Have everyone sit in a line or a circle, and designate the #1 ranked seat that everyone is trying to get to. Then number the seats after #1 in numerical ascending order (this is the ranking order).
The object of the game is to get a dialog going so fast that it causes players to mess up their response, so they lose their rank and they move to the end of the line.
The youth leader or a fast talking kid is the “caller” throughout the game (you can switch callers to avoid fatigue). The caller is not a player and is not trying for a seat, so there is no penalty for a caller when they mess up.
The caller will begin a dialog. If a player messes up they go to the end of the line and everyone who was below them in rank gets to move up one spot. If the group is not familiar with the dialog, you can write it out, but then as the group gets more proficient, take away the cheat sheet! Make sure everyone knows their seat number when you begin, then it is up to each player to know which rank number they are. Remember as players move up and down the rank, their number changes, based on the seat order! You may start as #9, but if someone ahead of you messes up, you move up to being #8.
The player whose number is called must respond perfectly with the correct dialog response before the caller says “go foot!” If a player messes up in any way, they are moved to the end of the line.
Here’s the dialog, start slow and work up to ridiculously fast, putting any rank number in the place of the ones I have used:
Caller: “The king of Paris has lost his hat and number 3 knows where to find it. Number 3 go foot!”
Player 3 must interrupt the caller as soon as they have heard their number called with the following before the caller say “go foot”: “Who, sir, me sir?”
Caller: “Yes, sir, you, sir,”
Player: “Oh no, sir, not I, sir!”
Caller: “If not you, sir, then who, sir?”
Player: “Number 6, sir!”
Caller: “Number 6 go foot!”
At this point Number 6 would have had to interrupt the caller to keep the dialog going:
Number 6: “Who, sir, me sir?”
Caller: “Yes, sir, you, sir,”
Player: “Oh no, sir, not I, sir!”
Caller: “If not you, sir, then who, sir?”
Player: “Number 1, sir!”
Caller: “Number 1 go foot!”
If the phrase “go foot!” gets spoken before the player interrupts the caller, the player is sent to the back of the line. When any player is sent to the back of the line, the caller restarts the entire dialog with “The king of Paris has lost his hat and number ___ knows where to find it.
Decide a time limit to the game, the person sitting in the #1 chair is the winner at the end of that time.
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