Beetle is a British party game in which one draws a beetle in parts. The game may be played solely with pen, paper and a die or using a commercial game set, some of which contain custom scorepads and dice and others which contain pieces which snap together to make a beetle/bug. It is sometimes called Cooties

Cootie (game)

The Game of Cootie is a children's roll-and-move tabletop game for two to four players. The object is to be the first to build a three dimensional bug-like object called a "cootie" from a variety of plastic body parts. Created by William Schaper in 1948, the game was launched in 1949 and sold...

 or Bugs. The game is entirely based on random die rolls, there is no element of skill involved.

Playing

The part drawn is decided by the roll of a die

Dice

A die is a small throwable object with multiple resting positions, used for generating random numbers...

. The traditional rolls are:

• 6 is for the body
  Body
  With regard to living things, a body is the physical body of an individual. "Body" often is used in connection with appearance, health issues and death...
  
  , of which there is one.
• 5 is for the head
  Head
  In anatomy, the head of an animal is the rostral part that usually comprises the brain, eyes, ears, nose and mouth . Some very simple animals may not have a head, but many bilaterally symmetric forms do....
  
  , of which there is one.
• 4 is for the wing
  Wing
  A wing is an appendage with a surface that produces lift for flight or propulsion through the atmosphere, or through another gaseous or liquid fluid...
  
  , of which there are two.
• 3 is for a leg
  Leg
  Łęg may refer to the following places in Poland:*A former name for the town of Ełk *Part of the Czyżyny district of Kraków*Łęg, Pleszew County in Greater Poland Voivodeship...
  
  , of which there are six.
• 2 is for an antenna
  Antenna (biology)
  Antennae in biology have historically been paired appendages used for sensing in arthropods. More recently, the term has also been applied to cilium structures present in most cell types of eukaryotes....
  
  , of which there are two.
• 1 is for an eye, of which there are two.

The part corresponding to each roll of the die, however, may vary depending on the rules established by the players.

It is necessary to roll the correct number for the body before any other part may be drawn. To the body, one may attach the head, legs or tail, but the head must precede the antenna and eyes. The first player to draw all the requisite parts is the winner.

Beetle drive

This game is played at social occasions known as a Beetle Drive, in which many rounds of Beetle are played. The players are in groups of four with a communal die, and the first player to complete their beetle shouts out "Beetle!" stopping the play of all the groups. Then the winner of each particular group (the player with the most complete beetle in that group) will move around a circle of tables to the right (clockwise), and the loser (the player with the least complete beetle) to the left (anti-clockwise), or sit still. The ultimate winner is usually either the one who has drawn the most complete beetles, or the one who has drawn the most parts in total.

External links

• Beetle Drive Scorecard (Beetle with Wings) A printable Creative Commons scorecard.