Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium, Jessie Hubbell Bancroft [best books to read for knowledge txt] 📗
- Author: Jessie Hubbell Bancroft
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IN THE SCHOOLROOM this game may be played with all the players but one in their accustomed seats.
An old English form of this game substitutes the words "Fire, air, and water," for "Beast, bird, and fish," the players being required to name some animal that lives in the air or water when those elements are named, but to keep silence when fire is named. In this form the game is supposed to be a survival of fire worship.
BUZZ5 to 30 or more players.
Playground; gymnasium; schoolroom; parlor.
This is a quiet game, as distinguished from those requiring much muscular activity. One of the players starts the game by saying "One"; the next says "Two," the next "Three," etc., until the number "Seven" is reached, when the word "Buzz" is substituted for it. The next player says "Eight," and so on up to a multiple of seven, such as fourteen, twenty-one, twenty-eight, etc., on each of which the word "Buzz" should be used instead of the right number. The word "Buzz" is also substituted for any number in which the word seven occurs, even though it should not be a multiple of seven, such as seventeen, twenty-seven, thirty-seven, etc. When seventy is reached, the counting proceeds as "Buzz-one," "Buzz-two," etc., and seventy-seven is "Buzz-buzz."
Whenever a player says a number instead of "Buzz," or says "Buzz" in the wrong place, or calls out a wrong number, he must pay a forfeit and start the game over again by saying "One."
The game may also be played by having each player who misses drop from the game. Where this is done, and the player retains his seat but is silent, the game becomes even more confusing for the players who remain.
CAKE SALEAny number.
Parlor.
Each player is given a card or sheet of paper prepared with the following questions, or they may be dictated at the time. The one wins who has the largest number of answers correct.
What kind of cake would you buy for—
Sculptors? (Marble cake.) Politicians? (Plum cake.) Geologists? (Layer cake.) Advertisers? (Cream puffs.) Dairymen? (Cream cake.) Milliners? (Ribbon cake.) His Satanic Majesty? (Angel's food.) Babies? (Patty cakes.) Lovers? (Kisses.) The betrothed? (Bride's cake.) Gossips? (Spice cake.) Carpenters? (Plain (plane) cake.) Idlers? (Loaf cake.) Pugilists? (Pound cake.) One who lives on his friends? (Sponge cake.) Dynamiters? (Raisin cake.) Invalids? (Delicate cake.) Convalescents? (Sunshine cake.) "Boodlers"? (Dough-nuts.) Those who sample all these too much? (Stomach ache.) CAT PARTY5 to 30 or more players.
House party.
Each player is provided with a sheet of paper on which are written the following questions. Each question is to be answered with a word, of which the first syllable is cat. The player wins who writes the largest number of correct answers, the list of answers being read by the host or hostess at the close of the time allowed for the game.
Examples of questions are given below:—
What sort of cat is allowed in a library? (Catalogue.) What sort of cat makes you think of reflected sounds? (Catacoustics.) What sort of cat unites well with a toilet article? (Catacomb.) What sort of cat requires a physician's attention? (Catalepsy.) What sort of cat is feared by soldiers? (Catapult.) What sort of cat is bad for the eyes? (Cataract.) What sort of cat is to be dreaded? (Catastrophe.) What sort of cat is allowed on the table? (Catsup.) What sort of cat goes to Sunday school? (Catechism.) What sort of cat do girls most detest? (Caterpillar.) What sort of cat makes small boys weep? (Cat-o'-nine-tails.) CRAMBO10 to 30 players.
House party.
Each player is provided with two slips of paper, and also with another full sheet of paper and a pencil. On one of the slips he writes a question. This may be as serious or absurd as fancy dictates. On the other slip of paper he writes a word, either a common or proper noun. The slips containing the questions are then collected in a box or hat, and those containing the nouns in another receptacle. The questions are thoroughly mixed and passed around, each player drawing one. The same is done with the nouns.
Each player must then write a verse which shall answer the question and contain the word that he has drawn, no matter how irrelevant they may be. A time limit is generally given for this performance, varying with the facility of the players.
The following may serve as examples. The author recalls a very grave banker, not suspected of humor, who drew the question, "How long should you roast a leg of mutton?" The word drawn was "Finger." He wrote:—
Longer than to roast your finger."
Another business man drew the question, "What is the difference between doughnuts and sponge cake?" The word was "Youth." He wrote:—
While doughnuts are tough as thunder;
And the youth who partakes of the first in haste
Will tackle the latter with wonder."
The game may be made more difficult by each player writing on a third slip of paper a verb or an adjective, these to be collected and redistributed with the nouns and questions.
CROSS QUESTIONS10 to 60 players.
Parlor; schoolroom.
All but one of the players sit in two rows facing each other, those directly opposite each other being partners. The odd player walks around the rows behind the others, asking questions of any player facing him from the farther row. The question must be answered, not by the player addressed, but by his partner or vis-a-vis, who sits with his back to the questioner.
Any player answering a question addressed directly to him, or failing to answer one addressed to his partner, or giving an incorrect answer to a question, changes places with the questioner, or pays a forfeit, as may have been decided on beforehand.
FOR THE SCHOOLROOM.—When played in the schoolroom, the adjacent rows should form a group and face each other so as to leave free aisles between the groups in which the questioners may walk, as shown in the diagram of "Old Man Tag."
The game may be made to correlate with almost any subject in the school curriculum, the questioner asking, for instance, for capital cities, boundaries, mountains, etc., for geography; for dates or the names of heroes in great events, for history; or even for brief problems in mental arithmetic.
DUMB CRAMBO10 to 30 or more players.
Parlor.
The players are divided into two parties. One party goes outside of the room, and those remaining choose some verb, which is to be guessed and acted by the other party. The outside party is then told some word which rhymes with the chosen verb. They consult among themselves, decide on a verb which they think may be the right one, enter the room, and without speaking act out the word they have guessed. The inside party must decide from this pantomime if the correct verb has been guessed. If not, they shake their heads. If right, they clap their hands. No speaking is allowed on either side. If the outside party be wrong in their guess, they retire and try another word, repeating this play until they hit upon the right word, when the two sides change places.
FIND THE RING10 to 30 or more players.
Parlor; gymnasium; schoolroom.
The players sit in a circle, holding in their hands a long piece of string tied at the ends so as to form a circle large enough to go around, a small ring having been put upon this string. One player is chosen to stand in the center. The players who are seated then pass the ring from one to another, the object being for the player in the center to detect who has the ring. The other players will try to deceive him by making passes to indicate the passage of the ring when it really is not in their vicinity. When the player in the center thinks he knows who has the ring, he calls out the name of that player. If right, he sits down, and that player must take his place in the center. This game may be played by the players repeating the following lines as the ring is passed around the circle:—
He had ten thousand men;
He marched them up the hillago,
And marched them down again.
And when they were down they were down;
And when they were halfway up the hill,
They were neither up nor down."
This game may be played out of doors around a bush, in which case the player who is It must circle around the outside of the ring formed by the other players instead of standing in the center.
2 to 10 players.
Out of doors.
This is one of the pretty Oriental games recorded from Korea by Mr. Culin, and is played by the children of that country, Japan, and China.
The players each gather a handful of meadow bloom—blossoms and grass indiscriminately, not selecting the contents of the bunch. All sit down in a group. The first player lays out one from his pile, say a buttercup. All of the players around the circle try to match this, that is, each one who has buttercups lays all of them in a pile with that of the first player, who appropriates the entire pile when this has gone around the circle. Then the next player lays out something which all must try to match. The one wins who has the largest number of grasses or blossoms all counted together at the end. Different sorts of grasses and leaves count in this game as well as different kinds or colors of blossoms.
GRASS BLADE2 to 10 players.
Out of doors.
This is a pretty game for little children, recorded by Mr. Culin, as played by the children of Japan, China, and Korea.
Each child gathers a handful of grass, the soft, flexible grass blades being best for the purpose. The players are all seated in a group. One child makes a loop of a blade of grass by holding the two ends in his hand. Another child loops a blade of grass through this and the two pull; the one whose grass blade breaks loses, and the two pieces as trophies are given to the successful player, who then matches his grass blade with the next, and so on around the circle until his grass blade breaks, when he loses his turn and the next player has a similar turn. The one wins who has the greatest pile of trophies at the end.
HANDS UP—HANDS DOWN10 to 60 players.
Schoolroom.
This is a schoolroom adaptation of Up Jenkins, and is designed especially for use as children assemble in a class room before the opening of the school session. The only material required is a small paper or worsted ball of a size that may be hidden in the clinched hand.
The players are divided into two groups, each group seated, partly facing the other (indicated by arrows in the diagram) with a captain standing before each side at C.
The side starting the game is given a small ball of paper or worsted, and at the command
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