An amusing game that can be played using an iPhone or laptop. One player picks 3 people of seemingly equal fame and then all the players have to say (in order) who has the highest google rating i.e. number of hits. It is best when searching to put the full name in inverted commas - e.g. “Kevin Bacon.” Players score 1 point for naming the person with the most hits and an extra 2 points for naming all 3 in correct order. First to ten , at that point you can play again but one session is usually enough.Try Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Steve Jobs. It’s Jobs at 47.3 million, Bill at 44.8 and Elon catching up fast at40.1. Try Marcel Proust, Jorge Luis Borges and Vladimir Nabokov. The leader is Borges at 7.88 million, Proust at 4.68 and Nabokov at 3.3 million.
In the realm of popular culture who is the biggest - Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift or Lady Gaga? Bieber wins at 168 million, Lady Gaga 137M and Taylor trails with a mere 127 million. Results can change day by day and rather randomly (this was written a year ago). People currently in the news do well, as do those associated with technology. Best to avoid common names like James Brown or John Taylor.
You can mix cultures to make it more challenging - say Kafka, Ayn Rand and Samuel Beckett— predictably Kafka comes in at number one with 7.74M, objectivist Ayn Rand at 5.7M and Beckett with only 3.97 million hits.
Names of rock bands can be fun - try Kraftwerk, Radiohead, Metallica (it’s Metallica by a country mile.)
With Elvis, Bob Dylan and Albert Einstein, the scientist leads, followed by Bob and trailed quite closely by ‘The King”. (Allegedly Dylan once chucked folk singer Phil Ochs out of his limo for suggesting he would never be as big as Elvis - turns out Ochs was wrong!) Super heroes throw up some surprises- Super Mario has way more hits than the Hobbit and Darth Vader… Theoretically you could try Oranges, Apples and Lemons or Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle but celebrities are the most fun. The name of the game, according to our friend and its inventor Simione, was suggested by the cocktail in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster. Simione also suggests it could be a drinking game with the loser having to buy a round or the winner drinking a shot. More sober players could play for money, say $10 a point.
Simione suggests you try William Shakespeare, J.K. Rowling and John Lennon or Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath and Bjork.