Happy Holidays, everyone!  It’s been a long time since I rounded up a Shakespeare gift guide.  I’ve been pleasantly surprised over the years to see just how many Shakespeare games are on the shelves these days.  I’ve also noticed that when they come up, either on Facebook or Twitter, there’s always a slew of people saying, “I had no idea this existed, OMG!”  So why not take the opportunity to get them all together?  Some of these I have played, some I have not.  In full disclosure these are affiliate links, so if you end up purchasing something that looks good, it helps support Shakespeare Geek.

Let’s get started!

The Ones I Have

Munchkin Shakespeare

We have the regular Munchkin game at home, so late last year when I saw a Shakespeare version on Kickstarter I immediately backed it.  The game is a fun take on the “dungeon crawl” where you’re one of a bad of explorers trying to arm yourself with weapons, battle monsters and collect treasure on your way to level 10.  It’s primarily about the cards – draw a monster who comes with a fighting score, arm yourself from the cards in your hand in an attempt to boost your own fighting score to beat the monsters.  The catch is that the rules allow the other players to gang up on you, hurling curses that lower your score, adding more monsters and so on, so it really puts the “melee” into the combat.  The Shakespeare version comes with all themed cards, so you might run into “The Head That Wears The Crown” as your monster, a disembodied head that steals your headgear and uses its powers against you.  Or maybe you get the “Good Deed in a Naughty World” card where you can undo bad stuff that happened to another player, and gain a level for yourself.

Playing Shakespeare

 Ok, it’s only partially accurate to say I “have” this, as I used to have it, back in college.  I think it’s probably even out of print now, but it is still available on Amazon from third-party sellers. This one’s quite easy to explain – it’s charades.  All the clues are Shakespeare quotes.  You get to say a part of the quote, but then if your partner doesn’t know it, you have to act out the rest.  This one’s great fun for a theatre crowd who is at least somewhat knowledgeable about Shakespeare quotes, because some they’ll get, some they’ll have no idea, and some they’ll wrack their brain to remember how the second half goes.  I vividly remember my partner reading, “Even now that old black ram is …” and pretending like I didn’t know the answer because I wanted to see how she acted out “tupping your white ewe.”  🙂  And then there was the kid, I forget his name, who swore that he was the Henry V expert and was waiting for Henry V quotes .. but then when one came around, he got it wrong.

The Ones I Want

 Bards Dispense Profanity

If you think this one sounds familiar, you’re right – it’s a Shakespearean spin on the hugely popular “Cards Against Humanity.”  If you’ve not heard of that one, maybe you’ve heard of the children’s version “Apples to Apples”?  The idea is that you take turns throwing down a saying with some blanks to fill in, then the other players anonymously offer one of their cards to fill in the blank. The referee (whoever put down the initial card) then decides the winner of each round based on … whatever rules they choose, honestly.  Often it descends into the most outrageous combinations available.  For example, a starter card might be, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely ________.”  You know the answer of course, but it’s not about that, it’s about what cards you have in your hand.  Maybe you choose to play, “Cupid’s butt-shaft.”  Getting the idea?  Not your parents’ card game.  Apples to Apples is completely safe, Cards Against Humanity is only to be played by the closest of friends, this one’s probably somewhere in the middle. Doesn’t have to be dirty and offensive…but it can be if you prefer it that way.

Great Shakespearean Deaths

 I admit I’d never heard of this one until I went looking, and I’m still not really sure how to play it, but just from the look of the cards alone, I want it.  Every card appears to be a death, described and quantified. Lady Macbeth’s death, for example, gets a 0 for “Last Words” and a 4 for “Fairness”.  Brutus, meanwhile, gets a 6 for Last Words and a 5 for “Gore and Brutality.”  Not really sure how you score the game or how you win? But I like that it appears to have an opportunity for education since you’re almost certain to see cards for characters you’re not always intimately familiar with.  And it looks like it wouldn’t take much knowledge of Shakespeare to get started.

The One I Still Don’t Understand

When the topic comes up, inevitably somebody suggests, “Shakespeare The Board Game.”  But …

“Shakespeare Board Game” “Shakespeare – The Board Game”

which one??? Although the one on the right over there is technically called “The Bard Game”, get it? Even Amazon’s got the title listed as “The Board Game”. In both, you play an entrepreneur who is trying to run a theatre by putting on the best plays.  Are these two different versions of the same game?  It seems like it, but I honestly can’t tell. The images are different – the “bard” game works you around a path on a board, while the other one appears more card oriented.  I wonder if there’s some sort of cool backstory here where it started out life as the same game and then two people went in different directions with it?

That’s All For Now

There you have it, the best of the “games” based on Shakespeare.  Did I miss any?  I hope to put out a couple of these guides in time for Christmas, and I’d like to do something for “toys” to encompass all the crazy bobble heads and finger puppets that are out there (many of which currently adorn my desk).  If you’ve like to see a particular category let me know in the comments!

Obligatory Awkward Self-Promotion

I’m sure most of you know that I do have a line of Shakespeare Geek merchandise available on Amazon now, both short sleeves t-shirts and long sleeve.

 

I will not be doing a specific Shakespeare gift guide just for t-shirts, mostly because there’s over 100 designs available now.

Of course I’d love to sell many of them, those support the site more directly than the occasional affiliate link. Even if you’re not buying for yourself, maybe send a link to Grandma and Aunt Susan next time they ask you what you want?  It’s all about getting more Shakespeare out there into the world.  Thanks for your support!

 

You may have already heard, but Earle Hyman, perhaps most known to modern audiences as the grandfather on The Cosby Show, passed away this weekend.

But did you know, other than the occasional Shakespeare skit on that show (for which, we point to Bardfilm), that Mr. Hyman was in fact an accomplished Shakespearean actor?  Here he is, from 2016, talking about How Shakespeare Changed My Life.

Rest in peace, Mr. Hyman. Flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

Also, how did I not know about this series?!  Looks like there’s a good 50 episodes of famous people talking about nothing but Shakespeare.  I know what I’m doing over Thanksgiving break!

 

A few weeks ago one of the senior managers at work told me, in casual converastion, “We just hired somebody you’re going to like. He’s got Shakespeare on his resume.  First time I think I’ve seen that.”

“Cool,” I reply.  “What roles? What company?”

“I didn’t ask,” manager says, laughing.  “I was more interested in his data science experience.”

“Nonsense,” says I, “Everyone you interview has data science e

xperience. How often do you get to talk about Shakespeare?”

“I’d rather talk about data science!”

Later that day, the CEO himself swings by my desk to say, “Guess what?  You’re gonna love this, we hired a Shakespeare guy.”

“Cool!” I say, “Any idea what he’s played, or where?”

“Didn’t think to ask,” says the CEO who is now walking away, truly a “drive by” moment.  Then I hear him call out, “Oberon?” from the staircase.  But that’s the end of the conversation.

Since the hiring manager and the CEO noticed the Shakespeare and thought to bring it to my attention, I’m wondering whether somebody will bring this new hire around to meet me when he arrives.  We’re growing fairly rapidly at this point, maybe 2-4 people a week (for a 100 person company that’s a pretty good rate!) so individual meet and greets are rare.

At one point I meet a new manager, grey haired gentleman, older than me.  I wonder if it might be him. But he would have seen the Shakespeare stickers on my laptop, and doesn’t make the connection, so maybe not.

I’m at my desk a few days later when I hear behind me, “Is that Yorick?”  I turn to see a different new hire, who I’ve already met, pointing at the skull on my desk.  (What, you don’t have a skull on your desk?  I could take the easy way out and claim it was a Halloween decoration that I haven’t taken down yet, but I also went as Shakespeare for Halloween, so I’m just keeping it.)

This is my new Shakespearean friend.  He’s a much younger guy, I’m guessing probably late twenties?  Quite tall.  I ask what roles he’s played and he tells me, “Gloucester. Macduff. Oberon.”  Damn, not too shabby!  We talk briefly about the Tempest, which he tells me he’s interested in but not too familiar with, because he hasn’t yet had the chance to play Prospero. He hasn’t been with a professional company, he’s talking purely about high school / college experience.  Still, though – the opportunity to play that many major Shakespearean roles? That’s a lot of Shakespeare. I can only hope my kids get that kind of opportunity.

No clue how often Shakespeare will come up in the hallways. I’m very self conscious about boring people with my favorite topic, so I tend to let it come up organically and then jump in, rather than always being the one to bring it up. Now I know there’ll be at least one other person who gets my jokes!

 

This isn’t really much of a Shakespeare story but I’ve been starved for content lately.

This weekend my family was on a mini-vacation and saw a sort of travelling Pirates museum, sponsored by National Geographic, about the wreck of the Whydah.  As you might expect, I spent the time looking for Shakespeare references!  But alas, the time frame here was more 1700’s, so not a lot of Shakespeare to be found.

But I did find this funny story:

Pirates even performed plays on ships. The Whydah crew staged a play about a mock pirate trial called The Royal Pirate. A group of crewmembers, the worse for drink, missed the first act. They stumbled in — clueless that a play was being performed — just as one of the actors was being sentenced to death for piracy.

Outraged, they leapt to his defense, throwing hand grenades and drawing their cutlasses, breaking the actor’s leg, taking the arm off the playwright, and killing a member of the audience.

I think the visual is hysterical, though I can’t imagine how that worked in reality.  Just how drunk were they that it never dawned on them that they were watching a pirate trial on a pirate ship where judge and jury were all their fellow pirates?