Zip Zap Boing
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Zip Zap Boing, also known as Zip Zap Zop, is a game often used by drama practitioners. In this game, players test their powers of concentration and employment of energies inside them.
The game consists of the circulation of an invisible "impulse" or ball of energy through a round of players, but with different ways of passing this impulse, giving the game its complexity and difficulty.
It is a very popular game amongst directors and actors. Every practitioner tends to play it with a different set of rules. If a player makes a mistake, or is too slow or not energetic enough, that player is "out".
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[edit] Moves
During the game, players may employ three different ways of passing "the impulse" to another player: "Zip", "Zap" and "Boing", also known as "Zop".
[edit] Zip
When the players stand within the process of learning the game, usually the first move they learn is the "Zip", which consist of the most frecuently used move in the game; it is referred to as the "standard move". This move sends the impulse to the player beside, by moving one hand in the direction of the intended recipient.
[edit] Zap
"Zap" sends the impulse to any non-adjacent player. This is done by pointing both hands in prayer position at the intended recipient and making direct eye contact.
[edit] Boing
"Boing", also known as "zop", deflects the ball back to the player who last held it. The player cannot boing a zap nor "boing a boing".
[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!"
