This may come as a shock to any serious party-goers, but occasionally a social gathering which is intended to be a party none the less fails to live up to even the most basic of party criteria:

People are meant to have fun.

Of the very many sad reasons for this lack of fun, one of the most common is ambition: Host ambition.

The problem begins when the host deliberately invites a completely disparate group of people to their party, wrongly assuming that just because everybody at least knows the host, everyone will get along just fine.
The result is a room full of people who have just forgotten one another's names, all staring forlornly at the floor, by themselves in a room full of people.

To combat this terrible plight, many group bonding games have been invented, whose sole aim is to embarrass those present to such an extent that they feel completely victimised, and therefore desperate for a similarly demolarised friend to share their anguish with.
Many people despise these games for valid reasons, but they are probably not the sorts of people a discerning but unfortunately overly eclectic host would want to invite to their party.
One of the most extreme, and therefore most effective games of the genre is sticky toffee.

This game is ridiculously good fun, and as such is actually recommended for all parties, all the time, irrespective of how well a party may or not be going.
WARNING: To play this game in order to break the ice at parties is an act of desperation by the host. For less drastic measures, read elsewhere.

Requirements

1) At least 10 people. These people should be bare-foot in order to avoid injury. To accomplish the shedding of your guests shoes requires only a small amount of forethought by the host:
Any host who is not certain about the success of an imminent party should immediately instigate a "leave you shoes in the hallway" house rule, ostensibly to protect the floor from dirt.



2) Something with a relatively soft surface to play upon, e.g. carpet, mattress, grass.



3) A rug or sheet to mark the playing area, if not already made obvious by the choice of relatively soft surface.

Procedure

The game involves all but one (or two) of the people present piling up in a big scrum upon the play area. For these people the aim of the game is to be one of the two last people to be lying on the playing surface. This is accomplished by holding on to other participants utilising their most vice like grip.
It falls to the person left over to be the one who has to separate the participants using brute strength and or cunning. As people are pulled away from the tangled multitude, they help the original unraveler in his or her quest to separate all.
The game is won when there are only two people left on the playing surface. These two are then the beginners of the next round.

Tactics

1) During the initial dive to the relatively soft surface, being on the bottom of the pile, although potentially crush worthy, is a good way to guarantee success. The initial aim should be to knot one another's limbs together as much as possible.



2) To avoid being pulled away, thrashing loose limbs around as much as possible is advisable.



3) The Tickling Gambit: The controversial Tickling Gambit often needs to be brought into play to separate particularly entangled players. Not suprisingly, it involves tickling someone in order to make him or her lose their grip on another player. Any rules concerning tickle rationing should be agreed upon before play begins. A maximum of three tickles for each separator is a good number. If a game is going well, this rule will be broken continually throughout.