FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Vice Blog

NEW YORK – SUMMER OF PUNCH-THING

You remember that thing your older brother would do where he makes a circle with his fingers then if you don't break it with your finger he punches you in the arm? Well, a) how come it never worked on him when you did it to him? Is there some sort of firstborn gene that makes you immune to the urge to look down? and b) we are bringing it back. We feel that if all the stripey-sock kids get to flood our parks with craft fairs and kickball leagues, it shouldn't be with total impunity. And this little fraternal gem ought be just what it takes to plant some healthy paranoia in their summertime frolicks.

Advertisement

To kick things off, we had one of our writers go out last night and do it to everybody he ran into. Here's his rundown of the inaugural punchoff… Eric G.—My roommate's boyfriend who lives in c-squat. He looks like a guy you probably shouldn't be playing the circle punch game with (heavily tattooed, punk guy), but we were both kind of drunk and he just laughed.

Semra—One of my roommates: She saw me get her boyfriend with this, so when I made the circle she just scowled at me and walked away. Which I suppose means I still owe her one.

Sam—After the punch she just looked at me with a confused, sad expression and claimed that we both had to be standing up for the glance to count. I told her that the rule is it just has to be below the waist. She gave me a Charlie horse a few minutes later.

Ivy— I got her to look through the circle and landed a glancing blow to her arm. I don't think she even noticed—either that or she didn't care.

Jill—I tried this with my girlfriend and after punching her arm she told me I was an "immature asshole" and tried to punch me in the balls. I had to buy a nice dinner for her to get over it, and I still didn't get laid.

Janet—She had never heard of this game and just punched me in the chest after I got her.

Gwynne–This girl likes to dry-hump everyone when she's drunk and so that's all my punch elicited. Still got her pretty good though.

Peter—I got this guy twice within three minutes and both times he just totally ignored it like nothing happened and went on talking. He's really into being Zen.

Scott H.—I ran into this guy on the street and immediately tricked him into looking into my digit void. After I slugged him in the shoulder he put his dukes up like he was really ready to fight before he remembered the game and tried to get me to look at his circle. After he realized it wasn't going to happen we just stood there in silence for a few seconds and had a really awkward goodbye.