Mingle Mingle / Sticky Popcorn

Instructions:

  • One person is the caller (this person is not a participant)

  • Everyone else is standing in a cluster or small clusters

  • The caller will direct everyone to “mingle”

  • A suggested prompt will be shared for participants to discuss amongst themselves. E.g.

    • If you had to become an inanimate object for a year, which object would it be?

    • What is a holiday that doesn’t exist that you would like to create?  

    • What is a pet peeve of yours?

    • Share something about yourself someone would not know to ask about.

    • Would you rather shoot spaghetti out of your fingers or sneeze meatballs?

    • What is your theme song?

    • Share your favorite dance move.

  • While they are mingling, the caller will announce a number (Ex: Three!)

    • Everyone must cluster into groups of three

    • Anyone not in a group is out of the game

  • If the announcer calls “Zero!” everyone must touch the floor.

    • The last person to touch the floor is out. (Or becomes the caller?)

  • Tips

    • Not every round needs a prompt – especially if folks are still discussing the prompt from the last round.

    • If you need to speed the game up, count the group and call a number that will eliminate 3+ at a time.

Praxis (why + theory):

Mingle Mingle / Sticky Popcorn is actually the merger of two similar games. I combine the two in order to situate participants into a whole body dialogue–the push and pull involved in the competitive components (when played with a spirited group, participants will literally snatch at each other in order to achieve the correct group number) is as integral to the experience as the prompts I throw at participants while they mingle. This game can lay the groundwork for Four Corners (subsequently described in this section) as participants rarely have time to get to the “why” but they begin identifying commonalities.

When played in the classroom, I usually infuse the mingle component with questions about an upcoming assignment so students can learn what others are exploring or I will ask students to explain their understanding of a specific theory we are discussing. 

Through goodhearted fellowshipping games like this one, we find people who can become our teammates, our comrades, our tutors, and more.