Chicken Out +

Cammy pulls out a board game that has been caked in dust for who knows how many years. After a quick swipe over the cover, the name is revealed.

“Chicken Out +,” Cammy reads aloud to everyone.

“Chicken Out +? Where’s the first Chicken Out?” Morgana moves next to Cammy to see the cover of the board game.

“I don’t know. I don’t see a Chicken Out one in the box.” Cammy looks back into the box searching for another board game.

“Huh, that’s weird. I’m not even seeing it on the internet. Maybe it’s super rare!” Stephanie is scrolling on her phone searching for information.

“All the more reason to play then. Sounds like a rare game that none of us have played.”

“So we have a prototype board game?”

“Or a failed one granted that no one knows about it.”

“Let’s open it up and read the instructions,” Morgana says as she grabs the board game, carries it to the living room, and places it on a coffee table.

After jiggling the top of the box, it finally popped off to reveal: a game board, game cards, a 6-sided dice, game pieces, and the instruction manual. Morgana reaches in, pulls out the manual, unfolds the instructions, and starts reading it. The other girls start pulling out the game parts and setting them up on the table.

“OOOOOOOOOOO, look at these cute little pieces.”

“This board looks ancient.”

After a few minutes of the girls getting everything set up, Morgana grabs the girls’ attention again.

“Uh, I don’t want to bring any alarm, but this game seems suspicious.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, listen to this.

Chicken Out + with new twists, turns, and ‘benefits’, players will put their souls, bodies, and minds on the line for a chance to have their wish granted. Be the first to reach the end, or suffer the transformations you may undergo on your magical journey of change. Will you be the most daring to reach the end and have a magical wish, or chicken out early and permanently keep your new features?”

Juliette ponders the summary and then states, “That’s just to set up the mood of the game. I doubt it actually does those things.”

Morgana is still looking at the instructions and thinks for a moment before responding. “I guess that makes sense.”

“So how do we play?”

“Roll the dice, move your piece that many spaces, pull a card of that color space you landed on, and deal with the ‘event’. If you cannot deal with it, you must say you ‘Chicken out’ or something similar and be left with your cards. If you can deal with the event, then say 'I continue' and then proceed with the event.”

“And I’m assuming you win by getting to the end before everyone else.”

“Yup, but it also says that at least one player has to reach halfway through the board for the game to ‘legitimize’ and for the wish to be granted.”

“Got it, no chickening out before halfway through the game. So, what do the colors do?”

“Lemme see…” Morgana says as she flips through a few pages of the manual.

“Ummm got it! Red represents your mind, Yellow represents your face and/or head, blue represents your fashion, outfit, and style, green represents your body, and uhhhh…”

“You only read four colors, but there are three more: purple, pink, and black.”

“Yeah yeah I know, but the manual is ripped right when it lists those colors.” Morgana holds up the instruction manual and shows the girls that there is a rip in the manual where the other colors are listed.

“How are we supposed to play when we don’t have instructions for those colors?”

“I think it should still be fine, we’ll just land on those spaces, and pull the card associated with those colors and when we read them, we’ll learn what the spaces represent.”

“Sounds simple enough, I guess everyone picks their pieces and then places them at the starting space.”

All the girls take their places around the game board and start to pick their pieces.

Being the talkative and ambitious one of the group, Stephanie picks the microphone game piece. She likes to think by talking out loud a lot and ends up coming up with thousands of ideas. While very creative and imaginative, Stephanie lacks organization and focus when it comes to following through on an idea, and usually needs her friend to guide her back on track. However, with the group's help, she gets very giddy and happy knowing her ‘smart’ ideas brought everyone together.

Next is Nora, who picks the toolbox game piece. Nora considers herself the silent helper and the most responsible in the group. She spends her time and effort doing her own thing within the group but still likes to be around them. When a problem arises, Nora likes to get involved so she can get the satisfaction of being the most helpful and resourceful one in the group. While everyone thinks she likes to be the cool silent helper, she secretly wishes the group recognized her more for her unseen efforts.

Hana is a very high-energy, outgoing, and athletic person and therefore takes the soccer ball game piece. Very talkative in the friend group, and the most physically active, Hana plays multiple sports and likes to get the group outside and moving. Very prideful in her abilities and skills, she tries to impress her friends quite often, even though she has already won their respect and trust. Hana tries to get the group to constantly try new things, however, she can get frustrated quite easily when things don’t go her way.

The youngest and most naive of the group, Cammy selects the ice cream game piece. Cammy enjoys asking questions and doesn’t care that it may show her off as dumb or inexperienced. While also a hard worker, Cammy constantly strives to make herself the best version of herself she can be. She believes that everyone in the group has their own bit of wisdom and tries to learn something from everyone, but she lacks her own independence and willpower in sticking to her ideals.

As the peacemaker of the group, Juliette chooses the flower game piece. Juliette wants to see everyone be happy and have fun within the group. Very compassionate and very enthusiastic, Juliette will put in extra work and effort to make sure everyone feels included, heard, or comforted. Tries very hard to make sure everyone gets what they want while forgoing what she may need as a result. Juliette is also brave and daring to try new things when others may feel uncomfortable, which can put her into situations she may need help getting out of.

The troublemaker of the group, Morgana took the sword game piece. Morgana does not mind rocking the boat in order to make sure everything is fair and respectful. She is the most argumentative and outspoken in order to get what she wants or to get what is suitable for someone else in the group. While being a bit of a rebel, she loves playing devil’s advocate just for fun. Morgana will be the one to back you up even if no one else will only after she gets what she wants first.

After all the girls put their pieces on the starting square, they all give each other a look of realization.

“Who rolls first?”

“I don’t know, I don’t think it actually said in the instructions.”

“Cammy found the game, so she should roll first.”

“Oh, uh okay.”

Cammy takes the dice and throws the first dice, sealing all of the girls’ fates to this game’s twists and turns.