Couch of Power is a group game with two variations: it could be a game of bare strategy like chess (if the player plays without the switching-names rule) or it could be a confusing game of memory like Clue (if the player plays with the rule). It is also known as "Four (4) on the couch" and can be played boys vs. girls.

It is also sometimes known as "Parliament".

Equipment

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• A bunch of seats arranged in a circle. There must be 1 more seat than there are players. (one empty seat.)
• A Couch, which can be a real couch or just 4 seats sitting all together.
• Slips of paper, each one having a player's name, and a hat in which to shake and jumble the slips around.

Objective

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The game is won by the team who fills the couch with their own players.

How to Play

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Everyone writes down their name on a slip of paper and puts it into the hat. The hat is then shaken and the slips are jumbled. Each player takes a slip, and does not reveal the name written thereon to anyone else.

Divide the players into two teams. The game works best if the teams are even. Making the teams distinguishable with headbands or rolled pant-legs is good; it can get confusing otherwise. Players will sit alternatingly in the seats: team-1, team-2, team-1, and so on. There should be four players, two from each team, that make a contiguous couch.

Play starts with the player to the left of the empty seat.

The player starts by trying to guess the names of his opponents; he calls out a name, and whoever has that name on his slip must get up and move to the empty seat. If the players are playing with the switching-names rule, then the person who is called switches slips with the person who called him. So it is in this way, by calling names, that people are moved around, and onto and off of the couch.

Once the player calls a name and the player moves, his old seat becomes the new empty seat. Play always passes to the player to the left of the empty seat.

Basic Strategy

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If the switching-names rule is in effect, then names can be just as easily forgotten as discovered, if proper track is not kept of who has which name - and this is hard.

If the switching-names rule is not in effect, then very soon, most players' names become known and it is a very simple matter to remember who's who. With everyone at an advantage, the task becomes moving the ideal person to the empty seat, so that the empty seat he leaves behind gives the turn to someone on the same team. This requires some thinking-ahead ability.

Party games