What in the world is Ice Nuts?
This addendum to the previous post is in response to a handful of questions I've received about Ice Nuts, to which I've made quite a few references in the past.
First some background. Our house in Belmont had a large, rectangular living room with very little furniture, and what furniture it did contain was relegated to the perimeter, shoved against the walls. This created a lot of open space, which we liked to use to hit the volleyball around. Indoor pepper, basically. But being the fun-loving competitors that we were, the peppering quickly evolved into a game, and Ice Nuts was born.
The way the game works is, you get a group of 5 guys spread out evenly on the floor of a big spacious living room (ours was perfect), and you bat a volleyball around at each other at high speeds, with no rules governing how you hit the ball. Punch it, kick it, head butt it, bounce it off the wall...whatever. Just don't let it hit the floor, because when it does, each player immediately points at the person whose fault they think it is. Whoever gets the most votes gets a point, and the first to 15 points has to melt a cube of ice on his nuts. Thus the name.
The thing is, when I mis-hit the ball, for instance, it's not like the other four guys would quietly say, "Um, I think that was on Chang." "Yeah, that one was Chang's." "Okay, one point for Chang. Next round." No no no. It's all much more humiliating than that. A volleyball smacks you in the face and drops to the ground, and four guys immediately jump up and vehemently point at you repeatedly, laughing and screaming, "YOU! YOU! HAAAAH! YOU!" Fill in all the inappropriate comments that Jason's imagination cooked up (but that I would never include here). Trash-talking was integral to the game - second in importance only to a very thick skin - and no one could hold Jason's jock in that regard.
And the punishment...
Simply put, the game was degrading.
So it comes as no surprise that the only one of us to ever get to the punishment phase was Drew, the most laid-back and easy-going of the group. When he lost the inaugural game, he took it like a man, went to the freezer, and did the deed.
Whenever any of the rest of us (myself, Scott, Jason, and Jason's former volleyball teammate Shane) threatened 15 points, tempers would inevitably flare and arguments would break out to the point where we'd have to abort. This was especially the case when we changed the game to Icy Hot Nuts. Need I say more?
We ended up starting about four games, with the first one being the only one that ever was completed. After the last failed attempt, we finally decided to abandon the game all together, to save our sanities, our friendships, our big bay window...oops, too late for that one. We never did get our deposit back on that house...
First some background. Our house in Belmont had a large, rectangular living room with very little furniture, and what furniture it did contain was relegated to the perimeter, shoved against the walls. This created a lot of open space, which we liked to use to hit the volleyball around. Indoor pepper, basically. But being the fun-loving competitors that we were, the peppering quickly evolved into a game, and Ice Nuts was born.
The way the game works is, you get a group of 5 guys spread out evenly on the floor of a big spacious living room (ours was perfect), and you bat a volleyball around at each other at high speeds, with no rules governing how you hit the ball. Punch it, kick it, head butt it, bounce it off the wall...whatever. Just don't let it hit the floor, because when it does, each player immediately points at the person whose fault they think it is. Whoever gets the most votes gets a point, and the first to 15 points has to melt a cube of ice on his nuts. Thus the name.
The thing is, when I mis-hit the ball, for instance, it's not like the other four guys would quietly say, "Um, I think that was on Chang." "Yeah, that one was Chang's." "Okay, one point for Chang. Next round." No no no. It's all much more humiliating than that. A volleyball smacks you in the face and drops to the ground, and four guys immediately jump up and vehemently point at you repeatedly, laughing and screaming, "YOU! YOU! HAAAAH! YOU!" Fill in all the inappropriate comments that Jason's imagination cooked up (but that I would never include here). Trash-talking was integral to the game - second in importance only to a very thick skin - and no one could hold Jason's jock in that regard.
And the punishment...
Simply put, the game was degrading.
So it comes as no surprise that the only one of us to ever get to the punishment phase was Drew, the most laid-back and easy-going of the group. When he lost the inaugural game, he took it like a man, went to the freezer, and did the deed.
Whenever any of the rest of us (myself, Scott, Jason, and Jason's former volleyball teammate Shane) threatened 15 points, tempers would inevitably flare and arguments would break out to the point where we'd have to abort. This was especially the case when we changed the game to Icy Hot Nuts. Need I say more?
We ended up starting about four games, with the first one being the only one that ever was completed. After the last failed attempt, we finally decided to abandon the game all together, to save our sanities, our friendships, our big bay window...oops, too late for that one. We never did get our deposit back on that house...
posted by Chang Kim at Saturday, August 06, 2005
14 Comments:
I can see pretty readily how the game itself got started, but the origins of the penalty . . . well those are still mysterious.
man Chang you guys are waaaay too competitive...all u guys should just walk in the freezer and chill...either that or u'll just melt ur freezer and argue anyway =D Game sounds too intense for my taste but i'm open for it =D
To be honest, I have no recollection of the origins of the penalty, though the fact that it came out of that particular group of guys does not surprise me in the least.
that's insane.
i'll let you guys come up with your own penalties (like eating your shoes) while i just look on :)
I've said it before and I'll say it again: It wasn't that bad.
As for the Icy Hot, well that was just insane and I never played once we got to that point!
Yeah, I think after you did the ice the first time we played, we saw that it wasn't so bad, so we decided to raise the stakes. Unfortunately, we went too far, and the game became unfinishable at that point. :)
The beauty of Ice-nuts is that it is really a microcausm of the game of life: a totally subjective game where shrewd decisions, lingering confidence, and social strategy rule the day.
...that, and damn good hand-eye coordination.
is drewby drewyay? i wasnt sure since drewby seems to make more intelligent comments than drewyay...hehe.
Drewby is Drew. Andrew is Andrew.
So what's the rationale behind ruth vs rooth? :)
hehehe. hey chang, remember sitting in the castano halls with legs open trying to peg each other with a football?
We're just a well of great games, aren't we? :)
It's a miracle that nobody's had to make a trip to the ER.
I think we really won't know the aftermath of these games until we all start having kids (or not).
As much as these games are about assaulting the nuts, I don't think any of ours have really taken that much abuse. I am glad none of us has to worry about the long-term effects of Icy Hot rubbed on the nuts.
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