Blammo

Blammo is a popular Lancaster game, recently adopted at Los Angeles, Loudonville, Baltimore, and Carlisle. The game is also commonly spelled "Blamo" or "Blamm-o." Two rounds usually occur each session (even if the first/second doesn't finish), but get in early.

Rules/God

The organizer of a game of Blammo is designated that game's "God." He or she supervises every aspect of the game, including making the list, distributing spoons, keeping track of blammoed players, sorting out disputes, keeping track of who is stalking whom, etc. S/he also has the ability to Godblammo regular players and remove them from the game, regardless of any otherwise applicable Blammo rules.

Any who would like to play must search out the current game's God, usually in the Alcove during meals. When the game begins, God hands a plastic spoon to and designates a target for each player. The players then go through their daily lives while quietly stalking their targets. Each player must learn to function holding his or her spoon. When a player sees his/her target without a spoon, outside of designated safe zones/times, s/he should run up and playfully hit the target with his/her spoon and yell "BLAMMO!" The target would then be out. The player then relieves his/her former target of their spoon, asks who they were stalking, and pursues that target in the same manner. All Blammos should be reported to God, as well as disputes.

Past Games

2005

Will Colmer presided over both Blammo games in 05.2. The second game's winning title was shared by Iris Hood and Nikka Rosenstein. --Nixxi 19:57, 12 Aug 2006 (MST)

2006

Rachel Todd was God for the extremely extensive first game of Blammo, and taped a spoon to the Jesus staff. She only Godblammoed those who did not have their spoons; however, as the second week's end approached, she took out everyone with no kills, and so on. The 06.2 game was so unbelievably long that it never ended; four people "won." (I declared Lowell the winner because out of the four he had the most kills. ~Rachel) The next game had two Gods, Kai and Rosie, was limited to 42 people, and also continued without close.

2007

Zev presided over both games of the 07.1 session. The first game had 42 people, and was played with straws. This game was ill-played and quickly became two circles of stalkers. The next game of Blammo was with spoons. This game was huge(68 people) and was never finished. Many of the people were in both games of Blammo. This year, there were no "true winners". (Zev would like to say the reason there were circles was not because of the list; it was perfect when Zev checked it over.)

Laney was the main Blammo God of 07.2, although there were one or two unofficial games. The first game of Blammo was limited to 42 people, but so many people were angry at their exclusion that the RAs forced her to either start a new, nonexclusive game or shut down the existing one. People who wanted to be in the second game were supposed to give their names to their RAs. Eventually a new game started, but Laney never received a list of names and is extremely fuzzy on how the new game came about or who was organizing it. EB Saldaña won the 42-person game on the last day, due to the end of camp.

(Also, Laney would like to say that ending up with two circles of stalkers is poor planning on Zev's part, and if everyone used her organization method all would be fine - but she has shared that method only with a handful of people, since otherwise people would be able to actually understand her coded lists.) (Yeah, how do you get two circles?? --Max) (The second game was run by Siri, but it wasn't very organized... nobody reported their kills and a lot of people didn't have stalkers or were being double-stalked. -The Fjørker) (Indeed. When we signed up we were asked if we wanted to stalk somebody random, or somebody on our hall. Given the staggering number of people playing, most of us chose hall-mates, so there were numerous hall-size circles. As of this moment I am still my own stalker. ~Mint Sharpie)

Blammo was also played at CTY CLI SFSU in 2007, in which Peter Treadway was the Blammo God, and Jayme Weber won... it was a completely campuswide game which had a really cool effect... lots of faculty/staff played too. Jayme Weber and Chris Ramsey were known as the "Blammo couple" as they were incredibly intense about it... Chris came in 2nd

2008

• Due to an influx of former Lancaster students at Siena in 08.1, two games of Blammo were played with spoons during that session, with Becca G. as God. Neither had a satisfactory conclusion.
• Two games of Blammo were played at Los Angeles in 08.1. The first was a rather small game, led by Maggie G. as God. This ended in a tie, at which point one of the two winners chose to drop their spoon and lose. The second game, with Sarah S(ch). as God, began with a large number of people. In the first day, roughly five people went out. Emma M. won the second Blammo game, and was awarded a chocolate straw. Both games were played with spoons.

Also, two games were played at Los Angeles in 08.2. The first was a game of about 15 people, and Emma was God of that game. Except for three people[Bri, Allegra/Jackie, and Chelsea], everybody was out by the first dance; however, after Bri. "commited suicide"[aka dropping her spoon on purpose], the game continued into Saturday. A dual loss was planned, however, Chelsea, who was in the same hall as Allegra, blammoed her merely an hour before the loss was planned. The second game that was played was God-ed[?] by Lyra, a flying squirrel from LAN.07.1. Many people were blammoed within the first day [the writer of this section remembers blammoing 5 people simply during dinner] but a group of people [even though they knew who was stalking whom] continued playing until the second dance. This time, the dual loss that was planned [between Danika and Chelsea] was actually carried out. They both ceremoniously tossed their spoons up in the air and simultaneously blammoed each other, thereby ending the game. Coincidentally, of the four blammo gods at LOS in 2008, 3 of them lived in the same room, and two of them were flying-squirrels from lancaster. (Maggie and Sarah were roommates, and Lyra was in their room second session. Maggie was also a flying squirrel.)

2009

Elena Karras was Blammo God at Lancaster in 09.1, and there were three games. The first one was fairly well organized, and got down to about 20 people. The second game was only what could be described as a mess, with circles springing up all over the place due to people with the same name and the general craziness of the first weekend when Elena did the target list. Elena eventually declaring that anyone could blammo anyone in the second game who was not carrying a spoon. The third was fine, and even the DRL and some RAs played. (There was much rejoicing when RA Charlie blammoed DRL Scary Matt.) However, midway through the session, the Health Office started confiscating spoons, declaring them vectors for the flu. All games of Blammo were ended on the 2nd Friday by Elena, and everyone still in was declared a winner. One game of blammo was played at the Los Angeles site in 09.1, with Maggie G. as god. It was larger than the games in 2008, but still a fairly small game, with about 30 people playing. It was won by Emily C. during week 2. Sarah Sch. started to organize a second game, but it was called off because of the flu.

On Spoons

A player must carry his/her spoon with an active muscle. This means no pockets, backpacks, tucking it behind an ear, or taping it anywhere on your body. Spoons may be attached to parts of the body, but must still be held voluntarily. For example, if a player duct tapes a spoon to her hand, but does not grip it, it does not count as holding a spoon.

The spoon must be reasonably visible at all times. No hiding it under towels, hats, etc. Hypothetically being able to see it while looking up from under the person does not count.

The entire spoon must be physically held. If parts of the spoon are broken, then those parts must be held voluntarily, although only one part needs to be visible. Tiny spoonflakes or an itty-bitty sliver may be lost without consequence, but a noticible chunk missing equates to the non-holding of the spoon. [Nixxi's Commentary: When I lost the spoon part and only had the handle left, I kept the handle in my mouth like the spoon was actually in my mouth. The person stalking me actually got fooled until I got a new spoon ^__^]

[a question: was alder's spoon during los 08.2 fair to be blammoed, as the entire of the handle of the spoon was placed into the bowl of the spoon, then duct taped shut...?] (i don't think so, because all the pieces were still together. and taping your spoon together after it breaks is fine. so as long as he was following all the other rules, no one could blammo him)[As a stalker of Alder, The reason why he got blammoed was because he forgot his spoon. not because he had it all scrunched in his haand.]

Player may say "Blammo!" to any person they wish (including kind RAs and students not playing or already out), but a player is only out when Blammoed by their stalker. Debates should be taken to the God of the current game.

06.2 - When the game begins to run over, Rachel took to ousting players with the Jesus staff (which had a spoon taped to it) when they did not have their spoons.

Safe Zones/Times

Ultimately, rules vary by God, but these are good guidelines.

• One is safe in their own room, although not anybody elses's.
• One is safe while in a bathroom and/or sinkroom. (At LOS this was limited to being in bathroom stalls or showering.)
• One is safe during official dance hours at official dance locations (not Afterdances or while walking to and from dances). The dance official ends immediately after the customary exchange of "Nobody loves you! / We love you!" (Comment: Anything dance related was safe in 08.1, but not the last dance. In 09.1, the "dance=safe, Afterdance =/= safe" rule was reinstated.)[Comment: in LOS, Dances were not safe and many people were blammoed during dances.]
• One is safe while in the classroom, while class is in session (i.e., breaks are fair game). Players have been known to be blammoed while returning from a trip to the bathroom. [Nixxi's Commentary: One is not safe, however, walking from one classroom to another. Class time and classroom are different. Class in session is really vague. REMEMBER PETE?]
• One is usually exempted from holding one's spoon in lab activities during which it would be dangerous.
• One is safe during Activities during which it is unreasonable and insensible to be holding a spoon. For example, Weis Sports would be safe, whereas Naptime is fair game.
• One is safe after lights out, even if in another person's room for a sleepover. However, one can be blammoed the next morning while still in the room (after 6:00 AM).

Fun/Strategy

Blammo anyone without a spoon who you know is playing, and pretend to be their stalker (fess up before it gets too out of hand).

Blammo your target while they are throwing their spoon up in the air, after they put it down for a split second (this takes very close stalking).

Blammo your target RIGHT after "American Pie" (the dance) ends. (In 09.1 at LAN during the second dance, "BLAMMO!" could be heard all around the Quad right after Dan Tracht called the Afterdance. A few people were blammoed during the Afterdance as well)

Blammo your target right at 3:01 (Technically you're not in class) [Arugula: This happened to me when Nick Marcou blammo'd me during a late HDIS field trip that lasted 'til 3:15 (It was in a hospital and I was convinced to keep my dirty spoon in my pocket, arggghhh)][in 09.1 all of field trip time was safe]

Pretend to be someone else when you are Blammoed (fess up before it gets too out of hand).

Hold your spoon in your mouth, between your toes, or in other odd places.

Hold your spoon under your arm, making sure it's visible to anyone who looks-which isn't many people. If the spoons are clear this is especially effective for stalker detection.

Get a fake spoon as a backup to carry in your pocket. However, if your stalker does Blammo you while you have your fake spoon, you are still out. Only official spoons issued before the game begins count. Official replacement spoons may be distributed, but this is at the the discretion of God; in this case, only the most recent spoon counts. (Spoons from KiVO at Lancaster were used effectively as decoys during the second round in 08.1 when the spoons were white, but if you had an observant stalker, you were pretty much screwed.)

Wrap/mummify your spoon in duct tape and/or write things on it. Or give it a duct tape cape, hat, earmuffs, humvee, etc. [In 09.1 Elena outlawed this by instituting a "50% rule" meaning 50% of the spoon must be uncovered]