How to Play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

Since its creation in the mid-'90s, the tongue-in-cheek game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon has entertained perhaps as many people as Kevin Bacon's movies. It's a simple, fun game that firmly establishes Kevin Bacon's lofty position in the history of mankind.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• At least two players
• A mild obsession with Kevin Bacon

1. One player names an actor or actress; for instance, John Travolta.
2. The player to the left links that celebrity to another with whom he acted in a movie, for instance, Nicolas Cage in Face/Off. The player continues to connect actors or actresses until he gets to a movie in which Kevin Bacon appeared. For example, Nicolas Cage appeared in Adaptation with Meryl Streep, who appeared in The River Wild with Kevin Bacon.
3. If the player takes more than six steps, his turn ends. (The example above, John Travolta to Kevin Bacon, has three steps, or "degrees.")
4. The next player to the left attempts to connect the celebrity to Kevin Bacon in fewer degrees.
5. Each player scores one point for each degree.
6. If a player cannot complete the chain within six degrees, she scores 10 points.
7. If none of the players can complete the chain for a particular actor or actress within six degrees, the person who selected that celebrity must be able to do so, or he has 10 points added to his score. The other players do not score 10 points in this instance.
8. The person with the fewest points wins!

Tips & Warnings

• Kevin Bacon movies with large ensemble casts of big-name stars are most useful, such as A Few Good Men, Flatliners, JFK, Diner and Sleepers.
• Television shows can be used in addition to movies as long as the actor or actress had a significant, recurring role and not just a guest appearance.
• Those players who are "of age" can play a drinking version of the game in which people take a drink for every degree of separation in their turn.