Let's Play A Love Game
In my long and arduous search for what to do at 10 p.m. on a Friday night, I happened to stumble upon a blitz from Collis After Dark advertising the Valentine’s Day Newlywed Game. The competition — an event pitting Dartmouth couples against one another in a fight to the death (for gift cards) to determine which couple knows each other best — immediately reeled me in.
There are two things I love more than the shimmering glow of Webster Avenue on a Friday night, and those two things are game shows and gift cards. And I suppose the same applies to my boyfriend who was also more than down to prove our hours spent quizzing each other about meaningless details could finally pay off.
After a Valentine’s Day dinner spent reviewing each other’s lives over fettuccini, we strolled into Collis Common Ground ready to do some damage. It’s hard to be deeply competitive when you’re facing off against four loving couples on Valentine’s Day while they hold hands and wish each other luck, but we were prepared for serious combat.
The battle began with questions for all five couples, with one member writing his or her answer on a whiteboard while the other said his or hers out loud. Matching answers resulted in the glory of five whole points.
We started out slow. I couldn’t quite figure out how the game worked or what to write on the whiteboard, and my beau had no idea what my stir-fry order is. He somehow mistook me for a brown rice kind of gal.
But as I managed to learn the basic rules of the game and as the questions veered away from the realm of Collis, we picked up momentum. I knew his favorite musical act (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and he knew which of his friends I find most attractive (I plead the Fifth). The end of the first round found us in second place.
The second round was similar, but with each couple getting individual questions that ranged in difficulty from a partner’s favorite childhood movie to his or her ideal vacation destination. Here, the stars aligned and luck (or knowledge?) pulled us ahead. I somehow got asked what superpower he would want, one of many things we had discussed in our high-octane preparation sessions earlier that evening. The answer was time stopping, easy. Get your work done, sleep as much as you want or rob a bank if you feel like it.
The competition ended with a dance-off judged by the audience, which was all kinds of unexpected. But we rolled with the punches as he gracefully lifted me, and my 10 years of dance training culminated in something between a robot and a shimmy.
All in all, my Collis Common Ground Friday was one of the highlights of the term. Sometimes it’s really easy to get absorbed in our routines, whether that means hitting the pong scene or building a cozy home for yourself in the stacks. Branching out and doing something so far outside my comfort zone was extremely rewarding and also reminded my jaded junior self that Dartmouth has so much more to offer than just frats or books.
And oh yeah, we won.