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MASH is a game, commonly played by young children, that 'predicts a person's future'.
Players
There are two players: the fortune-teller and the person whose future is to be told. Mash stands for mansion, apartment, street (or shack or even sewers) , or house.
Game play
The game is played by setting out a list of possible outcomes in certain categories: for instance, under the heading automobiles, one would include various automobiles. The first category listed is always MASH (for the dwelling category). Typical categories include dwelling, automobile, spouse, occupation, pet and number of children. Sometimes for girls, wedding dress color is added. In a typical game, each category contains extraordinary options (for instance, a supermodel for a spouse), a few less extravagant options and one really awful option. Once the options have been laid out, the fortune-teller begins drawing little tallys or a spiral and asks the other player to tell her when to stop. Once stop is called, the fortune-teller adds up all the tallys/counts up the number of spiral lines she has drawn. The total number of tallys is the magic number. The fortune is divined by counting through the options consecutively until the magic number has been reached. Once the magic number is reached, that item is crossed out and counting resumes (omitting crossed-out items). When all but one of the options of a category have been exhausted, the remaining option is circled, and that option is no longer counted. Counting continues until all categories have only one option remaining. The circled items then should correlate to the player's "future", and the items are read to the player by the fortune-teller in the format "You will live in a ...., be married to ...., drive a ...., be a ..., etc."
Popular Culture
- In The Simpsons, a deleted scene from Hungry Hungry Homer showed Marge suggesting to turn off the TV and play a game. The family reluctantly agrees. Lisa suggests playing smash, which Bart mistakes for smashing everything in sight. Marge yells to turn the TV back on, and they see a comercial for block world. It was only shown in one episode before deciding to cut it to fit the show in the time slot.
