Peek Revealed

Here are the unofficial instructions for Peek! - a game we will be playing at Dara's party. Please bring a small, unwrapped gift of any genre or theme which will be going home with someone (probably not Dara) at the end of the game.

Peek! is an offbeat and wonderful game believed to be invented by one of Sam Hens-Greco's uncles. Sam introduced the game to the UU summer camp at Kenyon College and it has been played there every year since.

At its heart, Peek is a gift-exchange game, and everyone goes home with a prize. For this to work, all players have to bring a prize (duh) or the hosts provide them, or a mix of the two.

Setup
The game is best played in a large group. Players divide up into groups of four, sitting foursquare as in bridge. Each player has in front of him/her the playing cards from 2 - Q face up. King and Ace are not used. Each table (group of four) has one set of dice. Each player has under his/her chair one of the concealed prizes, placed at random around the room.

Peek Prizes
Make them fun! There really are only a few rules about a prize: (1) it must be unwrapped because players will "peek" at it and have to be able to tell what it is, (2) it must be hidden in a paper bag or other container that can be opened, (3) it must be small enough to fit under your chair.

The prizes do not need to be purchased, in fact some of the best ones are found at home. Anything goes, so long as it's age-appropriate and fun. Remember that your gift can go home with anyone at the party, so plan accordingly.
All prizes are kept in their bags and concealed until the end of the game.

How to Play
The game is played in rounds. The game leader will signal when a round begins and which player at each table goes first. On each round, the first player rolls the dice and turns over the resulting number. So if you roll a 7, you turn your 7 card face down. And so on until you roll a number that is already face down. At this point you quickly pass the dice to the player on your left. They roll, flipping cards until they can't anymore, then they pass the dice, and so on. When anyone in the whole room flips all their cards over, they yell "PEEK" loudly and the round ends.

At the end of the round, the player at each table with the most cards flipped is the winner of the round at that table. This person now gets to peek at every prize other than the one under his own chair. (so you peek at three prizes) You then get to decide to keep yours (without knowing what it is) or swap yours for one of the other prizes. After all table winners have done this, the table winners take their prizes (still concealed) and move to another table. You are now sitting with a different three people.

It's really much easier than it sounds when you're just reading it.

End of the Game
Usually we play four rounds, but there is no hard limit. After found rounds, all prizes are revealed and players proudly show off their prizes. Trading is allowed but not required. Please, no fighting!