Group party games: the chocolate game

I remember the chocolate game vividly, even though I only played it once more than 35 years ago. Doesn't that just prove how much fun it was? A couple of my friends hosted a chocolate party and invited everyone to bring treats made with chocolate. When everyone got there, the counter was laden with fudge, brownies, cookies, cake--you name it. But before we could sample each other's handiwork, the hosts decreed that everyone would play the chocolate game first.
 

The Setup

The chocolate game originated in Switzerland (or is it Germany). People there play it in the winter time, when it gets really cold. That might explain why, as party games go, it requires such a long and odd list of props in order to play it properly

• Table and chairs enough for every guest to sit around it.
• The largest chocolate bar you can find in a store--gift wrapped with ribbon! (After all, it's at a party. Shouldn't it be gift wrapped?
• A plate, knife, and fork (After all, at a party, it's good manners to eat from a plate with proper table service!)
• A stocking cap
• A scarf
• A pair of mittens--not gloves, mittens (After all, it's cold. Everyone knows all these things are necessary to stay warm, and mittens keep your hands warmer than gloves.)
• One die, with the standard six faces.

Playing the Game

At the start, everyone is seated around the table, with all the other stuff in the center of it. One person rolls the die and passes it to the next person. Everyone in turn rolls it and passes it on. Throughout the game, the die never stops moving. Nothing else happens until someone rolls a six. At that point, the person who rolled it shouts, "SIX!" and performs the following actions, in order:

1. Puts on the scarf, cap, and mittens
2. Puts the plate and table service at  his or her plate, with the gift wrapped chocolate on the plate.
3. Begins to cut the wrapping paper and ribbon away with the knife and fork.
4. Only after all the ribbon, the gift wrap, and the original factory wrapping have been removed from the plate can anyone start eating the chocolate.
5. Before anyone eats chocolate, he or she must cut a proper bite-sized piece from the chocolate bar and use the fork to eat it.

But remember, the die is going around the table all the time, skipping whomever has all the winter clothes on. Eventually someone else will shout, "SIX!" at that point, the person with the plate of chocolate must do the following immediately:

1. Put down the knife and fork. (Immediately means that if he or she has a fork full of chocolate and is about ready to eat it, the chocolate must be returned to the plate unless it has already touched the person's mouth before the other person shouted.
2. Hand the plate and the table service to the person who just shouted  "SIX!"
3. Remove the winter clothing and hand that over, too.

The new person does the same as the first, in the same order. Meanwhile everyone else continues to roll the die and pass it on. The game lasts until the entire chocolate bar is consumed. The sixes will come in random order. Sometimes a person will not be completely dressed for the occasion before the next six. Some times the die may go around the table several times before someone rolls a six. It is therefore highly unlikely for everyone to get equal amounts of the chocolate. One person may have the plate for an unwelcome long time before the next six. Another person may never roll a six at all or will have to hand over the plate before getting any.

Does this sound like a particularly dumb party game? That's what I thought when the hostess explained it, but I don't ever remember being at any other party where everyone laughed so much.