Désmoogí

Désmoogí (Moldése for whispers) is a popular parlor game on the planet of Gadalla and throughout the Kédalikín diaspora.

Bearing a striking resemblance to the Earthling game called telephone, this Kédalikín variant—while also played by children—is more often used in the training of spies and saboteurs.

How to Play

Players stand in a circle, surrounded by their parents, and the youngest among them is identified as the end-point. The player to the youngest’s right then whispers the characteristics of an invented individual into the ear of the player to their right. That player whispers to the next person in line, and so on, until the message reaches the youngest player—the pre-identified end-point.

The youngest player now faces the player to their right. Everyone in the room closes their eyes. The youngest player and the player who originated the whisper assume the shape of the invented individual. After the count of five, everyone in the room opens their eyes and looks upon the two. If they are a match, the two are cheered and are allowed to leave the game. If they are not a match, they remain.

The cycle continues until all of the children have left the circle.

Variations

While children often relish in the cooperative nature of the game and try not to take deliberate actions to prolong it, adults using the game to train in the art of subterfuge are far more likely to corrupt the message along the way—just to see if the end-point player can look at the rest of those in line, deduce how they might have messed with the message, and correct for that.

In the adult variation, it is the least skilled player (rather than the youngest) who is chosen as the initial end-point. The idea, of course, is that every unit is only as good as their weakest link.