Happily Ever After - the Parlor Game

A simple game with no board, no tokens, no cards, no pens or pencils, "Happily Ever After" is a game that can be enjoyed in any of a number of settings. Families can play it, with young children competing equally with parents. Friends around a tavern table can play, though the results are likely to be much bawdier than what would come from the family hearth. Clerics can use the game to reinforce lessons with their flocks. The only requirement is the basic command of a language common to all players, and the ability to come up with snippets of a story on the fly.

The Rules

The gameplay is quite simple. The objective is for the entire group to fabricate a story - a fable, children's tale, historical lore, anything. Sometimes, the genre is decided by the group before play starts, other times there is no limit placed on the type of tale to be woven. The tale itself is constructed three words at a time, with each player adding three words to whatever has gone before. The player to begin the tale must start with the three words: "Long, long ago". Play then proceeds around the table... or room... or whatever the gathering space may be, with each player in turn adding three more words. They may continue an existing sentence, or end once sentence and start another. Thay may continue a story theme that has been developing, or they may switch to a new story line entirely. The only requirement is that the narrative must be grammatically correct.

Scoring and Winning

Winning the game is simple. Whenever a player's turn arises, and that player is given a lead-in by the prior player such that the three words "happily ever after" are linguistically appropriate, the player whose turn it is may end the story by using those words. Doing so gives that player a point, and that player then starts the next story (with "Long, long ago"). Any time a player's three words are deemed to be grammatically incorrect, a point is deducted.

In reality though, most people who play the game do not keep score at all. If a good story is being woven, a player is likely to deliberately skip the opportunity to win just to keep the story and game going. In these situations, nobody pays attention to points. Bad grammar offerings are corrected by the player in question and play continues.