Zip Zap Boing

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Zip Zap Boing (also known as Zip Zap Zop amongst other variants) is a drama game, in which players test their powers of concentration. Players reach into the centre of a circle, and pull out an imaginary ball of energy. This ball passes through players.

The game begins with three options for a player who has the energy.

• "Zip" sends the ball to the player beside him/her. This is shown by moving one hand in the direction of the intended recipient.

• "Zap" sends it to any non-adjacent player. This is done by pointing both hands in prayer position at the intended recipient and making direct eye contact. Adjacent players cannot be zapped.

• "Boing/Zop" deflects the ball back to the player who last held it. You cannot boing a zap.

This is a very popular game amongst drama practitioners and every practitioner tends to play it with a different set of rules. If you make a mistake, or if you are too slow or not energetic enough, you will be "out".

[edit] Additional rules

Once the initial moves are understood, practitioners tend to add extra moves. Here is a selection of these moves:

• "Bounce" causes the ball to miss an adjacent player, landing with the next player in the circle. It is shown by pushing a hand in the air and standing on one leg. If only two people are left, bounce may be used to send the pulse to oneself in order to trick the opponent into moving when it is not his/her turn. This move is sometimes known as "Whoops"
• "Reflector" deflects a zap in the same way that boing reflects a zip. It is shown by putting the arms in a cross shape.
• "Ping" is transmitted to a non-adjacent player in the same way as zap. Both players must then skip to the middle of the circle and high-five while saying "Pang!" They then take each other's position on the circle and the pinged player moves play on to his/her left or right with "Pong." Game then continues as normal.
• "Quack" - accompanied by a ducking motion - indicates that the zip has gone over the player's head to the next person. If the following player says "boing", the zip again skips over the quacker's head. This is often used to catch players unawares by several players quacking in a row.
• "Catch and roll" is said by a player miming rolling the ball of energy under his/her neighbour's feet. All players must in turn jump while saying "Jump!" until a player chooses to say "Catch and HUNH!" at which point play returns to normal.
• "Hi-ya!" is accompanied by a karate motion which splits the energy ball in two. Two balls of energy then zip in opposite directions until both reach the same player. This player must "catch" both zips then pass them on with a "zip".

When a drama group or cast are meeting for an extended rehearsal period or series of classes, some practitioners like to invite the actors to invent their own moves once they have become proficient.

[edit] Winning the game

It is difficult to win this game. Once players have been reduced to three, certain moves (e.g. zap) are no longer possible and it becomes very hard to catch each other out. Some practitioners choose to declare the final three players as joint winners; others develop their own solutions, such as a "shoot-out" similar to that used in "Bang!"