Matt Weinstein

What is Playfair?
An idea: People come together in games which are cooperative, where everyone wins, where no one looses, where the goal is pure fun, recreation, and relationship...
An event: A playtime on college campuses, at business conventions, at schools, in community groups, churches, temples, service clugbs, families...
A way of life: Developing attitudes of cooperation in play-instead of playing competitively to win-helps people to live more cooperatively in their daily lives...
A source of fun: From the Playfair experience-idea or event or way of life-people can get more fun out of living...and now...
A book: Conveying the spirit of Playfair through words and picures offers everyone a chance to play...an invitation to learn hundreds of skills, games, and practical ideas that you can use in your life and work.

'From the very first page this book is a gem.'-School Library Journal

'This book is a minor masterpiece!'-F. Hancoh McCarty, Ed.D., Cleveland State University

'...clear, concise, complete, ...and fun!'-Library Journal

'...a wonderful, wondrous bok...'-Sidney B. Simon, Autor, Values Clarification

Matt Wenstein, Ph.D. called by Poeple magazine, 'The Master of Playfulness,' is co-founder and current director of Playfair. On tour much of the year, he appears at several hundred colleges, emcees conventions, and conducts staff development training and leadership programs for large corporations and public agencies.

Joel Goodman, Ed.D. is Project Director at Sagamore Institute, based in Saratoga Springs, New York, where he coordinates the Professional Development Center and The Humor Project. Author of 8 books, he is a speaker, consultant, and workshop leader for schools and organizations here and abroad.

Contents

1 An introduction to fun and games
2 Why are we so serious abut play?
Unlearning to play
Competition and self-concept
The spectator sports syndrome
Competition and relationships
Is competition always bad?
Playfair: A model of cooperative play
Playfari: A resource book for players
Some tips on how to use this book
The Playfair recipe
3 A playful sample (how to throw a geat party!)
Incorporations
Imaginary ball toss
Moonwalk
The human spring
Off balance
Brussels sprouts
Standing ovation
Big wind blows
Crescendo
Wonderful circle
4 Mixer games: Breaking the ice
Introductions
Moving name game
Singing name game
Birthdays
Animals
Hum-dinger
Chorale of the vowels
Human treasure hunt
5 Intmate and faimily games: The fun begins at home
Wrist dancing
Finger dancing
Pleasant memories of childhood play
How to start an argument
Rebound
Sngs by syllables
Bouncing the person
Floating on the ocean
Flying back stretch
Octopus massage
I love ya honey, but I just can't make ya smile
6 Energizers: What to do when your meetings start at 7:30 sharp and end at 110:30 dull
Fur up
The 39 steps
Back to back dancing
Amoeba tag
Train station
Groupwalk
Roll palying
Simultaneous songs
Group cheer
7 Learning games: Recess always was the best part of school
Quick shuffle
1-2-3-4!
Boss, I can't come to walk today
Open fist simulation
Clay-dough
Emotional relay race
Human tableaux
Picure charades
Mutual storytelling
8 Mind games: Why is a half-defrosted steak like an impulsive idea?
Safari
Mind reading
Name cirlces
Either-or metaphors
9 Games for leadership training and organizational development
Three positions
Stop and go
Five changes
Touch blue
Elbow fruit hop
The cargo cult
10 Endings: When you come to the end of a perfect play
Highlights with punctuation
Massage train
Wiggle handshake
11 How to invent your own games
Recyclng old games
Starting from scratch
12 Answers to your questions about play
Cooperation in the 'real world'
Working with competition-oriented groups
Applications to the office
Applications to coaching
Characteristics of a play facilitator
Guidelines for sequencing games
Good party games
Sensitivity to physical differences
Developing a sense of community
Does this really work with adults?
Play sessions for children and adults together
Shy people
Possibilities
13 A value-able look at play
Are you someone who...?
Rank ordering
Alternatives search
Clarifying questions
14 Resources
Joel Goodman
Matt Weinstein
Playfair
Sagamore Institute
The Humor Project
Pamela Kekich
Bernie de Koven
The Games Preserve
The New Games Foundation
Jeffrey McKay
Marta Harrison
Re-evaluation counseling
Clifford Knapp
YMCA
David and Roger Johnson
Contact improvisation
Inter-action
Alphabetical index of games
Photo credits… (més)

When I picked the book I thought this was going to be one of those books about dog behaviour and personality. In our ongoing quest to try to understand our two little dachshunds, we have been diligently picking up this kind of book. But I was wrong. The main title does suggest it's a dog personality book but I didn't read the secondary title carefully enough. The secondary title reveals what the book is really about: self help.

I'm not a big fan of self-help books so it was a bit of a struggle to finish this one. Basically in this book the two authors - Weinstein is the founder of an international management consulgting company and Barber is a philosophy professor - who have been living all their lives with dogs, try to encourage us to live a less stressful life by taking the example of our dogs. For example, according to them dogs know how to love, dogs adapt to change, dogs rejoice in small pleasures, dogs keep hoping, dogs ask for help and that dogs take citicism without resentment, dogs are easily entertain and don't compare themselves to others. In total there are 67 such dog traits that we humans would be wise to follow, all told in short two to three pages of stories or wisdoms that the authors get from their dogs.

While all those advices are obviously good to follow for us to have a healthy, stress free life, and while it's true that our dogs live in the present and lead a much happier life, I can't get rid of the nagging complain in my head which kept coming while reading the book. I can't help to think that the authors read too much in their dogs behaviour and that they try to humanising them too much - putting human thoughts and voice in the dogs' behaviour. Which is what a lot of trainers warn us against. Dogs are dogs and the way the behave shouldn't be read from a human's perspective, they could arise from an altogether different reasons! It is this nagging question and warning that have kept me from accepting what the authors say.

Besides, there are one or two of the alleged dog behaviours which I don't think apply to all dogs, certainly not to ours. For example 'Lesson 50 dogs don't complain about the menu'. Yeah right. Our two little dachshunds Chocolate and Coffee scoff at a cheap dry kibble brand we bought them one day. They just sniffed it and walked away. When their favourite brand appears they gulped it down quickly.

There are some redeeming factors. The book contains a lot of cute photos - albeit black and white at that - of dogs. It also contains a lot of gem quotes. There is a quote for every lesson, and many of them are interesting. Here are some of the ones I like: 'To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs' (Aldous Huxley), 'The dog has seldom been successful in pulling man up to its level of sagacity, but man has frequently dragged a dog down to his' (James Thurber), 'The average dog is a nicer person than the average person' (Andrew A. Rooney), and my absolute favourite in the following: 'Happiness is a warm puppy' (Charles M. Schultz). So true!… (més)