Green Bottles

national | history and heritage | opinion/analysis Saturday December 17, 2005 15:28 by Rt. Hon. Dr. O as if

a christmas or hannukah game for all the family .:.

Christmas will soon be upon us, the batteries will wear out, conversation will stimie, the turkey will curl and your spirits with it. Thus no more timely ocassion to remind everyone of the great and noble tradition of Irish Parlour Games.

There are many which will brighten your yuletide, and i've thoughtfully made a small selection which will challenge all ages and levels of intelligence.

There's surely an irish Parlour Game to suit you and yours on this little "human interest" list.
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& if one of those bottles should accidently fall, there'll be.....green bottles

(1) Solve the spy mystery. A bit like a local variation on Cluedo, "solve the spy mystery" can be played by any number of teams. There are the usual character names, and all you have to do is figure out -
is Mr X an IRA agent or a British agent.

you'll need background.

`Anti-Agreement wreckers must not succeed'
by McDoggle Wednesday, Oct 9 2002,
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=14108
"democracy protest at GPO by Justin Moran
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=13994
the C&P of the Irish Times that day
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=13737
How Justin (of SF) broke the news
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=13721
You'd be wise to remember this as well
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=19153

(2) Solve the spy mystery. A bit like "Call my Bluff!" this can be played by any number of people with only one condition "one must have gone to Colombia". There are the usual character names, and all you have to is find out "Is the minister a british agent, was Connolly a rebel socialist, and did the IRA do coke".

You're not getting the background on that yet.

(3) Pin the tail on the donkey. This is a delightful game suitable for the computer types amongst you. Set in a rural town in the west, all you have to do is "name & shame" the bastard.

You'll get the background on that.

(4) be the Taoiseach. This is a delightful parlour game, which allows you to "be in on" the Peace process and the Good Friday Agreement (not the one to crucify and mock the christ but rather the latter day GFA to mock and crucify the christ).

Your job is to ensure the setting up of a democratic assembly in the northern ireland statelet called STORMONT.

But no-one is to guess this, its your secret mission. As you'll see this a tricky game which puts the sly into crafty, and only someone who can excel at the other games gets to play "be the Taoiseach". All you have to seem to do really is mouth platitudes like "bizarre" and try and forget about the minister (the british agent).

some background info.-

http://www.sluggerotoole.com/index.php/weblog/comments/the_more_we_think_we_know/
http://www.sluggerotoole.com/index.php/weblog/comments/a_time_line_and_more_of_interest/