Chubby bunny

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Chubby bunny (variations include similar sounding chubby bunnies, fluffy bunny, fuzzy bunny, and pudgy bunny) is a recreational game that involves the placement of increasing number of marshmallows or similar items into one's own mouth and stating a phrase that is intended to be difficult to utter with the filled mouth. The primarily used phrase can vary from the usual "chubby bunny" or its plural, although the words to the phrase are typically not as important as its suppressive structure. It is often played where marshmallows are readily available, including around a campfire when camping with a group of people.

Although viewed by many as a harmless game, at least two choking deaths have been attributed to the game. In 1999, a 12-year-old girl choked to death at Glenview Elementary school in Illinois. On September 12, 2006, in London, Ontario at the Western Fair, a 32-year old woman collapsed offstage during a contest. Despite immediate medical intervention the young woman later died. Resucitation was likely hampered because the marshmallow would have become sticky and expanded in the victim's throat. Legal experts are baffled as to why this event was staged.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

[edit] Rules

In the game, each participant usually places a marshmallow of varying size in his or her mouth and says something similar to "Chubby Bunny". If they are able to state the whole phrase, usually in a comprehensible manner that the other participants wholly concur to, they pass that round. Each successful player then adds an additional marshmallow to the one already in his or her mouth and repeats the phrase. A player who fails to complete the phrase is eliminated from the game. The process continues until only one player remains. After the penultimate player loses the game, the winning player might have to place one more marshmallow into their mouth and may have to state the phrase once more. The winner of the game is the player who fits the most marshmallows into his or her mouth. Some variants of the game require the winner to actually digest the marshmallows in their mouth.

Forms of cheating in the game may include trying to compress a marshmallow in the mouth or altogether swallowing one. Some versions of the game do not penalize this action if someone is found out by the other players.

[edit] Dangers

Chubby bunny has caused at least two deaths, both from asphyxiation due to the throat being blocked with marshmallow:

On 4 June 1999, 12-year-old Catherine "Casey" Fish died after choking on four marshmallows while playing Chubby Bunny. The contest was scheduled for the annual Care Fair held at Hoffman Elementary School in Chicago's North Shore area. It was to be supervised, but Casey and some of her friends began playing while the teacher was momentarily away. She collapsed, and was taken to Glenbrook Hospital, where she died a few hours later.

On 12 September 2006, a woman from London, Ontario, Canada died in a Chubby Bunny competition at the Western Fair. St John Ambulance volunteers came to Rudd's aid with a defibrillator and suction equipment, but were unable to remove the blockage in the unconscious woman's throat. ^[4]

[edit] References