Many cultures frown upon eye contact, but not the Western World.  Being able to look someone right in the eye is a sign of confidence and holds to a lot of cultural symbolism, such as honesty, integrity and even dominance.  Though we’ve been told “it’s rude to stare” one of the most popular school-time games, The Staring Contest, has extended itself beyond the school years and straight into pop culture thanks to the help of late night comedy skits and everyday people like you and me.

The staring contest can be held under two different rule sets.  The easiest game to play is where two opponents must stare into one another’s eyes and try and keep steady eye contact.  Either opponent can engage in tactics such as laughing, making faces, tapping the opponent on the shoulder and telling jokes, as well as getting friends and allies to do silly things in the background in order to force the opponent into a distracted defeat.  The more difficult version involves resisting the urge to blink at all, making it hard for those with “dryer eyes” to keep up with those of our friends who can keep their peepers open for long periods of time.  The first version can go on for hours, while the physiological aspect of the second version tends to make matches very short in length.

Kids looking to practice have brought the game home to play with family members.  Of course, once they’re exhausted, family members tend to give up, forcing many an aspiring staring contest champion to compete against their pets and even inanimate objects.  Don’t knock it!  Grandma Bessie’s portrait can be the most formidable of opponents… (I haven’t gotten her to crack once!)

The Internet era has brought a rediscovered fascination to the very personal game, from web-cam based games to games against computer-generated opponents.  While the games have reminded us of the fun moments had when we first played, nothing can take the place of the very fun, very challenging original.