The Winker Game
The Winker is a simple and fun icebreaker and pair participation exercise to fill two minutes of down time in your workshop.
Form pairs and ask each person to face one another, approximately half a metre (18′) apart. To start, instruct each person to close their eyes.
At this point, one person provides an appropriate starting signal, such “1, 2, 3.” When ready, both partners prepare to do one of four things:
- Open their right eye only
- Open their left eye only
- Open both eyes
- Keep both eyes shut
The object for each partnership is to produce the matching action, ie one person does the same thing with their eyes as their partner. Ideally, each partnership aims to perform a match as many times in a row as possible, ie each person winks, blinks or stares at the same time.
The key, of course, is to achieve this result with no forms of communication – verbal or non-verbal – between co-partners whatsoever. That means no talking, head jerks,etc.
Just pure, existential awareness, and repetition.
Once a rhythm has been found, invite people to swap partners, and continue until it’s time to move on to another activity.
Moment of Reflection
- What did you feel playing this game?
- Were you comfortable looking directly into the eyes of another person?How did you respond?
- How did it feel when you both stared at the other with both eyes open?
- Why do we feel uncomfortable looking into the eyes of another person?
The topics of this publication: integration, interactions, disinhibition, distension
