Life In The Office

The game that the Dunder Mifflin employees were playing at the bar is called “Up Jenkins!” Maybe this is a popular bar game, but I don’t spend much time in bars so I’ve never heard of it. Luckily LITO reader Anson sent in the rules:

As many players can take part in this game as there are places at the table. Form two teams with an equal number of players and choose a captain for each team. The teams then sit along each side of the table, facing each other. The captains sit at the ends of the table.

The captain of one team gets the coin and passes it under the table to the second person of the team. The players on that team pass the coin under the table back and forth from one player to another. The object of the game is to do it so carefully that the opposing team cannot guess which player has the coin.

At any time, the captain of the opposing team may call out, “Up Jenkins!” At this signal, the players on the team with the coin hold their hands over their heads withtheir fists clenched. The captain then calls out, “Down Jenkins!” and the players slap their hands with palms Hat on the table, keeping the coin hidden under one of the palms. Be careful that there is no clinking sound of the coin when hands are slammed down on the table.

Then the first two players on the opposing team guess which player has the coin. One of them says “Show Up,” to the player he or she thinks has the coin. This player must lift up both hands to show if the coin is on the table. If it isn’t, the second player gets to guess.

If one of the guesses is right, the opposing team gets a point, and wins a chance to hide the coin. If the guesses both are wrong, the coin stays with the first team, who gets a point. Next time around the third and fourth players on the opposing team get to guess. Set a time limit for play. At that point the team with the most points wins.

And from what happened last night, you don’t want Kevin on your team.

Kate (Meredith) has written her weekly blog post for TVGuide.com. She talks about the bat scene with Dwight, having the show directed by JJ Abrams and a little about tonight’s episode:

That brings me to this week’s episode, “Cocktails.” Deceptively titled, it is not the boozy Meredith episode you’ve all been waiting for! Too bad. This one is directed by the J.J. Abrams of Alias and Lost fame. This episode is so juicy! I was very moved by all the drama in the bar scene. Love is a messed-up thing this week, as Jan and Michael come out of the closet with their relationship, and Jim and Pam answer some more questions. Jenna [Fischer] really blew me away this week. I wasn’t in the Jan and Michael scenes, but Melora [Hardin] really goes for it, again. She does such a great job!

Link: Kate Flannery Blog Post