You've probably all played the game where one person whispers a message into the ear of a classmate who in turn whispers to the next person and so on and so forth until the last person in line gives his/her version of the original message. Usually, much is lost in translation, a hilarious message is delivered, and an object lesson on gossip is learned We used this type of gossip game to do a Bible trivia contest at an all adult Valentine affair at our church this winter. We sat the people in lines of five and allowed the last person to have a Bible. The first person had to walk or run a few steps to a chair that contained a list of questions plus a scripture reference that would help answer the question. Armed with the question and reference, they ran back to their group and whispered the question to the second person in line. That person whispered to the third and so on down the line until it reached the fifth person who had the Bible. Now, if anyone already knew the answer, they could immediately send it back to number 1 who then could run back to the question list, write down the answer, and pick up the next question. If no one knew the answer, person number 5 could look up the reference and send the answer back down the line. No one was allowed to speak out loud. All messages had to be whispered ear to ear.

It was wild. People had a very difficult time keeping the questions, answers, and references straight and laughter broke out early and often. The groups worked at a feverish pace hoping to pick up bonus points for finishing ahead of the other teams. Feverish pace however wasn't the key to victory. The winning team was not the quickest but the most accurate.

The key to success in playing a game like this is finding questions that are challenging enough to require looking up the references but not so obscure that no one has even an inkling of what the answer is. Five on a team seemed perfect. Any more than that and the human telegraph system would break down too easily. We can guarantee a funny time. There will be more laughs than right answers. Give it a try. This gossip is harmless.