Mad Scientist University

Game nights.  Let's talk about them.  Here are a few facts that you may or may not know about game nights:

• They are awesome
• I love them
• They are cheap and affordable
• When it's winter in Wisconsin, going out in the cold sucks
• They become exponentially more awesome with friends
• The right game can be played a million times and never be the same
• I really just wanted a prime number of bullets

With those indisputable facts now established, I figured I'd offer some advice on bullet number 6, the right game.  There are certain games we have all heard of before: Monopoly, Scrabble, Uno.  While all those games are fun, they are classics, they aren't something new.  Another very popular game is Apples to Apples.  Now, don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good game of Apples to Apples every now and then.  However, everyone knows Apples to Apples and you can find the game anywhere.  I'm pretty sure the crazy homeless guy on the corner knows about Apples to Apples.  He has a copy.  Of course it's his poop box, but that's neither here nor there.

That's why I want to present you with Mad Scientist University!  It's Apples to Apples meets Albert Eintstein after a few too many drinks.  The game is simple: Each turn a different player is the Teaching Assistant TA at Mad Scientist University.  They hand out materials (not literally, just a card with an "unstable ingredient") for the other players to use, then gives them an assignment and tells them to complete the assignment with the materials they were given.  After being given a short amount of time, they present their ideas to the TA and the TA then chooses who's idea was best.  Here's the thing, "best" can be whatever the TA decides.  Most plausible, whatever makes the TA laugh, whichever player offers the best bribe.  (Seriously, it's on the box that the TA can do this.)  The player who earns a predetermined number of assignment cards first, wins.  So here's an example of a round:

Assignment: Fly to the Moon
Alex's Material: Lawyers "I would create a machine that uses the bullshit Lawyers are full of to fly to the moon"
Kate's Material: Squirrels "In Rocky and Bullwinkle, Rocky was a flying squirrel.  I'd take him hostage and make him fly me to the moon"
Melissa's Material: Pirates "Umm...I have pirates.  Specifically Jack Sparrow.  As he is the best captain ever and captains the Black Pearl, he would be able to captain us to the moon"
Carl's Material: Rubber Chicken "Seriously? Rubber chicken?  Umm, I guess I would string multiple rubber chickens together and create a giant rubber chicken band and launch myself to the moon that way"
TA decides that Carl gets the assignment card because he used the word chicken three times in his plan.  (If I was TA I would honestly decide like this)

As you get the hang of the game more and more, the TA can hand out multiple materials to each player, and give random criteria the player must follow when trying to complete the assignment.  I have made people try to fly to the moon with seven ingredients, all the while describing it to me in a Boston Accent.  By the end of the night, the ideas are more and more ridiculous and the laughter grows exponentially louder (especially if an adult beverage is partaken in while playing) as people try harder and harder to get the TA's approval and ultimately win Mad Scientist University.  So what are you doing still reading this?  Get off your butt and go get the game!