Mandatory Fun
Mandatory Fun Time
Contents |
[edit] "Mandatory Fun?" What's That?
Mandatory Fun is the way that TIP ensures that nerds will socialize through 1 and 1/2 hour activities Monday-Thursday and 2 hour activities on Sunday. They involve a wide range of entertainment. Usually there are three to five options as well as one limited activity; each activity is chaperoned by different RCs or, if they're brave enough, a TA. One night a week, Mandatory Fun takes place in the form of RAG night, where you choose an activity with your RC group, such as going to Main Street or Ninth Street, going to Laser tag, bowling, ordering pizza and a movie... et cetra.
[edit] How Do I Sign Up?
You sign up for them ahead of time and go there right after evening session. At Davidson you sign up in one central location early in the morning. At Duke East, you sign up for unlimited activities with your RC and limited ones in Bassett. (Edit: At Duke East Term 1 2010, there were lotteries held for limited activities on the Marketplace steps. Each person would receive a number (if they got to the lottery fast enough), usually between 1 and 8. An RC would draw a number from his/her plastic bag, and the TiPsters holding this number would be allowed to enter the Marketplace and sign up for one limited activity. Even if you're called to sign up for an activity fourth, odds are that you won't get it (if it's a very popular activity). Activities that were very popular included Laser Tag and going to the movies to watch Toy Story 3. If you didn't make it to the lottery, you could still sign up in Brown. Activities that were limited and almost no one went to included a trip to Duke Gardens and making Packing Tape Purses.) Edit: Duke East Term II 2011 was similar to Term I 2010. The most popular activity ever was going to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part two. The Duke Marine Lab works the same way as Davidson. For Duke West and ASU, you sign a sheet near your RC's door, during the meeting, or if early enough, the morning of the activity's day. At UGA, signup occurs during RC group meetings the night before the activity. Activities at UGA last 2 hours and are held Monday through Thursday (campus-wide activities are held the other days of the week).
[edit] But Why?
As one Dr. Steve Benko described it to his PILF class, "TIP staff thinks that although you TIPsters are advanced intellectually, you are far behind socially." This is the reasoning behind mandatory fun time. Mandatory Fun's original implementation may have had a connection to the prevention of TIP Babies.
[edit] The Origins of Mandatory Fun
It used to be that activities were not mandatory, in fact. While evening activities were still offered, those freedom-inclined, self-sufficient TIPsters we all know and love were allowed to write "D/Q," which stands for "Dorms/Quad," and, as the name indicates, gave the tipster free range for two hours in the dorms or on the quad. Even today, some brave tipsters can get away with writing this if their RC is particularly lazy and/or doesn't notice. The best example of this TIP spirit occurred in 2004, when Peter Sloan, arguably one of the most influential TIP-participants of his and our time, would famously write "D/Q/TRB."
Think about that.
It is still tradition at tip to see if you can get away with "D/Q," although it's unlikely, unless your RC was MIA or had swine flu. Also, it's not a very practical idea unless your friends get away with it too.
[edit] Some Examples of Mandatory Fun!
[edit] Davidson
- Hang out in Union
- Ultimate Frisbee
- Cards
- Various movies, including the Italian Job and Ocean's 12
- Soccer
- Quidditich
- Basketball
- Various crafts
[edit] Texas A&M
- Soccer
- Ultimate Frisbee
- Duct Tape Wallets & Laundry
- Movie & Laundry
- Football
- Ice Skating (This was a rarity)
- Sand Volleyball
- Coloring & Clay Modeling
- Basketball
- Quiet Reading
- Qudditch (Another Raity)
- Step
- Improv
- So You Think You Can Dance
- Campus Tour
- Stress Mangement
[edit] Duke West
- Improv
- Ultimate Frisbee
- Basketball, Volleyball, Football, Soccer...
- Play-do Emporium
- Speed Friendship
- Intellectual Debate
- Poker
- Laundry
- Movies (sometimes paired with baking cookies, sing-a-long, and more) (included The Princess Bride, Aladdin, James Bond night)
- Guitar, Art and Poetry
- Stress Relief (reached a list of 64 attendees)
- Bridge Building
- Dancing
- Chapel Tour
- Social Dance (Thriller/Salsa)
- Ben & Jerry's/Ice Cream Social
- Asian man tells tales of wisdom
- Quiet Reading (visiting the library, included online)
- Disney Sing-a-Long (related:O Commons#2009 Term 1)
- Also from Term II:
- Quidditch
- Lip Sync
- Yoga
- College Q&A Information Session
- Asian Man Tells Stories
- Puppet Theatre
- Cupcakes & Cards
- Mixer
- Photo Tour (of the Chapel and Gardens)
- Chapel Climb
[edit] Duke East
- Ultimate Frisbee
- Indie Dance Party
- Pointless Debate
- Cupcake Decoration
- Room Decoration
- Dr. Who Marathon
- Chillin' on the Quad
- Improv, Parts I and II
- Harry Potter Trivia Night
- Volleyball
- The Office/How I Met Your Mother Marathon
- Locopops
- 9th Street Trips
- Dodgeball
- Kickball
- TiP Lore
- Glee Marathon/Sing Along
- Unsolicited Advice
- Back to the Future
- Football
- Basketball
- D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything And Read)
- Volunteering
- Dance Party, Parts I and II
- Jam Session
[edit] University of Georgia
- Ultimate Frisbee
- Football
- Unsolicited advice
- Improv (Once each week)
- Jam session
- Mystery Science Theater 3000
- Chilling on the Quad
- Quidditch
- Nerf war (Term II only)
- Laundry and Boardgames
- Photo Tour (a small garden at UGA)
- Salsa and Salsa
- Pointless debate
- Abstract Pictionary
- Downtown
- Friendship bracelets
- Manswers (a variation of Unsolicited advice)
- Egg Drop
- Sweet Treats
- Jousting
- Mystery Time
- Soccer
- Trips to see new movie releases (ex: Inception at Term 2 2010 and Harry Potter at Term 2 2011)
[edit] Recent Developments
Recently Mandatory Fun has become even more mandatory. Previously, if activities were at their logical end at, say, 9:00, RCs would let us out. However, at West '05, this common sense was not applied, resulting in kids who signed up for football or soccer sitting on a bench for half an hour when it got dark. (This trend also picked up with the Texas A&M RC's by 2009 Term 1.)
In Kansas, Mandatory Fun often takes a tragic turn and results in forced entrance to corn mazes. Ironically, such mazes have been known to provide the dark corners necessary for the creation of TIP Babies.
-Page was edited by Mandy G, Logan R, and BuMu-
