The Verbal Game Club hosted by Irwin Rothleder until March 30, 1992 was an offshoot of The New York Game Club (NYGC). The following information was transcribed by hand (not responsible for any typing errors) from a 6 page brochure handed out to newcomers at the original NY Game Club. Remember some of this pertains just to the original NYGC (and not Irwin's Verbal Game club) and was written in 1977!
For more on the origins of The Synanon Game listen to the 2020 Reveal radio documentary American Rehab.
On a cool summer night in 1970 a handful of people gathered in a classroom of an elementary school on Riverside Drive to participate in a strange and exhilarating pastime called "the Synanon game." They sat in a circle alternately flinging curses and words of love at one another. They made funny faces and obscene gestures. One individual spoke solemnly of his problems; another recounted her sexual adventures; a third sat back and belittled everybody in the group. One moment the group was silent as one of its members began to cry. A few seconds later the entire room was filled with laughter. Afterward, when the "game" was over, they all hugged one another and chatted with beaming faces. And so the New York Game Club was born.
The New York Game Club began as an outgrowth of Synanon, Inc., the California-based social service organization. The original game players were members of the New York branch of Synanon. However, in 1970 Synanon chose to shut down its New York facility, thus the New York Game Club was organized in the elementary school on Riverside Drive -- a wholly independent association of New York game players whose philosophy and purpose was, and continues to be, a reflection of the Synanon philosophy and purpose. In 1971 NYGC found a permanent home on West 84th Street, where it has flourished ever since.
The underlying rationale of both NYGC and Synanon is that group-relatedness and self-acceptance are inextricably bound. Since self-acceptance has been cited by philosophers from ancient times to the present as the first step towards emotional health, it is held as the key to achieving contentment. And the primary tool for achieving this contentment of self- acceptance is the "game." In addition NYGC, like Synanon, is a nonprofit organization -- a community of people who contribute whatever they can, financially and otherwise, to help themselves and each other grow. There are no professional therapists at NYGC, and there is no authority figure who proclaims to have a cure for neurosis. There are only people, people in various states of consciousness, who share with one another in an honest and constructive way their innermost feelings. If there is a therapist it is the game itself, which provides a natural vehicle for what psychologists call "reality-testing," and a forum for the release of pent-up emotions.
The core of NYGC -- and its most significant dynamic -- is the game itself. Invented by Chuck Dederich, founder of Synanon, in 1958, the Synanon game has become one of the most imitated forms of group interaction in the United States. What is this game? How does it differ from group therapy? Guy Endore, a writer and member of Synanon, wrote an article entitled "The Human Sport" which describes the amazing group interaction succinctly:
The Synanon Game is just what it says it is: a game that a dozen (more or less) people sit down to play of an evening. It belongs to no school of psychotherapy. For example: it doesn't aim to rid you of your Oedipus complex -- if you have one. It has no plans with respect to your birth trauma. And it doesn't particularly care what you dreamt last night ... . The Synanon Game, of course, involves a group, but it is not group-therapy because it doesn't aim to cure you of anything. That doesn't mean that it can't be therapeutic. But so is a glass of spring water on a hot day.
Endore points out that, although there are no professional therapists, out of any group an authority figure will rise; but his position is up for grabs in the game. The more articulate, astute, and comic spirit will win that role and lose it to a better man. This is what make the game so constantly challenging. Nor are there any rules in the game except for a basic restriction of violence or the threat of physical violence. One is not required, for example, to tell the truth. If you want to lie, then lie. Just be careful not to get caught in your lies. It is all part of the "sport." As Endore states:
Are you beginning to catch on? That the Synanon game is fun. That it is a sport at which some will excel, but in which all can join with pleasure. A game with the simplest rules in the world ...
The game is fun, but it also helps people to know themselves better and to achieve self-acceptance. How? Endore refers to the "battle of mirrors," meaning the mirror the other player holds up when he freely expresses his gut-level feelings about us, and the mirror we hold up when we express our gut-level feelings about him. It is this battle of mirrors that makes the game so exhilarating to those who have experienced it. The game is an active entertainment "more exciting than any gladiatorial contest of ancient Rome," a first-hand plunge into a world of raw emotion. It is a battle of self-images, your view of yourself and the world against everybody else's. As Endore points out:
Human beings tend to become too deeply attached to the self-image they have contrived for themselves ... And of course it's this image that the sportsman of the game try to smash, and that every person rushes to defend. And it is out of this combat, practiced again and again, that the player gradually build for himself not necessarily a different self-image, but one more flexible, one that can take plenty of blows without going to pieces.
One of the most frequent questions asked about the game is -- if there are no professional therapists around, what is to prevent someone from being permanently scarred by a particularly vicious verbal attack? The answer to this is simple: the game is not for everybody, but rather for those with an adventurous spirit and a desire to see themselves as others see them. Those who are not of this mold will avoid the game like the plague.
Everything is open for discussion in the game, from personal problems to a community-wide philosophical issue. It is the prime tool used to operate the community. It is a forum for displeasure and complaints, to air and resolve grievances by mutual contract of all players. And, ultimately, it is a vehicle for making better friends than one has possibly ever known. Because game players get to know you as few friends know each other.
Though the game is at the center of the NYGC experience, it is certainly not all there is; for many members the community itself is just as important. NYGC is a self-actualizing community of people of various ages, backgrounds, and points of view who uphold such "old-fashioned" concepts as work, commitment, responsibility, and consideration, while eschewing many excesses that are prevalent in our culture: cigarettes, drugs, alcohol, and sugar.
One of NYGC's most enduring traditions is it's "seek and assume" method of operation. Leaders are not chosen through a formal democratic process; rather, individuals are encouraged to seek and assume as much responsibility as they want, and as much as the community is willing to give them. During the seven years of its existence various members have served as directors, tribe leaders, assistant tribe leaders, instructors of workshops, organizers of "stews" (long games), publicity directors, cooks, and whatever other positions needed filling.
The community is whatever its members want it to be at a given time, and it does whatever its members want it to do. If somebody wants to give a workshop in Chinese cooking, he will post a notice upon the bulletin board; if enough people sign up, the workshop will take place. If not, so much for that -- or it becomes material for the game. In the summer there are usually outings into the country, picnics, hiking, swimming, and softball games. In the winter there are the open house parties, dinners, poker games, dances, and movies. Intertwined are the "stews" and "visits," which are special games that can last up to 48 hours and more.
More than anything else, the community serves as a laboratory for the exploration of interpersonal relations. Members are encouraged to relate to each other on all levels, including sexual; any conflicts that arise from such relationships can be resolved in the game. Thus many relationships that might otherwise have split apart because of lack of communication are enabled not only to continue but to gain in vitality.
The community, in essence, is like a family. That's why the leaders are called "tribe leaders." In an age when even the nuclear family is in decline, when individuals are becoming more and more isolated, this family setting of NYGC counteracts what may be the cause of much of the crime and apathy that haunts our culture: alienation. You might say that NYGC represents an alternative to professional therapy services, a return to the natural healing process of former times, when large families served not only as a buffer against the inanity of "the outside world," but also as a means of keeping one firmly rooted in reality.
The procedure for becoming a member of the New York Game Club is quite simple. Interested individuals are invited to come to the club any Tuesday or Thursday for an introductory seminar, or orientation, that lasts approximately half an hour. Prior to the orientation they will be asked to fill out a short application. The orientation will cover the rules of the club, the techniques of playing the game, and a general description of the community. After the orientation -- at the discretion of the seminar instructor -- perspective members will be invited to sit in on the club meeting and the game. Thus begins a one-month trial period, during which the prospective member may assess the club and are themselves evaluated by older members.
Since NYGC is a nonprofit organization, contributions by members are voluntary. New members are asked to make only a token contribution of a penny a month. Older members are expected to contribute a minimum of $20.00 a month, or more -- according to their incomes.
There are two games nights a week -- Tuesdays and Thursdays. Members are welcome to attend either or both nights. The games are preceded by a brief meeting at which club business is discussed, new members are introduced, and workshops, parties, and other functions are announced. The meetings begin at 7:30 p.m., and the games start at 8:00 p.m. The games usually last about two hours, after which members mingle over coffee and refreshments. Saturday nights are devoted to parties for members and guests.
It is up to each individual, of course, to decide at what level he wants to participate in the club. It is akin to taking a swim in a cold lake. Some will wade in slowly, stopping now and then to get use to each new depth. Others plunge right in and wallow around in the deepest water all day. Still others are content to wade in the shallow water. Finally, there are those who remain on the shore watching, basking in the sun. There is no one way to participate in the New York Game Club; all ways lead to the same goal: communication.
The New York Game Club, Inc. 338 W. 84th Street, New York, N.Y. 10024/877-2912 GS-1/77
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