Since I listen to the radio a lot at work I get updated daily on all the local news. Most of it is pretty hum drum (it's a small island - they have to make an effort to find stuff to talk about) but today there was an entertaining story about university students in Dunedin (pronouncd "done-ee-din"). Apparently, it's custom for university students to play a popular New Zealand drinking game called "Possum." But the news story wasn't about the game exactly, it was the fact that the article had been picked up by papers all around the world and Kiwis were a little embarrassed about it.
Playing Possum isn't hard, all you do is drink with your friends while sitting in trees until you fall out of the tree. It is not uncommon for Possum participants to consume a 24-pack before dropping to defeat (and possible bodily injury). Here's what the Urban Dictionary says about Possum:
Possum: a great drinking game where players have to sit in a tree, like a possum, and consume a pack of 24 beers, preferably Speights, until they fall out of the tree from drunkenness.
dude: oi mate are we playing possum tonight?
guy: too right mate!
Dunedin is getting annoyed with these shenanigans as students are leaving a mess behind, creating quite a distraction and causing harm to the trees not to mention to their own selves as well. What surprised everyone was that such a little story could get so much attention - it was one of the most widely read articles in the World News sections of the UK, USA and Australia these past few days.
No, I haven't played Possum and I don't intend to but I do almost run over the furry pests every night when I ride home from work (that and hedgehogs). This should come as no surprise, however, when you consider that the possum population outnumbers the human one here by about 7 to 1.
If truth be told informative and valuable detail is here.
Josef Baumann