Before we draw the first card, someone is complaining about my microphones, someone needs help putting on a Santa hat, and nobody can agree on how long it has been since we last played King’s Cup.
This is what happens when I invite three old friends from The Dalles into the studio and give us a deck of cards. We have enough shared history to keep the conversation going. Remembering whose turn it is proves more difficult.
In this episode of Maxwell’s Kitchen, we attempt to play King’s Cup, reconstruct the rules as we go, and discover that Never Have I Ever becomes a very different game when everyone knows exactly which question will make you drink.
In This Episode
Reconstructing the King’s Cup rules from memory
Christmas hats and immediate complaints
Categories, rhymes, and sentence games
Never Have I Ever with old friends
Camping mishaps and embarrassing party stories
Making rules nobody can remember to follow
The thumb rule becoming a distraction
Growing up together in The Dalles
Music, old houses, and memories coming back
Trying to make it through the final cards
At the Table
Cody Maxwell and three friends from The Dalles
Four people who have known each other long enough to remember old addresses, questionable decisions, and stories that become much less flattering when someone else tells them.
First, We Have to Remember the Game
The first challenge is agreeing on what the cards mean. Some rules come back immediately. Others require several people confidently remembering different things.
We work through categories, rhymes, questions, sentences, and the rules you can invent to make everyone else’s life more difficult. Then we change parts of the game before it starts.
The traditional shared cup does not survive the discussion. Neither does our enthusiasm for doing a proper waterfall. Apparently, we remember enough about being younger to recognize that some of those rules require revision.
Even deciding who goes first becomes a project. A proposed game of rock, paper, scissors creates more confusion, and we eventually turn to age as a system everyone should be able to understand.
Once the cards start moving, we continue asking what they mean. The preparation has accomplished very little.
Never Have I Ever Was a Mistake
There is a particular disadvantage to playing this game with people who were present for your embarrassing moments. They do not have to guess what you have done. They can ask an extremely specific question and watch you react.
An early round turns into a conversation about bathroom disasters. A camping story involves an unusable bathroom, a bag, and a fear of bears. Someone else remembers a different incident, which produces another story, and suddenly drawing the next card feels like it might be a useful way to change the subject.
Later, the questions become even more targeted. Old relationships, parties, and arrests enter the conversation. One person has apparently been thinking in advance about the exact question he wants to ask.
That is the level of preparation we brought. We could not remember the game, but we had considered how to embarrass each other.
Making Rules We Immediately Break
Part of King’s Cup involves creating rules, which should give the person drawing that card an advantage.
In practice, it gives us more things to forget.
A name becomes off-limits. Elbows cannot go on the table. Eventually, touching a microphone becomes a problem, which is inconvenient in a room where everyone is sitting in front of one.
The thumb rule adds another layer. When someone puts a thumb on the table, everyone else needs to notice. Before long, people are watching each other’s hands, attempting distractions, and arguing about whether a particular placement counts.
Meanwhile, the circle of cards needs to remain intact. When it finally breaks, we have another discussion about whether to repair it, leave it broken, or accept that this part of the game has run its course.
We spend a surprising amount of time debating rules for people who keep forgetting them.
The Stories Between the Cards
The conversation keeps wandering back to growing up together.
A bicycle bell attached to an old porch needs explaining to someone who does not remember it. Old camping trips produce competing recollections. Music comes up, including guitar playing and the possibility of making something together for an intro.
Sometimes a small detail brings back an entire scene. Other times, someone remembers enough to make an accusation but not enough for everyone to agree on what happened.
The familiarity is most obvious in how quickly we move between subjects. A card starts a story, someone interrupts with another memory, and a person across the table notices a broken rule before the first story is finished.
There is barely time to defend yourself before somebody remembers something else.
Waiting for the Last King
As the deck gets smaller, we begin paying more attention to how many kings remain. This requires locating the ones already drawn, because keeping them somewhere obvious did not occur to us earlier.
We also have plans after recording, which creates occasional concern about how the rest of the night is going to work. Rides, pizza, and another gathering all get discussed while we attempt to finish the game in front of us.
By the end, we have covered a lot of shared history and settled very few disputes. The Christmas gear is still on, the insults are still coming, and somebody still needs to take a card.
I gave three old friends microphones and an opportunity to tell stories about me. Their enthusiasm should probably have concerned me more.
Useful Links
Watch King’s Cup on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKmZCHloNdo
More Maxwell’s Kitchen
https://maxwellskitchenpodcast.com
More Episodes
Sneaking Out for a Girl Seemed Worth the Bike Ride
https://maxwellskitchenpodcast.com/maxwells-kitchen-podcast/2022/01/04-episode-56-ex-girlfriend
A solo story from my high school years in The Dalles, involving midnight bicycle rides, my brother keeping quiet, and a plan that depended heavily on an alarm clock.
Happy Gnome and Growing Up in a Garage Band
https://maxwellskitchenpodcast.com/maxwells-kitchen-podcast/2022/04/11-episode-69-happy-gnome
Kasey McCabe, Brandon McBride, and Cody Pando revisit their teenage band, DIY shows, questionable practice spaces, and memories of making music around The Dalles.
