Wise or Otherwise

Winning is beside the point

In the earlier days of a certain Wiccan festival that took place each fall in upstate New York* there was a core group that played Wise or Otherwise after dinner and at times into the wee hours. Two can play but that isn’t much fun. Up to six can play because that’s the number of game pieces available, although it would be possible to squeeze in more using game pieces from a Monopoly set or something. But six, Jack Herlocker, is fine. Four will do. Any less than that…

A Wise or Otherwise set comes with an immense pack of cards upon which are printed sayings and proverbs from all over the world. The beginning of the saying is printed on one side, and the conclusion is on the other side. The “reader” picks a card and reads the beginning of the proverb while concealing the conclusion from the other players. The other players make up their own conclusions and write them on slips of paper along with their names. They turn these into the reader, who copies the true conclusion onto their own slip of paper, shuffles all of them, and then reads each conclusion aloud in turn. Players try to guess which is the true conclusion. Two points to each player for each other player whom they fooled. Two points for guessing the correct proverb conclusion. If no one voted for the correct one the reader gets three points. Game pieces are advanced along until…