This game from Minute to Win It is only scary if you're afraid of having maraschino cherries flying at your face. Start working on your lung capacity if you want to be successful here.
The Goal
The goal of Scary Cherry is to blow three dangling maraschino cherries away from you so that they swing back and land in your mouth. There's potential for messy faces here, but really, that's part of the charm.
Equipment Needed
Here's what you'll need to set up and play the game at home:
- Maraschino cherries, drained, rinsed, and patted dry, with stems still attached
- Dental floss and scissors
- A rod, clothesline, or other hanging item that you can tie the dental floss to and have the cherries swing freely
- A timer or stopwatch
- A supply of wet washcloths or facial wipes to clean up misses
How to Play
Before you can start playing the game there's some setup involved here. First, you'll need to measure out lengths of the dental floss. You'll be tying the stem ends of the cherries to the floss, and then tying the other ends of the floss to the rod or clothesline. You want the cherries to sit just a tiny bit lower than face level. Once the floss is cut to the correct lengths, tie on the cherries and tie the floss to your hanger of choice.
To play, the cherries should be sitting still and not swinging on the floss. You'll need three cherries per player. Have the contestant face the cherries, standing back about a foot (or make the distance longer to make the game trickier). When the one-minute timer begins, start blowing on the first cherry so that it swings back and forth, eventually picking up enough momentum to swing back close enough that you can grab it with your mouth and eat it. Collect all three cherries in this manner before time runs out and you win.
The Rules
The only real rule here is that the contestant may not touch the cherries or the dental floss with his or her hands or other body parts. Accidental collisions with the face are, of course, acceptable.
Tips and Tricks
You want to start this one off with a big burst of air to get the cherry really swinging. Make sure that you're not wasting air by misdirection - aim squarely at the cherries so that they pick up speed and land where they're supposed to.
Once you hook a cherry in your mouth, use your teeth to pull it off the stem. Chew and swallow quickly so you can move on to the next one.
The blueprint with video instructions for this game can be found at NBC.com.
Change It Up
Scary Cherry can be changed up to suit any party or event, and you can substitute other items for the cherry to relate the game to special holidays.
For example, to make an Easter game, use small marshmallow peeps in place of the maraschino cherries and call it "Eat the Peep." For a Christmas version, use a combination of cherries and other fruitcake ingredients.
You can also make this into a team-based game by pairing up the contestants and having them blow the cherries to each other. Use an even number of cherries and make sure that each partner eats an equal number.
Change the difficulty of the game by making the spot where contestants stand either closer to or further away from the cherries. Very young kids might have trouble with the basic setup, so let them stand really close to start off with and see how they do. Also keep in mind that the cherries could be a choking hazard, so keep an eye on the youngsters.
