Fursuit Charades have been a convention staple for a while. Part of the fun comes from the answers fursuiters are asked to pantomime—ranging from easy stuff like jukebox to Kuddlepup’s WTF-level favorite Treaty of Ghent. Another part comes from the fursuiters’ attempts to convey those answers. And we root for the non-fursuited guessers, hoping they all succeed.

A convention forum thread about game show adaptations gave me an idea to take a whack at a mid-1980s game called Body Language. (Sample episodes are on YouTube.) Two-player teams, a celebrity and a “civilian,” use pantomime to convey clues that fill in blanks in puzzles; the objective is to solve the puzzles.

From the perspective of someone with only three cons under his belt and absolutely no experience running a panel, I think Furry Language with fursuiter-civilian teams might work. A more seasoned congoer or staffer would have a better idea of how feasible this would be.

One upside of the format is that the puzzle element lends itself to a variety of themes, including furry fandom. While the puzzles can be furry-related, individual clues don’t have to be. And there is a lot of material to work with—since October 2014 I have written 70 puzzles.

The rapid-fire nature of the charade element suggests predominantly easy clues. This elicits more action from the giver, fewer awkward pauses, and more moments of success. If a convention has room for both charade games, with its easier clues Furry Language could be positioned as a warmup for the traditional Fursuit Charades, though not necessarily back-to-back.

Another upside is that the game is structured so that all four players get a turn giving and receiving. (Scoring is easily simplified while retaining the structure.) This gives the civilians a more active role in gameplay as they get a chance to display their pantomime skill. However, this leads to a significant downside: since the receiver needs to talk, the role reversal excludes non-talking fursuits.

Also, due to the four-round format, fewer people get to play than in traditional Fursuit Charades. A one-hour block would yield approximately three games, meaning a maximum of six civilians and six fursuiters. That would be on par with convention Match Games I’ve seen online.

Another concern is finding enough fursuiters interested in playing. I can’t seem to decide whether to arrange with fursuiters in advance or just take volunteers at showtime. Two are all it takes, and the simpler latter route is probably the way to go for now.

I have devised a way to run the core game mechanics—clue display, puzzles, scoreboard, and timer—with one PC and two screens. Clues are displayed on a small screen in front of the guesser’s position, out of view of the guesser and the opponents. Everything else goes to a large screen (ideally projection) visible to everyone. Music and on-demand sound effects (bells and buzzers) are not necessary; if desired with the current setup, they can come in from a separate PC. Otherwise I might as well write a complete controller system, which at the moment is beyond my capability, or just downtech to posterboard and pullcards.

Venue-wise, the only key thing is to have enough space for two fursuiters to pantomime. That really shouldn’t be much, especially the first time out.

Prizes are not a concern at the moment. I’m thinking low budget anyway, since the focus should be on the game and the players. Also should strongly consider raffling a small door prize for the convention’s designated charity.

What about intellectual property issues for the game format, music, and sound effects? How do other convention games handle this?

As much as I would like to submit this for Megaplex, I don’t think it’s quite totally ready with those i’s undotted and t’s uncrossed. I should run a playtest somewhere with a couple of volunteers to make sure the tech works and the fursuit voices are clear under game conditions. But as far as going live, I may be better off trying for MFF.