Consequences (game)

Consequences is an old parlour game in a similar vein to the Surrealist game exquisite corpse and Mad Libs.^[1]

Each player is given a sheet of paper, and all are told to write down a word or phrase to fit a description ("an animal"), optionally with some extra words to make the story. Each player then folds the paper over to hide the most recent line, and hands it to the next person. At the end of the game, the stories are read out.^[2]

Example game

The exact sequence varies, but an example sequence given in Everyman's Word Games is:^[2]

An adjective
A man's name
The word met followed by an adjective
A woman's name
The word at followed by where they met
The word to followed by what they went there for
The words he wore followed by what he wore
The words she wore followed by what she wore
What he did
What she did
The words and the consequence was followed by details of what happened as a result
The words and the world said followed by what it said

The same reference book gives the following example of a completed story:^[2]

Mediocre Joe met transparent Kim at the bowling alley, to dig for gold.
He wore a seafoam green leisure suit.
She wore a sandwich board.
He poured a martini.
She looked at her watch.
And the consequence was, the band got back together.
And the world said “Somehow, I think I saw this coming.”

Variations

Consequences can also be played in a drawing version, sometimes known as picture consequences, where the first player draws the head, passes it unseen (by means of folding) to the second player who draws the body, then on to the third player who draws the legs. The composite person or creature is then revealed to all by unfolding the paper.^[3]

Although Consequences originally is an analogue game there are digital versions available, some of which are slightly modified and adjusted to a digital roam. Examples: FoldingStory™,^[4] Unfolding Stories,^[5] etc. The game has also been seen as a precursor to computer-generated literature such as Christopher Strachey's Love letter generator M.U.C.^[6]