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Watch 900 New Yorkers gather for one epic, insane game of musical chairs

A random 50-year-old woman from Tennessee walked away as champion.

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The grown-ups are taking back one of their favorite games from childhood: Musical chairs.

If you've never played musical chairs, well, you must not have gone to Physical Education in the 90s. Along with parachute day, duck duck goose, and the now-banned-almost-everywhere dodgeball, musical chairs was a staple game for all elementary school kids.

For the uninitiated, the rules are simple: some number of participants stand around a circle of chairs. The problem is, there's one fewer chair than there is people. Music plays and the players walk, dance, or skip around the chairs in a circle. When the music stops, you've got to find a seat as fast as possible—before someone else does! If you're the odd man left standing, you're out, and the game continues with the remaining players. A new chair is removed each round until one winner remains.

The game is frantic and intense, with bouts of quiet tension in between. It's also extremely silly and sure to draw fits of laughter from everyone playing. Sounds fun, right? So why should kids be the only ones who get to enjoy it?

Bryant Park in Manhattan, New York City recently played host to, if not quite the biggest game of musical chairs in history, certainly one of them.

musical chairs, games, kids game, play, adults, adulting, play for adults, fun, joy, happiness, communityMusical chairs can get pretty ruthless.Giphy

Eat your heart out, Mr. Beast.

Nine hundred adult New Yorkers showed up one recent evening for a chance to take home a commemorative chair and a $500 gift card. But mostly, they showed up to have a good time and in that, they were all winners.

Contestants were broken into smaller groups of 30, where they competed in semi-final heats. Each group would have one winner, who would then go on to compete in the "Winner's Circle." During the contest, full-grown human beings hopped, skipped, and chicken-wing-flapped their arms as they circled the chairs, then frantically tried to find a place or face elimination.

In a recording of the event, all you can hear is laughter, gasps, and raucous giggles as these adult strangers run and topple over with glee.

According to The Times, the ultimate winner was 50-year-old Amy Beron, who had come from Tennessee to visit her daughter in New York. "[Beron] claimed the title in the absence of friends in the crowd, as camera flashes lit up her shocked face. She had seen on social media that the event was taking place, showed up alone and walked away a winner."

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Officially, the largest game of musical chairs took place in Singapore in 1989. It featured 8,238 contestants and took over three hours to crown a winner.

But that's got nothing on the world's biggest pillow fight, which took place in 2018 with nearly 8,000 participants.

Here's the thing about adults: There's a part of all of us that deeply misses being a kid. We're nostalgic for the memories and the way things used to be, yes, but we also miss when our main purpose in life was to have fun and experience joy. When we were carefree and a little reckless. Many of us are always trying to recapture just a bit of that, whether it's through art like coloring books, adult summer camp, or large-scale and completely absurd competitions like Bryant Park's musical chairs.

And though it looks like things got a little competitive in some of the musical chairs heats (in the video above, you'll see a guy get knocked over as a woman fights for his chair!), this kind of thing is generally very good for us. Playing with others helps us feel like we belong, just as it did when we were kids. It boosts our mental health and provides a much-needed escape from a world that feels like it's doing its best to beat us down.

You can watch the entire competition pretty much from beginning to end, including the dramatic moment that Amy Beron officially out-duels the last competitors, here:

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Most large-scale community gatherings like this suffered a cruel and sudden death in 2020 during the COVID pandemic. Once the worst was over and the masks mostly came off and we were free to mingle with strangers again, it still didn't feel normal to congregate like this. It's so heartwarming to see strangers coming together again, hear them laughing again, and watch them enjoy the outdoors together—even if it is in the most ridiculous way possible.

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Education

8 classes that should be required for all students before they hit adulthood

If we want to prepare kids for adult life, we've got some glaring gaps to fill.

Photo by Sam Balye on Unsplash

Why aren't we teaching students the things they really need to know as adults?

I remember sitting in advanced algebra and trigonometry class in high school wondering if I was really ever going to use any of what I was learning. Math at that level meant nothing to me in a practical sense. I planned to study English and education to become an English teacher, so I couldn't imagine why I'd need to learn the ins and outs of trig.

As it turned out, some of what I learned came in handy in the functions class I was required to take to fulfill my math requirement in college. But again, I found myself sitting in class with zero idea of why I was learning this level of math and suspecting that I was never going to actually use that knowledge in my adult life.

Now I'm a middle-aged adult and I can say with absolute certainty that I was right. In 27 years, I have not used anything I learned in functions. Not once. Not even a little bit. I agonized my way through that class to eek out a B-minus and to promptly forget everything I'd learned because it was utterly useless to me.

To be clear, higher math isn't useless—it's amazing. It was just completely useless to me.

You know what would have been useful? Learning about financing a car or a mortgage or understanding how and why and where to invest money. In all that time I was doing trigonometric proofs and calculating polynomial functions, I could have been learning all the various real-life math-related decisions I'd have to make as an adult.

I see the same thing happening with my kids in high school and college. It totally makes sense for students who are interested in going into math and science fields to take math beyond basic algebra and geometry, but for those who aren't—why bother? There are so many more valuable things for them to take the time to learn—things that every single person really needs a basic knowledge of, such as:

Basic Psychology/Mental Health Maintenance

Every one of us has a brain and mental health is an issue for a huge percentage of people. According to the World Health Organization, 1 in 4 people globally will be affected by a mental health disorder at some point in their lives. Even those of us who don't struggle with mental illness benefit from learning about how our minds work, gaining strategies for managing our thoughts, emotions and behaviors, and understanding why people do the things they do.

How many people would have been saved by learning how to spot a narcissist before getting into a relationship with one? How many people could mitigate an anxiety spiral right when it starts because they learned to recognize the signs earlier? How many people would appreciate the support and understanding of everyone having a basic understanding of their mental health disorders?

Basic Sociology/Human Behavior

Similarly, every one of us lives in a society. Understanding social connections, relationships, and group behavior might just come in handy. If we don't understand the causes and consequences of human behavior, we're going to be confused by society at best and allow or enable atrocities to occur at worst.

From learning how cults and conspiracy theories work to recognizing how our prejudices can blind us to reality, sociology has useful knowledge we all need to internalize.

Media Literacy

If we're going to be bombarded with media 24/7, we'd better know how to process it. Understanding how journalism works, what makes a source credible, how information can be skewed and how to recognize misinformation and disinformation is vital. What is bias and how can it be mitigated? How can we recognize when an outlet values accuracy?

So many of the problems the U.S. is facing currently are due to people watching or listening to dubious news sources. Mandatory media literacy courses would (hopefully) go a long way toward changing that.

The Stock Market and Other Investments

I underestimated how much I'd need to know about the stock market when I was younger. None of that economic stuff interested me, but I wish I understood it better now.

But really, it's investing in general that we need to understand more about when we're younger, especially since starting young is the No. 1 best advice any financial advisor will give you.

How Banking, Credit, and Credit Cards Work

Every single one of us uses a bank or credit union and credit is a huge part of adult life. And yet, most people I know have had to piece together how credit and credit cards actually work through advice from friends and family and good old trial and error, sometimes with devastating consequences.

Taxes

Good gracious, right? Not just how to do taxes, but what taxes get used for.

Financial literacy is what I'm saying. We need mandatory financial literacy classes. (In 2022, Florida became the first state to require personal finance education to graduate, so yay Florida.) I think I was required to take economics in high school, but it was much more high-level economic theory than personal finance. We need personal finance first, then the bigger picture.

First Aid/Safety/Self-Defense

Most of us probably got some first aid and/or CPR training in health class, but how comprehensive was it? Did it include infant CPR? Do we know how to recognize if someone is having a stroke? Signs of infection?

What about basic everyday safety, like why you shouldn't leave a car running in a garage or common household fire dangers or how to spot asbestos?

Self-defense seems like a no-brainer. Basically, a "How to Stay Alive and Keep Others Alive" course that includes most everything you need to know to protect yourself and your loved ones on a daily basis.

Navigating our Healthcare and Health Insurance System

Ugh. I've been an adult for almost three decades and everything about our healthcare system confuses and frustrates me. Maybe if we required schools to teach young people how it works, it would shine a big spotlight on how ridiculously and unnecessarily complicated it is because no one could possibly explain it in a way that's understandable. Maybe that would push lawmakers to actually do something about it, because honestly, it's just a gigantic mess.

There are surely others, but those are the major subjects that come to mind as vital after being an adult for a long while and seeing what my own kids need to have a decent grasp on as they make their way into the world. And honestly, there are some classes that adults should be required to take well into adulthood. Parenting classes, for example. Or local government and voting.

All subjects and courses have value to some people, but if we want students to be prepared for adulthood, we should make sure they are given the vital knowledge and skills every person actually needs and will use.


This article originally appeared three years ago.

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Health

Health experts agree that adults should have recess, too

Giving grown-ups time to play boosts physical, mental, and social health. Plus, it’s fun!

Photo credit: Canva

Playtime is beneficial at any age.

Have you ever wished you could just stop at your desk for thirty minutes and go outside to play a game, jump around a bit, or even just play with play dough for a while? Well, what’s stopping you? Experts say that taking a recess period isn’t just good for kids, but is good for adults, too.

The National Library Medicine has a 2022 study showing how “playtime” and recess helps the physical and mental well-being of adults along with a 2018 study showing how playing helps improve the lives of mentally ill seniors, too. But doesn’t it seem childish? Is it just nostalgia? Is it just… Well, needless fun?

In an interview with CNN, Dr. Bowen White, a physician and head of the National Institute of Play, a non-profit group that researches the benefits and history of recreation, provided some insight:

“Play is essential to our health,” he says. “Your blood pressure goes down. You release dopamine.”

Woman making large bubbles and smiling.Laughing and making bubbles is good for you!Photo credit: Canva

He’s not wrong. Play isn’t just fun, it’s healthy. Many activities that you used to play as a kid require you to go outside, which is both physically and mentally healthy. While it’s important to exercise, working out is part of the job of being an adult. The word “work” is in it. Playing in a dodgeball league or a game of double-dutch as an adult adds in some extra physical activity that can benefit you. Also, playing in general leads to laughter, which can reduce stress, lower blood pressure, and provide cardiovascular benefits like physical games do.

Men playing dodgeballDodgeball is a good way to get some playful aggression out.Photo credit: Canva

If you’re more in the mood for some less physical activity, doing more relaxing forms of play like playing board games, coloring in a coloring book, or sculpting with play dough can also release endorphins like those other recess activities while also stimulating your brain, improving your problem solving skills and increasing your imagination. Through fun!

Because of these benefits, many employees get better ideas, collaborate better with coworkers, and just plain work better when given time away from their desk to play around a little. There’s a reason why the “office foosball table” has become a popular trope in corporate America.

Office workers playing foosball in a high rise buildingSee? Photo credit: Canva

And the desire and instinct to play isn’t a human invention, it’s evolution.

“Play is so deeply ingrained in terms of our own evolutionary drive to survive,” said Bowen. “We all come into the world knowing how to play.”

Playtime is just a part of our evolution according to Scientific American. It’s also in nature. You’ve seen animals play with one another, likely from your own pets or certain articles here on Upworthy, and it’s not taught to them from human behavior. It’s an instinctual way for young animals to learn certain hunting or gathering skills, find mates, and create allies through social interaction to ensure better survival and lives in the world. Same with humans.

So to recap: Having some form of recess isn’t childish, is beneficial to your overall health in all aspects, is a part of human evolution, and is a part of nature itself. Oh, and it’s fun, too. So how can you incorporate more of it in your life, especially since we’re all so busy all of the time?

Well, it’s best to carve out some time for yourself to play each day, much like you had done at school. When you have a lunch break, take it. Use that time to not just eat, but to play. Go to a nearby park and shoot some hoops, on your own or in a pick-up game. Don’t worry if you suck, that’s not the point. After work, carve out time to go to a batting cage to hit some balls or a barcade to play games. Look into any clubs or intramural sports in your area, maybe join a dodgeball team or bar trivia night. Even if you’re so busy that you can’t make time outside of work or have too short of a lunch break, play a game with a coworker while you both eat. At the least, you can get some benefit from playing a game on your phone against other people online while you have lunch.

If you have young children that need your attention, you can indulge in play with them! Playing with your child in games or activities they enjoy gives you the aforementioned playtime benefits plus better bonding with them. It doesn’t mean you always have to play at their level all of the time either. For example, if your kid likes to color, you and your little one can color in your own separate coloring books, you with your adult coloring book and them with their less complex one while you share crayons. If they like to jump rope, jump along with them and see if you can keep up with their energy.

Woman coloring with two boysColoring with your kids can be a great bonding experience while also artistically therapeutic.Photo credit: Canva

There’s another reason why adults need recess that should be reiterated: It’s fun.

Life goes by fast and can sometimes end abruptly, unexpectedly. It’s not to scare anyone, it’s just a fact. So isn’t it best to grab as much fun as you’re able to get when it’s accessible? Based on the data here, fun is far from a waste of time as it appears on the surface. Hope you all have a fun life.

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Pop Culture

People are sharing the adult problems that 'nobody prepared you for' and they're so true

Here are 21 of the most relatable.

via PixaBay

Being an adult is tough.

Nothing can ever fully prepare you for being an adult. Once you leave childhood behind, the responsibilities, let-downs and setbacks come at you fast. It’s tiring and expensive, and there's no easy-to-follow roadmap for happiness and success. A Reddit user asked the online forum, “What’s an adult problem nobody prepared you for?” and there were a lot of profound answers that get to the heart of the disappointing side of being an adult.

One theme that ran through many responses is the feeling of being set adrift. When you’re a kid, the world is laid out as a series of accomplishments. You learn to walk, you figure out how to use the bathroom, you start school, you finish school, maybe you go to college, and so on.

However, once we’re out of the school system and out from under our parents’ roofs, there is a vast, complicated world out there and it takes a long time to learn how it works. The tough thing is that if you don’t get a good head start, you can spend the rest of your life playing catch-up.

Then, you hit middle age and realize that life is short and time is only moving faster.

Adulthood also blindsides a lot of people because we realize that many adults are simply children who grew older. The adult world is a lot more like high school than a teenager could ever imagine.

The Reddit thread may seem a bit depressing at first, but there are a lot of great lessons that younger people can take to heart. The posts will also make older people feel a lot better because they can totally relate.

Being an adult is hard, exhausting and expensive. But we’re all in this together and by sharing the lessons we’ve learned we can help lighten each other's load just a bit.

Here are 21 of the most powerful responses to the question: “What is an adult problem nobody prepared you for?”

1. Lack of purpose

"Lack of purpose. All your young life you are given purpose of passing exams and learning, then all of a sudden you are thrown into the world and told to find your own meaning," — Captain_Snow.

2. No bed time

"You can stay up as late as you want. But you shouldn't," — geek-fit

3. Friendships

"Where did all my friends go?" — I_Love_Small_Breasts

Most of them are at the same place as you are ... Probably wondering the same thing," — Blackdraon003

4. Bodily changes

"I'm closer to fifty than forty, would have been nice to be better prepared for some of the ways your body starts to change at this point that don't normally get talked about. For instance your teeth will start to shift from general aging of your gums," — dayburner.

5. People don't change

"Didnt know that other adults have the emotional intelligence of teenagers and its almost impossible to deal with logically," — Super-Progress-6386

6. Money

"$5K is a lot to owe, but not a lot to have," — Upper-Job5130

7. Our parents age, too

"Handling the decline and death of your parents," - Agave666

8. Free time

"Not having a lot of free-time or time by myself," — detective_kiara

9. No goals

"Not having a pre-defined goal once I was out of college. Growing up my goals were set for me: get through elementary school! then middle school! Then high school, and get into college and get a degree, then get a job, and then...? Vague "advance in your career, buy a house, find a spouse, have a kid or multiple, then retire." At 22 I had no idea how to break that down more granularly," — FreehandBirdlime

10. Constant upkeep

"Life is all about maintenance. Your body, your house, your relationships, everything requires constant never ending maintenance," — IHateEditedBGMusic

11. Exhaustion

"Being able to do so many things because I'm an adult but too tired to do any of them," — London82

12. Loneliness

"Being an adult feels extremely lonely," — Bluebloop0

13. Dinner

"Having to make dinner every. Fucking. Day," — EndlesslyUnfinished

14. Time changes

"The more life you’ve lived, the faster time seems to go," — FadedQuill

15. You're responsibile, even if you didn't mean it

"You are held to account for bad behaviour for which you are negligent even if you had no intention to cause harm. As a lawyer, I see this all the time. People don't think they're responsible for mistakes. You are," — grishamlaw

16. Work is like high school

"The intricacies of workplace politics," — Steve_Lobsen writes. "

"When you're in school, you think that you won't have to deal with gossiping and bullying once you leave school. Unfortunately, that is not true," — lady_laughs_too_much

17. Nowhere to turn

"How easy it is to feel stuck in a bad situation (job, relationship, etc) just because the cost and effort of getting out can seem daunting. And sometimes you just have to accept a figurative bowl full of shit because you can't afford to blow up your life," — movieguy95453

18. The happiness question

"Figuring out what makes you happy. Everyone keeps trying to get you to do things you're good at, or that makes you money, but never to pursue what you enjoy," — eternalwanderer5

19. Constant cleaning

"The kitchen is always dirty. You’ll clean it at least three times every day," — cewnc

20. Life costs money

"One adult problem nobody prepared me for is how expensive everything is. I always thought that as an adult I would be able to afford the things I wanted, but it turns out that's not always the case! I've had to learn how to budget and save up for the things I want, and it's been a difficult process," — Dull_Dog_8126

21. Keeping above water

"All of it together. I was relatively warned about how high rent is, car bills and repairs, how buying healthy food is expensive as hell but important for your health, how to exercise and save what you can, my parents did their best to fill in my knowledge about taxes and healthcare and insurance that my schooling missed, about driving and cleaning a household, about setting boundaries at work but working hard and getting ahead if you can, about charity and what it means to take care of a pet and others, about being a good partner if you were lucky enough to have one, about how dark and messed up the world is when you just read the news and what all that means to me and my community… I was reasonably warned about all of it.

"No one could have ever prepared me for how hard doing all of it at the same time and keeping your head above that water would actually be," — ThatNoNameWriter


This article originally appeared two years ago.

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