, and general engagement with your fellow skaters. And you might learn something.