Approved DiFF underwater games

[thewisestfish]

The following are some games that we have made up. What we should do is try them out on our dives and then register our scores - and where we played them so we can have a DiFF map. At the minute we have to post all our DiFF threads on the bottom of here - so, lets see how long we can get it.....

General Games:

Starfish head sticking 1. See how many of your fellow divers (they can be random people you come across, but you must have a witness) you can manage to stick a starfish on their heads without them noticing - total per dive, and dive time max 60 minutes.

Starfish head sticking 2 As above, but as many as you can on your buddy until they notice.

Sky dive decents Assume as many different positions (star / superman etc) as you can on your descent - extra points awarded for grace / number of moves / or facial expressions if you can find an equally stupid person to film you......

Sky dive landings Touch down assuming the position of a famous landmark (Eiffel tower - use your imagination / statue of liberty etc) Get photo's and post them for other DiFF'rs to guess what you were trying to be.....other than stupid.

Hover landing Decend horizontal - like you are Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible, and sort your buoyancy with such precsion that hover over the sea floor.......extra points for beauty, precision and control.

Rock racing On the surface, before you start, get yourself a long piece of rope / thick string (20 or 30 meters) and weight both ends so that it won't float. At the bottom, mark out a straight track with the line so that you can measure your race. You and your buddy then find similar sized rocks - lets say maximum of 40 centimeters across. Hold with both hands and race in a straight line, holding the rock with both hands. Over a meter ascent or descent is disqualification, as is removing either hand from the rock - furthest distance travelled wins. We can all register our distances travelled - National Rock racing Championships then?

Flag capture Ok, this one is still mid planning - but did anyone ever play wide games when you were a kid? This should run in a similar way - but needs a bit more thought. Two buddy teams. 2 flags dropped (or placed) 20 meters or so apart. Each diver has some kind of tag attached to them which can be easily pulled off (customise drysuits with velcro??) which when they have the tag they are able to steal the other teams flag. When they have lost their tag they have to go to a central point to reclaim it. The first team to capture the others flag, and bring it back to a central point where there is an SMB, and inflate the SMB wins....but it needs a bit of work yet because it has to be simplified and the the practicality of the flags need sorting......ideas anyone....

Underwater diver stacking Stand divers on each others shoulders and see how many it takes to reach the surface.....


Deco games

Stone paper scissors

But with Octopus, Lobster, Fisherman

Lobster beats Fisherman
Octopus beats Lobster
Fisherman beats Octopus

Winner buys the beer.

3 Minute charades

What it says on the tin - on your 3 minute 6 meter safety stop, play charades. Or Chess........apparently that's what the navy do on long deco stops....

[StuartC]

hmm, you could be onto a winner with some of these!

I like the Mission Impossible horizontal hover, and the sky dive descent posing.

underwater capture the flag sounds a bit kit intensive (did I just describe a SCUBA activity as too kit intensive??)

I suppose the navy divers playing chess use one of those travel ones, so what about travel connect 4 for the deco stops? (or do all the pieces start to float away?)

I'd say the best games are those that don't require any kit, so my suggestion for deco stops is the good old staring contest. 1st to blink buys the beer!

[AdmiralHanson]

The other underwater game that's not been mentioned (but needs a slate) is noughts and crosses ...

As for the 'wide game' concept, have a look in to the 'tag' version of rugby league .... This game was developed for kids, boys and girls, to play the game but without the physical element of tackles and a little bit more sophisitcated than 'touch and pass' (where after a while, people start cheating). In Tag Rugby, each participant has a velcro 'belt' on them and stuck on that belt is a brightly coloured peice of material (the 'tag') about 8-12 inches long (thought that might get your attention *wink*) .... To complete a tackle, the opponent needs to grab the 'tag' to complete the tackle .... Perhaps something like that would be useful for your game ?

Would you beleive the Germans (of all people) have 'Unterwasser Rugby', played with a round ball filled with salt water / saline (to make it heavy).

[Woz]

I can't believe you have not mentioned the Stone Game.

[Conor]

Originally Posted by thewisestfish

Hover landing Decend horizontal - ...........sort your buoyancy with such precsion that hover over the sea floor

Erm, neutral buoyancy while diving? it'll never catch on

[EdHornby]

underwater sleeping lions ? ok not a good idea on a reef....

[Martin Burnard]

Hang on the Navy can't march ( thats why we send them to sea so as nobody can see) so play chess? You're having a laugh!

Noughts and crosses is played at times on the Scylla, draw up the grid, find starfish and urchins, and away you go!

Underwater conga, now that is a giggle!

Blind mans buff, one player removes their mask, then tries to find the others.

Underwater Golf, yes those balls sink!

Hmm too much wine!

[Brian of Aquanauts]

Originally Posted by Martin Burnard

Noughts and crosses is played at times on the Scylla, draw up the grid, find starfish and urchins, and away you go!

Blind mans buff, one player removes their mask, then tries to find the others.

Blind mans buff... sounds like fun, could be combined with a game of hide and seek.

Originally Posted by thewisestfish

Hover landing Decend horizontal - ...........sort your buoyancy with such precsion that hover over the sea floor

hmmmm sounds a bit too hard for me... neutral buoyancy that's for those DIRF people aint it?

how about find a nice big side of a wreck take your fins off, empty your BCD, run straight at the wreck, and up the side of it and perform matrix stylee flips and spins for points marked by your buddies.

Don't like the idea of molesting starfish... their sucker legs fall off and get stuck on people sometimes (oooops wonder how i know that hehe)

I also don't like that game where you scare dogfish so they turn into donuts and then race them down walls... that's very bad for poor ickle lovely dopey eyed dogfish.

[Mark Davies]

Starfish Sticking is bang out of order. Leave the wildlife alone. Just ask Daz about the trouble he got into with Crab Wars!

The wide game is a bloody winner though! I can see that working well, except we'd get a lot of OOA's in the excitement. Need to find some shallow sites for it. The kit side is a doddle.

We velcro some long tails to your tanks. Teams of four - two buddy pairs. Any one loses their tale the pair has to go and recover a new one from the pot (you'd need your buddy to re-attatch your tail anyway if they're positioned that way).

As the final flag to win use a self-inflating SMB, but position it without a bottle. What you capture from the opponents base is a bottle to inflate it. That means you're going to have to spend some time trying to connect it up while your team mates try and defend you from the opposition. Lose your tail you're out of the game until you get a new one. Lose it carrying the bottle you have to drop it, it's recovered by it's team and returned to base.

Set it up as a square - bases diagonally opposite and the winning flag and tail pot on the other two corners.

Good for navigation skills in anything but excellent viz.

[Dive now work never]

I find underwater tig a good deco game but played by removing part of your buddies kit (mask, fin, side mount, knife, camera etc). Always tends to illicit a reaction especially if instigated on the spur of the moment without the other divers knowledge. First to the surface with the most kit/ alive/ not bent wins.

Underwater fencing with other divers at the deco trapeze a winner, a perfect opportunity to recreate Thunderball on a small scale. For authenticity you must make sure members of each team have the same colour drysuits. Cutting through hoses is not allowed but the use of jet packs should be encouraged whenever possible. For extra thrills, get the skipper to throw thunderflashs in whilst the game is in progress.

Messing with the beasties is not to be encouraged, one day the starfish will know how to switch off a cylinder!!