How to Play the Game "Usually I like Everybody"

The other day, I had the opportunity to get to know some tween girls. I love working and mentoring this age and teenagers. What this age always needs is to have fun and also to have caring adults. One of the ways I have found they can have fun is to play a game. We decided to play a game called "Usually I like everybody." The game is fun for all ages and it is easy to play.

Setting Up the Game "Usually I Like Everybody"

Count the number of people playing the game. Get one less chair than the amount of people playing the game and arrange them in a circle. Make sure that the chairs are facing in so that the people will be facing each other. Have everybody but the first person who is "It" sit in a chair. Have "It" stand in the center.

Explaining the Game "Usually I Like Everybody"

Explain that when people are saying "Usually I like everybody, but today I don't like people who," that it is only a game and none of it is true. It is a fun way of playing a game instead of saying "everybody who (has something, is wearing something, or likes something), get up and move.

When a person comes up with something that people may have, be wearing or like (for example, blue shirts), that person then says, "Usually I like everybody, but today I don't like people who are wearing blue shirts."

Easy Game Play

When everybody who is wearing a blue shirt gets up from the chairs, the goal is to sit down in a chair and not be the person left standing in the middle (unless you want to be It). In the easy game play, a person can stand up from his own chair and sit back in his own chair as long as he made sure that he got up from the chair, turned around, and went back to the chair. It also tries to sit in one of the chairs.

Difficult Game Play

In difficult game play, once the statement, "Usually I like everybody," has been said and people get up out of chairs, the rule is that the people who got out of the chairs cannot sit back down in their same places. Every person must be in a different place from where they started. The only person allowed back in the same place is the person who was It. This can happen if everybody else got to a chair before It was able to get to a chair.

Why Play the Game

The first reason for playing the game is obvious. It is a fun game. There doesn't have to be any other reason to play this game.

Another reason to play this game is to teach a lesson on being excluded. While the game is fun, what would it really be like if the person really did not like people who wore blue shirts? Would that have made the game feel different? Explain how something as simple as wearing a blue shirt can mean a skin color, a religious belief, or even the brand of clothing somebody wears.

Ideas for "Who not to Like"

One of the most difficult things for people to think of is who not to like. The most obvious place to go is with colors or objects that people are wearing or not wearing. There's the example used of "people who are wearing blue shirts." Other things that can be said that are like "wearing blue shirts" are "people who aren't wearing shoes," "people who are wearing glasses," and "people who are wearing any type of jewelry."

Physical attributes can also be used. Ideas for this are "people who have brown eyes," "people with a mole on one of their arms," and "people who show their teeth when they smile."

Another idea is to go to things people like or don't like. Ideas are "people who like ice cream," "people who like Brussels sprouts," "people who don't like pizza," and "people who like to play sports."

The last idea mentioned here is things that people have. Ideas are "people who have any type of pet," "people who own torn clothing," "people who own more than ten books," "people who don't own any music."

The idea is to be creative. There are many more options about what things can make a people be fictitiously disliked.