Josh gathered everyone's attention with a confident smirk on his face. "Let's play hot potato," Josh said aloud, which sounded funny and even caused Jake to give him a confused look. However, John realized what his cousin was talking about. Hot potato was a childish game where people tossed an item around in a circular formation. They could pass the item to anyone in the circle or hold onto it for some seconds. In the background was usually a timer that would determine when the 'item' would explode.
The item acted as a bomb, and the last person who had it when it 'exploded' was out of the game. The explosion came when the timer went off. The timer was random, so no one could just hold onto the 'item' for too long. This prevented people from just holding onto it at the last possible second and tossing it. The game was labeled hot potato because when someone grabbed a hot potato, they were constantly juggling it to prevent themselves from burning.
