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Room games in Orientation Camps for University Freshmen in Hong Kong

Definition
A room game is an activity conducted indoors during orientation camps in Hong Kong. Room games are typical components of orientation camps and often symbolize the start of university life for a freshman.

Characteristics
Most room games take place at night when the participants of the orientation camp are back to their room. They are held by the leaders of a group of freshmen, usually seniors who experienced room games in their freshmen year and are familiar with each game. Room games do not require specific tools or cards, only items commonly found in bedrooms like pillows or paper. While some room games intend to entertain, such as “Fire Qilin” and “Space Roaming”, some stimulate personal reflection like “Once in a Lifetime”.

Aims
Room games aims at bringing a group closer and bond members of a orientation camp by letting them familiarize with each other.

History
Room games emerged soon after university orientation camps in the late 1990s. The games were created to pass the time and increase interaction between students when they went back to their rooms after a day of outdoor activities. The instructions were simple and easy to follow. This session replaced consultation between seniors and freshmen which solely involved conversation and sharing. Nowadays, room games serve to let students have better understanding of each other and think about their goals in a fun and interesting manner.

Once in a Lifetime
Once in a Lifetime, as implied by its name, every freshman would be asked to play it once and only in orientation camp. The game is conducted in a dark and silent environment while participants sit blindfolded. The game starts with the host asking a stream of questions and personal sharing, guiding participants to think about their weaknesses and goals in life. Group leaders walk around the room to provide advice and comfort to the participants. The duration of the game varies; it ends when each and every participant completes the process. The game aims to encourage freshmen to get rid of conventional thinking and think outside the box.

Fire Qilin
Fire Qilin consists of two people riding on their own “Qilin”, battling against each other. It involves a participant sitting on another person’s back and as groups of two, move around batting each other with pillows. The “knight” is the one who fights, while the “Qilin” is responsible for transport. The side with their “knight” or “Qilin” falling down first loses.

Black Magic
Black Magic is a series of games consisting a set of unspoken rules or sequences. The rules are easy to follow but difficult to figure out. These short games are hold by those who understood the rules and the players have to figure out how to play the games correctly. The game may not always end in the success of the players.

First Impression
First Impression needs participants to be divided into two groups according to their gender. Each group has to create questions about itself and assign a number representing each member of the opposite group. Each group takes turns asking a question, while the other group votes out a member from the opposite team who fits the description the most based on their first impression. At the end, two groups exchange their results and the each group has to guess who each number represents.

Space Roaming
Space Roaming is game that takes place in a dark room representing space where some simple tasks are set up. Players are blindfolded and disoriented (usually done by asking players to spin 10 times) before they enter the room to take part in the game. Different versions of this game serve the same purpose to let the participants follow their senses and the help of others to finish the journey.

Backward Story
Backward Story, is a non-physical game which only involves storytelling and guessing.It usually takes place at night with participants huddled up. The host first tells the participants the ending of the story and they have to guess the whole plot by asking the host simple yes/no questions only. The stories are usually gory and scary. Typical examples are “The Triplet”, “The Janitor” and “What Happened in The Lady’s Room”

Disabled Hide-and-Seek
Disabled Hide-and-Seek is an advanced form of hide-and-seek. At first, several “catchers” will be chosen. Without the need of counting, catchers run around and catch people. Once the catchers touch other players, the body parts being touched are regarded as “disabled” and they are not allowed to use that body part.

Controversy
In the past years, some room games have been criticized for being inappropriate and making some participants uncomfortable due to the physical intimacy involved. For example, in the game ‘Fire Qilin’, girls could be asked to sit on the back of a boy. The pose is considered inappropriate by some people because it could be associated with sex. (The Sun, 2013) In the orientation camp hold by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2008, a freshman was slapped with pillows and cried for 15 minutes due to failure to answer personal questions during a room game (Leung & Xu, 2011). Sometimes, people might use room games for malicious purposes. For example, freshmen could be induced to remove their clothing in one of the classic room games ‘Once in a lifetime’.