Names are important for games today. A name says a lot about a product, and can instill a sense of fun. For example, the name “Flibbix” comes from the words “Flip,” “Blend,” and “Mix.” These describe how you make a board game (or build a board game board) with Flibbix. Plus, we think the name’s kinda fun to say.

But some games are named for historical reasons. For example, American “Football” has a funny name, considering a foot only touches the ball a few times a game. It turns out that the game is a decedent of Rugby (or officially: “Rugby Football”), where you actually do use your feet on the ball…hence the shortened name “Football.” I guess they couldn’t call it “Handball,” since that name’s already taken. International “Football”—called “Soccer” in the US—seems to fit the name better since that game is still mostly about feet.

Back on topic, today we’re really not here to talk about names, but games. No matter what kind of football you prefer, there’s a classic indoor game that’s a blast to play. It’s especially a great game for those times when you don’t have any other games around: all you need is a piece of paper, a table, and a partner to play. Plus it’s a DIY (Do It Yourself) game. And we love DIY. By the way, you can mix this into your Flibbix game. Land on a Custom Tile and you can have a Finger Football shootout to see who gets to move ahead 8 spaces.

For those who haven’t played before, Finger Football is loosely based on the idea of American Football. The funny thing is that “Finger Football” is an even more mixed-up name, since there’s no foot or ball in the game at all. It’s a blast, though.

How to play:

Items needed:
- 1 piece of paper. US letter-size paper (8.5″ x 11″) works fine. A4 paper likely works as well.
- A rectangular table

Number of players: 2

How to Make a Finger Football:

Follow the steps in the images below to make your own Finger Football:

Playing for a Touch Down:

1. Flick or slide the Finger Football across the table towards your opponent’s end of the table. The goal is to get it all the way to their end of the table so that it’s sticking slightly over the edge of the table without falling off.
2. If you’re able to get the Finger Football to go slightly off the opponent’s end of the table, without falling off, you score a “Touchdown” (6 points). You can now try for a Field Goal.
3. If you slide it off their end of the the table, they can try for a field goal (see below) and get 3 points for making a field goal.
4. If you don’t slide it far enough (so it’s on the table, but not hanging off), then the other player “receives possession” and it’s their turn to take a shot for a touch down….from wherever the football is located.
5. If the football goes off of the sides of the table, it’s out of bounds, and the other player can go for a touch down from the point where it went off the table… or straight across the table from that point.

Playing for a Field Goal

1. You or your opponent should hold your thumbs and index fingers in the shape of an “L” and a backwards “L” so that the index fingers point at each other and thumbs point up. It should look the bottom corners of a picture frame. That’s the field goal.
2. You or your opponent hold the Finger Football so one point of the triangle is resting on the table, one held by a finger on top, and the third points towards the field goal.
3. Try to “flick” the Finger Football between (through or above) the field goal posts
4. Made it? Add an extra point to your touchdown.

Goal of the Game

There aren’t strict rules about how many points it takes to win the game. Pick a target number of points before you begin playing. Maybe 40 is a good number for you, or 60.

Or just play as long as you have time, and see who has the most points at the end.

That’s it! Have fun.

One of our little ones had some friends over on a rainy day, and the kids were all playing hide-and-seek in the house. They were having a blast, but hide-and-seek gets kind of old once you’ve been “found” and are waiting for others to get caught. Or it’s a lot of work if everyone hides, but the person who’s “it” only has to find one person.

To get all of the kids more involved, I suggested they give “Sardines” a try. They all looked at me like I was speaking Sanskrit or something. Turns out that none of the kids had ever heard of the game Sardines (including mine…I know, I know).

Every kid should experience the excitement of Sardines…you wait until found, then the person who finds you has to hide with you. After a while, the hardest thing was trying not to laugh (or keeping the person with you from laughing). But that was half the fun. And then more and more people try to squish into the hiding spot and stay quiet enough to keep from being found.

After their blank stares, I suddenly felt old or something. It was like I’d said I could buy a hamburger for a nickel back when I was young. Or that I remembered back when it was horses, and not cars that roamed main street. But, then it got me thinking of the wealth of great games that are out there.

So, we’ll be resurrecting fun, old game ideas from time to time and posting them here. Some of these may be related to Flibbix in some way, or maybe they won’t be. Almost anything can be rolled into Flibbix if you want (land on Custom Tile and you have to play one quick round of Sardines). But either way, it’s worth digging up some forgotten gems. And Sardines seems like a great place to start. So without further ado:

How to Play Sardines

Players: You’ll need at least 4 players. The more, the better.

How to Play:

1. Choose a person to be the “Sardine” (to hide). Everyone starts in one room.
2. The Sardine leaves to go find a hiding spot while everyone counts to a nice, high number (give it 50 or so).
3. Once the group is done counting, players split up and try to find the Sardine.
4. The first person who finds the Sardine hides in the same spot as the Sardine.
5. The next player who finds the first two players, hides with them as well.
6. Repeat this until the last player finds everyone else hiding together.
7. For the next round, the person who found the Sardine first gets to be the sardine.

Tips: It’s best to play in a place that has hiding spots large enough for a few people to hide together. And, you’ll want to search alone, if possible. Half the fun of the game is finding the other players without having others know you found them.

Have fun playing! If you have other forgotten game gems that we should highlight, drop a note in the comments.