THINKING, GUESSING, AND ACTING GAMES

The Old Maid's Birthday
This game is utterly foolish, but it can lead to shouts of laughter. It has been founded on an old-fashioned card game called "Mr. Punch." The first thing required is a pack of plain cards on which should be writte...

The Ship Alphabet
The players sit in a long row, as if in a class at school. The one that acts as schoolmaster asks sharply, beginning at one end, "The name of the letter?" "A," says the player. The schoolmaster turns to the next pl...

I Love My Love
This is not played now as once it was. In the old way the players sat in a line and went steadily through the alphabet, each one taking a letter in order. This was the form:--"I love my love with an A, because he i...

My Thought
The players sit in a row or circle, and one, having thought of something--of any description whatever--asks them in turn, "What is my thought like?" Not having the faintest idea what the thought is they reply at ra...

P's And Q's
Another old game of this kind is "P's and Q's." The players sit in a circle and one stands up and asks them each a question in turn. The question takes this form, "The King of England [or France, or Germany, or Afr...

The Elements
The players sit in a circle, and the game is begun by one of them throwing a rolled-up handkerchief to another and at the same time calling out the name of one of the four elements--air, water, earth, or fire. If "...

Suggestions
This is a game which people either dislike or like very much. The players sit round the fire or table, and one of them begins by naming an article of any kind whatever, such as watering-pot. The word "watering-pot"...

Quotation Games
This is a game which requires some poetical knowledge. The players sit in a circle and one begins by repeating a line of poetry. The next caps it by repeating whatever line comes next to it in the poem from which i...

Two Rhyming Games
Rhyming games require more taxing of brains than most players care for. The ordinary rhyming game, without using paper, is for one player to make a remark in an easy metre, and for the next to add a line completing...

Telling Stories
This is another of those fireside games that need more readiness of mind than many persons think a game should ask for. The first player begins an original story, stopping immediately (even in the middle of a sente...

Clumps
The company, according to the number of persons, divides up into two or three or even four groups, or clumps, in different parts of the room, seated closely in circles. As many players as there are clumps then go o...

Other Yes And No Games
The same game can be played without such keen rivalry, one player sitting in the midst of a great circle and answering questions in turn. There is also a game called "Man and Object," in which two players go out an...

My Right-hand Neighbor
This is a catch game and useless except when one of the company knows nothing about it. That player is sent out of the room, and after a due interval is called in again and told to guess what the other players have...

How When And Where
One player leaves the room, while the others decide on some word, the name of a thing for choice (such as tale, tail), which has one pronunciation but two or three different meanings and perhaps spellings. They the...

Coffee-pot
A similar game is called "Coffee-Pot" or "Tea-Pot." In this case also the company think of a word with more than one meaning, but instead of answering questions about it they make a pretense of introducing it into ...

Throwing Light
This is much like "How, When, and Where," except that instead of asking questions the player, or players, that went out sit still and listen to the others talking to each other concerning the selected word's variou...

Animal Vegetable And Mineral
This is also a similar game to "How, When, and Where," except that the player who goes out of the room has, on his return, to guess something belonging to one of these three groups. His first question therefore is,...

Proverbs
One or two players go out. The others sit in line and choose a proverb having as many words as there are players. Thus, if there were eight players, "They love too much who die for love" would do; or if more than e...

Shouting Proverbs
In this game, instead of answering questions one by one, when the guesser or guessers come in the players at a given signal shout the words which belong to them at the top of their voice and all together. The guess...

Acting Proverbs
This is a very simple acting game. The players should divide themselves into actors and audience. The actors decide upon a proverb, and in silence represent it to the audience as dramatically as possible. Such prov...

Acting Initials
Two players go out. The others choose the name of a well-known person, public or private, the letters of whose name are the same in number as the players left in the room. Thus, supposing there are seven persons in...

Acting Verbs Or Dumb Crambo
In this game the company divides into two. One half goes out, and the one that remains decides upon a verb which the others shall act in dumb show. A messenger is then despatched to tell the actors what the chosen ...

Guessing Employments
A very simple game. One player goes out. The others decide on some workman to represent, each pretending to do some different task belonging to his employment. Thus, if they choose a carpenter, one will plane, one ...

Stool Of Repentance
One player goes out. The others then say in turn something personal about him--such as, "He has a pleasant voice"; "His eye is piercing"; "He would look better if he wore a lower collar." Those remarks are written ...

Eyes
A sheet, or a screen made of newspapers, is hung up, and two holes, a little larger than eyes and the same distance apart, are made in it. Half the players retire to one side of it, and half stay on the other. They...

Making Obeisance
This is a trick. Those in the company who have never played the game go out of the room. One of the inside players, who is to represent the potentate, then mounts a chair and is covered with a sheet which reaches t...

Mesmerism
Another trick. The players who are to be mesmerized--among them being the one or two who do not know the game--stand in a row, each holding a dinner-plate in the left hand. The mesmerizer, who also has a dinner-pla...

Thought-reading Tricks
In all thought-reading games it is best that only the two performers should know the secret. Of these two, one goes out of the room and the other stays in, after having first arranged on the particular trick which ...

To Guess Any Number Thought Of
With these thought-reading tricks may be put one or two arithmetical puzzles. Here is a way to find out the number that a person has thought of. Tell him to think of any number, odd or even. (Let us suppose that he...

To Guess Any Even Number Thought Of
In this case you insist on the number chosen being an even number. Let us suppose it is 8. Tell him to multiply by 3 (24), halve it (12), multiply by 3 again (36), and then to tell you how many times 9 will go into...

To Guess The Result Of A Sum
Another trick. Tell the person to think of a number, to double it, add 6 to it, halve it and take away the number first thought of. When this has been done you tell him that 3 remains. If these directions are follo...

Guessing Competitions
Guessing competitions, which are of American invention, can be an interesting change from ordinary games. In some the company are all asked to contribute, as in "Book Teas," where a punning symbolic title of a book...

Guessing Quantities
Several articles of number are placed on a table, say a box of matches, a bag of beans, a reel of cotton or ball of string, a large stone, a stick, a photograph, and various coins with the date side turned down. Ea...

Observation
The real name of this game may be something else, but "Observation" explains it. A small table is covered with a variety of articles, to the extent of some twenty or thirty. It is then covered with a cloth and plac...

Scents
A more puzzling competition is to place a row of large bottles on the table, all numbered, at the bottom of each of which is a small amount of liquid bearing a noticeable scent. Some may be toilet scents, and other...

The Topsy-turvy Concert
The performers in this concert, who should be of nearly the same size, take their places behind a sheet stretched across the room at the height of their chins. They then put stockings on their arms and boots on the...

The Dancing Dwarf
This is a very amusing illusion and easy to arrange. All the players but two are sent out of the room and these stand behind a table. One stands close to the table, his arms in front of him so that the fingers rest...

Charades
"Charades" can be written in advance and carefully rehearsed, but in this book we are concerned more nearly with those that are arranged a few minutes (the fewer the better) before they are performed. As a rule a w...

Dumb Performances
Very good fun can be had also from impromptu pantomimes, where the performers enact some story which every one knows, such as "Aladdin" or "Red Riding Hood" or "Cinderella"; or a scene from history proper, or from ...

Dressing Up
It is, of course, much more fun to dress up; but dressing up is not so important that a charade is spoiled without it. If, on the day of your party, you know that charades will play a part in it, it is wise to put ...

Tableaux Vivants
"Tableaux Vivants" are a change from acting, but they need, if done at all well, a great deal of preparation and rehearsal, and are therefore perhaps better left to older people. But quickly-arranged groups represe...