“Johnny Lodden Thinks” aka just “Lodden Thinks” is fun little game you can play while you’re sitting around with friends or family.

The game is named Johnny Lodden Thinks because it originated when two pro poker players, Phil Laak and Antonio Esfandiari, began betting on what fellow pro Johnny Lodden‘s answers to their questions would be. YouTube has a clip:

Here’s how it works:

The game requires three people. Lets say I’ll be playing with my friends Adam and Ryan. One of us comes up with a question whose answer is a number. It then begins like this:

Me: Ryan, how many countries do you think border the Pacific Ocean? Think of the answer in your head. Don’t say it out loud. Let us know when you have a number.

Ryan: Ok, I have a number.

Once Ryan has a number, Adam and I start going back and forth saying what we think his guess is. After one of us says a number, the other player can say “less” or say a higher number. If the person says “less”, then we ask Ryan what his actual guess was and if it is less then the person who said “less” wins. Usually you’d bet money on it, but you don’t have to.

Me: I’ll start with 5.

Adam: I’ll go 10.

Me: 20.

Adam: 25.

Me: 26.

Adam: Less!

Me: Ryan, what was your answer?

Ryan: My guess was 20!

In this example Adam would win because I had last guessed 26, he said less, and Ryan’s original guess was 20. Had Ryan’s guess been 30, I would have won.

The key when guessing is not to start off too high. Had I initially guessed 100, Adam would have immediately said “less” and assuming Ryan’s answer was less than 100, won that round. Also, the real answer doesn’t matter, only what the person guessing thinks the answer is.

After each round ends you start again, usually with a different mix of people guessing and answering the question.

A question like “How many countries border the Pacific Ocean?” is just one example, but any question with a numeric answer will do. Usually folks wind up getting pretty creative (and often NSFW).

Here are a few more examples:

• Ryan, what’s the population of England?
• Ryan, how much money would you require to completely shave your head?
• Ryan, if our other friend Joel had to obtain a live chicken and started his search right now, how long would it take him?
• Ryan, if Joel was in the middle of an infinite field with no trees and no weapons, how long would it take him to catch a squirrel that initially starts 20 feet away from him?

… and so on. The more creative the better. :)

Give it a shot next time you’re sitting around with some friends and looking for something to do; I think you’ll really enjoy it.