I love games, and I love my godparents and godsiblings for teaching me/introducing me to the cream of the group-game crop. The best things about Drawing Pictionary and Salad Bowl?

• You don’t have to buy it — free! Perfect for a college budget!
• You need only pens, scrap paper, and friends. (A bowl is useful for Salad Bowl, too, but really any container/bag/purse would do.)
• Both reward creative thinking.

How to play Drawing Pictionary:

Everyone needs: a writing utensil and as many small pieces of paper per person as participants. (So if six people are playing, every person begins with one pencil/pen and six small pieces of paper.)

To begin: Sit in a circle. Write a sentence on the top sheet of your personal stack of papers. It can be about anything. Examples: Hamsters enjoy Irish dancing in Times Square. Rabbits do not like pumpkins. The thunderstorm scares the elf.

Then: Everyone pass his or her entire stack of papers to the next person in the circle. Read the sentence the previous person wrote. Illustrate that sentence on the piece of paper between the top one. (So the sentence was written on page one of the stack of papers. The drawing will be on page two.) Slide page one to the bottom of the stack so only your drawing shows. If you are finished, feel free to put pressure on the remaining players to hurry up.

Then: Pass the entire stack to the next person. The stack you get should have the previous person’s drawing of the previous-previous person’s sentence (which you are not allowed to view). Write a sentence describing the picture you see. Put the previous person’s work on the bottom of the stack so only yours shows.

Continue as before, alternating drawing with sentences, until the stacks of paper return to their originators. Take turns reading original sentences and showing the progression of drawings and descriptions. Rabbits not liking pumpkins might have turned into elk eating balloons — it depends on the drawing and interpretive skills!

I’m not sure how clear these instructions were, so please ask questions in the comments below. Have fun!

Blue likes to play games too -- especially basketball!