General Information about Item:

• Genre (Subgenre): Customary Folklore (Games)
• Language: English
• Country/State: United States/New Hampshire

Informant Data:

• Senior (Class of 2018) from New Jersey
• First participated in trips his freshman year (Fall 2014)
• Led climb and hike trip during Fall 2017 term

Contextual Data:

• Social context: The games are played in trip groups on the Green; trip leaders lead and explain the games as necessary.
• Cultural context: The games are all meant to help trippees and trip leaders bond and get to know one another better.

Item:

• Mafia and Llama, Llama are popular icebreaker/introductory games played by first year trippees and their trip leaders when they assemble on the green for the first time as a group.

Transcript of Informant Interview:

• “…then you go to the green and meet your trippees, and you play llama, llama or Mafia, and not everyone knows what those games are, so you explain them, and while you’re doing that everyone’s still getting to know each other, and the same thing is happening at all of the other group circles around you.”

Informant’s Comments:

• The informant discussed the significance of games on the green as the first real conversations that many first-years have with each other and with their trip leaders. He indicated that he especially enjoyed that games on the green conveyed to first years that “it’s okay to be weird, because you’re trip leaders are upperclassmen that are settled into Dartmouth, and they’re still into playing weird, childish games.”

Collector’s Comments:

• The informant’s face lit up as he described both the games played on the green and his personal experiences with these games first as a freshman and later as a trip leader.

Collector’s Name: Abhishek Bhargava

Tags/Keywords:

• First-year trips, games, traditional lore