There's something intrinsically trippy about being a child; before graduating into the venal world and its cabinet of chemically-induced everythings, kids have to scrape by on their imaginations. And it's funny to think back on all the consciousness-altering games/activities I supported and engaged in as a kid, and how many of them featured consciousness-altering elements. These games all revolved around a breathtakingly simple and honest premise: "What if?" or also "Something looks like something else?!" Some such games:

  • "Walking on the Ceiling"; played while walking and staring into a hand-held mirror aimed at the ceiling
  • "The Chin Game"; there are probably a million names for it; basically, you locate a comfortable staircase, lie supine down them, instruct someone to paint a pair of eyes and a nose on your chin, and then you begin to talk as everyone struggles against incontinence
  • "Arms & Legs"; again: surely there are so many names for this one; the effect of the Twister shenanigans in the "set-up" promise to combine the torso of one person with the (usually flailing) legs of another. A towel or blanket draped across the tell-tale  incongruity. Again: diapers advised.

And that was twenty years ago; surely there are other consciousness-bending games out there currently that improve upon and flat-out surpass the ones I know. Anyone know of any others?