G.9. Lawyer

Rules are part of everyone's life, including the group's, but everyone should be part of the process of creating them, during norming. This game helps do it for fun and allows the leader to bring non-dominant members into the process.

G.9. Lawyer

Place chairs in a circle.
Designate a “lawyer” and explain how to play the game, to him or her.
The lawyer stands in the center and announces to the players, “Starting from now, you must not answer when I speak to you; the person on your left must answer for you. You must not nod, or smile, or respond to me in any way. Do you understand?”
The players almost invariably answer, and they are out...
The lawyer starts again, asking different people questions and putting them out, if they answer for themselves, or break the rules of nodding/smiling.
The lawyer progress to another rule, making it more sophisticated, such as: no one may answer “yes” or “no”…
New rules may be added as you go along (up to a point!), or new "lawyers" appointed.