The arena is much like an amphitheatre, with a small circle of plush leather poufs at its centre. The crowd are raucous, each rooting for their heroes as the match gets underway. The competitors, each one a hardened pass-the-parcel veteran, file in and commence their warm-ups, as the umpire takes his seat at the centre of the circle.

The lights dim; the parcel is brought forth from deep within the umpire's ceremonial robe; an anticipatory hush falls around the packed stands as the umpire raises his hand high into the air, before stabbing a finger down onto the gold-plated sound system. The music blares out and the game begins.

At the parcel's centre, surrounded by many layers of wrapping paper, is the winner's medal, and the player that gets it is assured of fame, fortune and a place in the Pass The Parcel World Championships. The mind games are intense, each competitor trying to influence the game in his favour with a finely timed pass. The umpire watches with the eyes of a hawk, alert for any suspicious behaviour and prepared to disqualify players that don't keep to the rules.
-- Mr Phase, Apr 18 2006

Pass The Parcel http://en.wikipedia...iki/Pass_the_Parcel
An explanation for those who have never heard of the beautiful game. [Mr Phase, Apr 18 2006]

Im guessing there were once some anotations above [Ian]'s.

Apparently bog standard comes form mechano where you could originally get box standard and box deluxe leading to bog standard and bogs dollocks
-- miasere, Apr 20 2006


Better than "rock-paper-scissors" and speling bees that sometimes make it on to the major sports networks.
-- Letsbuildafort, Apr 20 2006


[miasere]: Oddly enough, no. I know [Mr Phase] personally and he was as baffled by that anno as I was, but none deleted.
-- Germanicus, Apr 20 2006


Indeed [Germanicus]. My theory is that there was a sentence preceeding "However, I still favour..." which somehow got deleted. Can the author shed any light on the mystery?
-- Mr Phase, Apr 20 2006



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