What to do with all those Easter Eggs

If you were wondering what to do with all those eggs you stayed up all night coloring. I've got a couple of ideas for you. Actually they're not my ideas but games that are played around the world by people celebrating Easter.

There's the Greek Egg-Tapping Game. Here each competitor uses a colored hard boiled egg. Many Greeks have secret methods forr selecting the strongest egg, and don't even try asking them about it. They'll deny, deny, deny.

The competition starts with two players tapping the small end of their eggs together. The idea is to hit your opponent;s egg hard enough to crack it, but not cracking your own. Some players use special techniques, others resort to cheap intimidation. Anyone refusing to play has been known to be called "Chicken." The player whose eggshell cracks first has to eat his egg, and the victor takes on the next challenger. The games goes on until only one egg remains unbroken, and tensions have been know to run very high. The Champion, of course, is the player with the last unbroken egg. If his egg remains unbroken through Easter, it is believed to be a sign of good luck for the coming year.

The other popular game is the German Egg Blowing Game, and requires at least one blown egg. If you've never blown an egg, here's how. Get some fresh eggs that have been at room temperature for a few hours. Vigorously shake the egg to loosen the yolk. Now make a hole in one end of the egg, and then one slightly larger in the other. Put your mouth over the smaller of the two holes and blow the egg out. Really it works. Be sure to use fresh not hard boiled eggs. Wash the shell and then let it dry.

To play the game, take the dry egg and place it in the center of a clean flat table. Have your guests gather around the table.One person gets the game underway by blowing the egg to the opposite side of the table. The person closest to the egg now blows the egg back across the table. No one is allowed to touch the egg, and any contact with the mouth or tongue is a punishable penalty. Anyone who lets the egg fall off the table has to leave the game. The Champion is the last person to keep the egg on the table. In the Chinese version of this game, they use a ping-pong ball.