To avoid a dispute later, decide exactly what the rules are with your opponent before you start. Some rules state that the staring contest is over as soon as someone blinks, looks away, or laughs. Other contests don’t allow pulling funny faces or waving your hands in front of your opponent’s eyes.
Take a nice long blink and close your eyes tightly right before the contest begins. If you can, yawn to produce a few tears. Avoid eye drops and face creams. It’s best to steer clear of anything that might cause your eyes to itch or become irritated. This might cause you to blink. All of these things will help your eyes avoid feeling dry and itchy during the competition.
If you can, sit or stand in a comfortable position. Try to find something that you like looking at. When you find what you are drawn to it won’t be hard to keep your eyes open Don’t strain your eyes. Don’t focus too hard on the person before you. Or if you want, try to look through the person.
Most people tend to stare, unblinking, off into space when they’re lost in thought. Think of a topic that you find deeply interesting, and turn all your mental energy toward that. Don’t let your mind wander too much, though, or you might find yourself looking away!
When you feel like you can’t take the dryness anymore and you need to blink, squint a bit. This will help bring some moisture back to your eyes. Try to make this subtle. If you squint too much, it can look like you’ve blinked.
If you keep losing staring contests, give it some practice. Stare into the bathroom mirror, and time how long you can go without blinking. Try for a longer time each time you practice.
If your opponent is easily distracted, that can help you. Know how long your opponent can go without blinking and strive to keep your eyes open at least that long. Find out what makes your opponent laugh.
Make strange faces or sounds. Open your eyes very wide or squint. Tell jokes to make them laugh. Be careful that you don’t start to make yourself laugh in the process, or you will lose!
Wave your hands off to the side to create a distracting motion. Snap your fingers off to the side to distract them with sound. Try dropping an object to get them to look away.
Think of something that makes you angry or sad. This will help to keep yourself from laughing. Acknowledge when your partner does something funny, but refuse to allow yourself to react. Avoid listening to sounds or other distractions. Stare directly into the pupils of your opponents eyes to avoid looking at other parts of their face.
