So I mentioned Spotto and its variants. Part of the pleasure of this game is creating new versions on the fly – “Boato” has been going for a while and requires the boat to be in a very unlikely position/condition, for example in the middle of a roundabout. In Lesvos we were talking to some repeat visitors who explained that for them the flamingo is a symbol of the island, due to the large community that live in the salt flats, and so they had brought flamingo-decorated shirts, towels and indeed large inflatable flamingos. Which led, inevitably, to our latest game of Li-lo, which is called when you see someone carrying an unlikely inflatable object, ideally with some difficulty (eg a large inflatable alligator on a moped with a tricky cross-wind).
We also have a couple of house-themed games. “Maison a Restaurer” originated in France when, in the end, the seller is obliged to confess that a little bit of work might be necessary in order to make a building 100% watertight.
The trick with this is to find a building, or pile of bricks, that could still be sold with an almost-straight-face as a house. An iron-age tumulus does not qualify. Or hasn’t qualified yet, maybe you should start playing this game with us.
And the other one is “That’s MY house!” This allows the proud spotter to identify a house of just the right size, quaintness, maintained-ness and general just-right-ness that they would like to have bought it.
There are no practical considerations. It’s yours, if you claim it. I think there might be a rule that you can only have one or two per day just to force you to be selective. I bagged this house in Istanbul which I now believe is part of a mosque, but what the hell, it’s my game and this is now MY house.