6 DEGREES OF KEVIN BACON

LETS PLAY.

Pride yourself on movie trivia? Try this game.

story by STEPHANIE FUQUA

t starts innocently enough.

Name a movie actor -- say, Pierce Brosnan.

Then, link actors together by the movies they costar in. Say Pierce Brosnan and Robin Williams in "Mrs. Doubtfire." Robin Williams and John Lithgow in "The World According to Garp." John Lithgow and Kevin Bacon in "Footloose."

You've just played the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

The point of the game is that Kevin Bacon is the center of the movie universe, and everyone can be linked back to him.

Nonbelievers scoff, saying, "Surely there is someone who can't be linked. I'm going to find it." And that's how the game turns nonbelievers into believers.

"It's addictive. Very addictive," Erisson Hastur, of Tempe, Ariz., said. Hastur is the webmaster of a World Wide Web page devoted to the Kevin Bacon game.

"Although, come to think of it, it's not so much an addiction as it is a magnet. I mean, when I'm telling people about it, and they say something along the lines of 'Oh, get a life!' and then they come back five minutes later and start playing it, that's something beyond addiction," Hastur said.

The temptation to challenge a group of players can be high. Ethan Sampson, senior at Kent Denver High School in Denver, Colo., has also met disbelievers who try to test the believers.

"The other thing that is interesting is pretty much every time I have played, there has been some kid around -- not involved in the game or conversation or whatever -- and he or she will start yelling out random people and testing the group," Sampson said.

However, dealing with the unbelievers is the best part of the game, said Stephanie Salm, a Harvard sophomore who also maintains a Bacon web page.

"It's fun to meet someone unfamiliar to the game since they can never believe that it is only Kevin Bacon that this applies to. 'No, but you could do that with anyone.' Not true," Salm said.

"Dealing with a new person can be fun because they think of lots of people to link that may seem hard but can be made easy when you pull out some obscure film like "Queen's Logic" or the all-time best linker -- 'JFK.' Everyone in the world was in 'JFK.'"

Once you're hooked into the game, the natural thing is to ask what the rules are. There's no instruction booklet for this game, because it's mainly learned through word of mouth.

Instead, it depends on which group you are playing with and what part of the country you are in. Some people allow television crossovers. Others allow cameos. Some purists say there is no way they would ever allow television appearances.

"Using television is absolutely against the rules. Under no circumstances can you use TV," Salm said. "It's like using family relations: Gary Oldman was in 'The Scarlet Letter' with Demi Moore, who is married to Bruce Willis. It just doesn't work that way."

The rules can be even more stringent than that.

Hastur is a member of the Baconsortium, a group of people from across the country who play the game together via the web. A self-proclaimed purist, he insists that mainstream movies are the only one to be used.

"To wit, they have to have been in a mainstream movie, not just little "art" films, not just pornographic films, etc. Hopefully, they've been in at least one film that has been released in America. Not a requirement, certainly, but it helps a lot," Hastur said.

"The way the Baconsortium plays, you can use only movies. No television shows, no made-for-television movies, no miniseries. Just movies."

Cameos are fine to use, Hastur said, but people who are extras cannot be used. Voice credits, such as Whoopi Goldberg in the "Lion King," are also questionable.

"If that's the quickest -- or most stylish -- route, then go for it, but be prepared to come up with an alternate route, in case the person you're playing with doesn't like voice credits," he said.

Jeff Macfee is a graduate of University of Texas at Austin and also maintains a Kevin Bacon game page. He said he plays the pure variety.

"Maximum of six hops. No television, no directors, no relations," Macfee said. "I've played less 'strict' variations where TV and directors and relatives are all allowed, or where there are no limits on links. I prefer to play the 'pure' way only without a limit on links. It's just more impressive the shorter you make it."

And in case you're wondering, the players explain that six degrees means six steps, not six people. Bacon counts as the first person, and you're allowed five other people to connect with him. Simple links, one or two people, can often be the best.

"It's most enjoyable to play the Kevin Bacon Game with simple links," Matthew Bennett, junior at North Springs High School in Atlanta, Ga., said. "Probably connecting Spike Lee in one step was the most fun. Spike Lee was in 'Malcolm X' with a John F. Kennedy look-alike. That same JFK was in the movie 'JFK' with Kevin Bacon."

Once you start playing though, it can be hard to find challenges. Most of the people who have web pages say they only get challenged by requests on the page. Others find challenges even more difficult.

"Walking down the street with a friend, we passed by the poster for 'To Wong Foo,'" Macfee said. "In the time between when I could read it, and when I actually passed it -- about 10 seconds -- I had solved all three of the actors on the poster," Macfee said with a sigh. "That's how I get most of my challenges these days, through inanimate objects."

But don't think that once you've played or worn out all the challenges you can think of that you can just stop. Once the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon is in your head, it's there to stay.

"It's hard to stop," Macfee said. "It is the heroin of the gaming world."

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i'll go first.

Christina Ricci.

well, i want to answer this one so i'll do it.

Christina Ricci was in Laramie Project with...

Laura Linney, who was in Mystic River with...

THE BACONATOR

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ok, next one...

Crispin Glover.

anyone?

i'd rather shit out a porcupine.

been there, done that.

How is Mel Gibson connected?

i dont know actors and actoresses names to play this game, but ive known about it for a long ass time, i heard it was 7 degrees, sometimes 6.....

laraime project was a good documentary...

Crispin Glover was in "What Is It?" with Kelly Swiderski. This stupid fucking game is OVER.

Crispin Glover was in The People vs Larry Flynt with:

Woody Harellson who was in Wag the Dog with:

Robert DeNiro who was in Sleepers with:

Kevin Bacon.

How about: Patrick Stewart

You fucking idiot, haven't you ever heard of turn order? I just ended the game.

I think Im the next Kevin Bacon.

On a side note, Christina Ricci is smoking.....

Originally posted by seppuku@Jan 27 2005, 04:59 AM

You fucking idiot, haven't you ever heard of turn order? I just ended the game.

Quoted post

OMGWTFBBQ

Fermentor just made seppuku shit a brick.

why did they show kevin's bacon in this movie?

why!!??

hell, I can connect myself to Kevin Bacon in less than 6 degrees.

I can connect myself to Kevin Bacon in 2 degrees.

(having met people, not having acted with them or anything)

and btw.... I hate this game. I went to film school and all the

dweebs (yes.. the word suits them perfectly) would play this shit

for hours on end. Eventually they'd all be chanting the connections

in unison. The rest of us decided to get jobs.

I am Kevin Bacon.

I was Kevin Bacon, but it was time to move on.

Then I was the Dread Pirate Roberts for a while,

but not the first Dread Pirate Roberts. Gotta keep it fresh.

I wonder how Kevin feels about all this.

I'm OK with it.

haha... good

Originally posted by Dr. Dazzle@Jan 27 2005, 06:19 AM

On a side note, Christina Ricci is smoking.....

Quoted post

bing bing..

lets play 6 degrees of ethreadzny, lets try micheal jackson. Never ever land never was so good..

"But come on, we all want to know. What about “The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon”? Does the actor ever get completely tired of hearing about it? “No, I don't get tired of hearing about it. It's out there, out in the world.” He's not even so sure he'd win if he played it, confessing that he isn't much of a movie buff at all and never has been."

Kevin Bacon interview about something or other, i don't really know...............

Apparently he doesn't really care.

:love2:

Originally posted by SteveAustin@Jan 27 2005, 11:12 AM

hell, I can connect myself to Kevin Bacon in less than 6 degrees.

Quoted post

sama same..

i think we need another simpsons trivia....

She was great in this one