going to camp is playing a big game called 'camp' that is made up of a bunch of different smaller games. and everything you say and do is a move that tries to establish the game you're playing.
For example yesterday I was at a park where kids get picked up in town and a boy asked if he could go to the bathroom which was on the other side of a baseball field from the parking lot we were waiting in. I have to say 'yes' and immediately he takes all the other kids from the van except one with him to the bathroom which I was immediately skeptical of. I didn't want to leave the one girl alone in the van so I watched from afar and after a few minutes I'd realized that they'd gone over to play on the playground that was next to the bathhouse. So then I had to play the "You did something wrong" game and in a big voice say "NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT!" and carry on about how they had broken trust and were out of supervision and lied to me. And that boy had played some version of the "I'm going to see what I can get away with" game. I mean, I kinda get it. The playground is right next to the bathroom and they are a group of children but when we're in a public space that is outside of camp, I want eyes and ears on everyone at all times. That's the "you did something wrong" game.
Then there's the "larger than life" game. Where you take the regular occurrences of camp and treat them like the momentous historical events. A lot of the time for me this looks like commentating on games that people are playing. I was watching a kickball game with a group of kids on Thursday and we were in the commentator booth providing play-by-play coverage.
Another game I love to play is the "spirit of camp" game. This is mostly with counselors and it's where I assess how closely you are adhering to the "spirit of camp". What it usually looks like is either praising or griping about various actions. One move I was fond of this year was commenting on whether the counselors took a route into camp that goes by the pool that the campers aren't allowed to take or took a longer path through the woods that the campers use. It's also a lot of assessing how engaged a counselor looks at any given moment. More broadly you could call this game "test of faith".
Another really popular game is "get it?" It's another way of saying 'inside joke' but it doesn't have to be pre-established. It's just saying something that on the surface level doesn't mean much but there's a second layer that you want people to recognize and pick up on.
Getting a group's attention and explaining rules or steps to follow is playing "I'm in charge". And that's where you do moves to show that you know what you're talking about and people should listen to you. Most of "I'm in charge" is getting people to stop talking. It also has a lot to do with presence and attitude.
"In Cahoots" is a really powerful game. That's where you set a premise or a mission and convince the group around you that you are united and an in-group. This is a popular one at meals. I started something called the "clean plate club" this summer where you just lick your plate clean and then we take a group photo with everyone's clean plates.
"Role Reversal" is a game where the person in authority acts like an exaggerated version of the group they have authority over. That's one I really like. It could be considered a variation of "get it?"
"One of Us"is using attention and praise to establish someone as part of the in-group. It's establishing rapport and making someone feel seen and heard.
Most of these have to do with building a sense of group and community and establishing the norms and values of that group. It's a lot of "do you like what I like? do you laugh at what I laugh at? do you value what I value?" I don't know if it's helpful to write this out or if it's just a bunch of navel-gazing but I'd argue it's useful to breakdown something big and amorphous like camp and how to act in a complex social situation into discrete parts in some way.
Other games include "you're my special" which is where you latch onto one person and make them the be-all end-all of your life at camp. And there's "nobody loves me" which usually looks like throwing a fit because you don't feel seen or heard. "Hideaway" is where you go off and make your self inaccessible with one or more people.
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