Zoom Schwartz Profigliano

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Zoom Schwartz Profigliano is a group mind-game that has many variations. One player at a time is active. The active player states a command from a predefined set of words, which typically include "zoom," "schwartz," and "profigliano." The command shifts active status to another player. Play continues until a player fouls by giving a command when not active, by failing to give a command promptly when active, or in some cases by giving a command which is prohibited by the current state of the game. The game lends itself to bluffing in which the active player might pause for a moment and use nonverbal communication to suggest that someone else is active. In a high speed game a player might give a command passing active status to one player while looking at a different player, confusing the situation.

The game is traditionally a drinking game in which a player who fouls must take a drink. In non-drinking forms the fouling player is simply embarrassed. Either way the fouling player starts the next round. The game can also be a children's or adolescent's game where a break in the conversation eliminates the player. The games can have as few commands as the basic "Zoom", "Schwartz" and "Profigliano", but some variations have as many as fifteen commands.

Some variants include motions which must be made along with calling the command. Some variants describe the game in terms of a highly stylized conversation between participants. Some variants describe in terms of the players passing around an imaginary ball of energy.

1 Example rules
2 History
3 Sources

[edit] Example rules

Zoom Schwartz Profigliano is typically passed by oral tradition and varies from group to group. Below are two different variants of the game...

[edit] Southern California Rules: Zoom-Schwartz-Profigliano-Beterman

These rules were observed at Pomona College in Southern California in 2005.

There are 4 commands: Zoom, Schwartz, Profigliano, and Beterman. Actually, there are any arbitrary 4 commands, specified by the person starting the round... Their order determines their meaning... Without loss of generality, we'll call these commands Zoom, Schwartz, Profigliano, and Beterman. In this example game, the first person would start the game by saying

"The name of the game is Zoom Schwartz Profigliano, Beterman. ZOOM!"

The player starting the round must start by stating the name of the game (Zoom-Schwartz-Profigliano-Beterman in this case) and must start with the first command (Zoom in this case).

The commands do the following things...

Zoom: The active player must also clearly make eye contact with another player. The other player becomes active.

Schwartz (Rhymes with Quartz): Passes the puck back to whomever just passed it to you. You do not need eye contact with that person; on the contrary, one of the most powerful moves in the game is the schwartz head-fake. Also, it is perfectly legal to Schwartz someone who just Schwartz'ed you...

Profigliano (Pro - Fig - LEE - AAAHH - No): Passes the puck to your right. Again, you don't need eye contact with that person, and you can head-fake.

Beterman (Beater - man): Passes the puck to your left. Again, no eye contact is necessary.

There are 3 rules...

You can't zoom a zoomer. More formally, it is a foul to respond to a zoom command with another zoom command aimed back at the previous player. You may follow a zoom with another zoom, but it must be to a third player.
You can't say anything 3 times in a row: This rule has two parts...
1. The group cannot say three things in a row (e.g. zoom, zoom, zoom)
2. You as a player cannot say the same thing three times in a row when it comes to you.
  
  e.g. Dan: Zoom
  
  Brent: Schwartz
  
  Dan: Zoom
  
  Wes: Beterman
  
  Dan: Zoom (VIOLATION)
The group cannot say the name of the game:

e.g. Dan: Zoom

Brent: Schwartz

Dan: Profigliano

Wes: Beterman (VIOLATION)

Again, W.L.O.G. the name of the game is Zoom, Schwartz, Profigliano, Beterman. Anyone saying Beterman after a Zoom-Schwartz-Profigliano drinks.

That's it... If you screw up, take too long, or call someone out when they did it right... you drink, and get about ten second to revel in laughter of others...

[edit] Madison Wisconsin Variant

This is a relatively simple variation observed in Madison, Wisconsin in 2004.

One player is active. The player who is active must, within a slow count of five, give one of the following commands. Failure to give a command is a foul. Giving a command when not active is a foul. If another player passed active status to you using zoom, it is a foul to return the active status to them using zoom (although you can return it with schwartz. There is no prohibition on responding to schwartz with a call of schwartz.)

Misleading head fakes and hand gestures are perfectly legal, and add an extra level of skill and enjoyment to the game. Example: Looking and pointing to the person on your left while saying "Profigliano". If that person responds, it's a foul. If the person to the right fails to resond in time, it's also a foul. Getting two people to foul (and drink) from one command is considered expert play. (The 'Zoom' command is exempt, since it requires looking at the person to identify them as the next player.)

The legal commands are:

1. Zoom: The active player must also clearly make eye contact with another player. The other player becomes active. It is a foul to respond to a zoom command with another zoom command aimed back at the previous player. You may follow a zoom with another zoom, but it must be to a third player.

2. Profigliano: Sign language signal is touching either bicept with the opposite hand and looking away from the player with whom one is playing. Active status then returns to the other active player

3. Schwartz: Sign language signal is shrugging shoulders and making eye contact with the other active player. Active status returns to the other active player. Two players can pass active status back and forth with schwartz.

4. MacBeth: Sign language is covering the left pectoral muscle with the right hand and sends the active status to the player that originally started the current round.

5. Dyslexia: Sign language is that player must look to the left or right and touch his forehead with the same sided hand. The active status then goes to the person directly to the opposite side of the Dyslexia move.

A popular variation is to limit the number of times a particular command can be repeated in succession to three. The person who repeats the command a fourth time commits a foul.

[edit] Waterloo Rules

These were the rules observed at the University of Waterloo in 2006. For information on the Waterloo variant see Rules for Officially Sanctioned Zoom (Waterloo Edition)

[edit] History

"Zoom Schwartz Profigliano" in all likelihood originated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the mid- late-1970s. The earliest 'net archival reference to ZSP discusses an MIT AI lab trip to Talbot House in Killington, VT in January of 1977. A clearly related and possibly older game called "Sprodzoom" is played at Cambridge University by the Cambridge University Science Fiction Club and the Trinity Mathematical Society. However, some notable members of Australia's medical fraternity, believe that ZSP was first played in Adelaide, SA by medical students from the AMSS in a tradition first established some 60 years ago. It is unsure as to whether these earlier claims can be verified by these northern hemisphere counterparts.