DRAWING GAMES

Frown for a minute.Dance for a minute.See how many you can count in a minute.Say the alphabet backward.Do the exact opposite of three things ordered by the company.Crow like a cock.Say "Gig whip" ten times very rapidly.Say "Mixed biscuits" ten times very rapidly.Say rapidly: "She stood on the steps of Burgess's Fish Sauce Shop selling shell fish."Say rapidly: "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper. A peck of pickled pepper Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper, where is the peck of pickled pepper Peter Piper picked?"Count fifty backward.Repeat a nursery rhyme.Hold your hands behind you, and, keeping them there, lie down and get up again.Hold your hands together and put them under your feet and over your head.Walk round the room balancing three books on your head without using your hands.

Smile to the prettiest,Bow to the wittiest,And kiss the one you love the best.

Yawn until you make some one else yawn.Push your friend's head through a ring. (Put your finger through a ring and push your friend's head with the tip.)Place a straw on the floor so that you can't jump over it. (Very close to the wall.)Put a chair on a table, take off your shoes and jump over them. (Over your shoes.)Leave the room with two legs and come in with six. (Bring in a chair.)Repeat five times without mistake, "A rat ran over the roof of the house with a lump of raw liver in his mouth."Repeat ten times rapidly, "Troy boat."Ask a question to which "no" cannot be answered. (What does y-e-s spell?)Shake a dime off your forehead. (The coin is wet and some one presses it firmly to the forehead of the one to pay the forfeit, who must keep his eyes closed. The dime is taken away, but the forfeit player still feels it there and tries to shake it off.)Repeat a verse of poetry, counting the words aloud. Mary (one) had (two) a (three) little (four) lamb (five).Dance in one corner, cry in another, sing in another, and fall dead in the fourth.

Two forfeits may be redeemed at once by blindfolding two players, handing them each a glass of water, and bidding them give the other a drink. This, however, can be a very damp business.

The old way of getting rid of a large number of forfeits was to tell their owners to hold a cats' concert, in which each sings a different song at the same time. Perhaps it would be less noisy and more interesting if they were told to personate a farm-yard.

A novel way of awarding prizes is to auction them. Each guest on arrival is given a small bag instead of a tally card. These bags are used to hold beans, five of which are given to all the players that progress at the end of each game. After the playing stops the prizes are auctioned. Of course the person who has the greatest number of beans can buy the best prizes; so that besides making a great deal of fun, the distribution is entirely fair.

Many persons, when a drawing game is suggested, ask to be excused on the ground of an inability to draw. But in none of the games that are described in this chapter is any real drawing power necessary. The object of each game being not to produce good drawings but to produce good fun, a bad drawing is much more likely to lead to laughter than a good one.

All children who like drawing like this game; but it is particularly good to play with a real artist, if you have one among your friends. You take a piece of paper and make five dots on it, wherever you like—scattered about far apart, close together (but not too close), or even in a straight line. The other player's task is to fit in a drawing of a person with one of these dots at his head, two at his hands, and two at his feet, as in the examples onpage 48.

Another form of "Five Dots" is "Outlines." Instead of dots a line, straight, zigzag, or curved, is made at random on the paper. Papers are then exchanged and this line must be fitted naturally into a picture, as in the examples onpage 49.

A good way to play Wiggles when there are a number of people to play, is to mark the same line for all the players, either by pressing down very hard with a hard pencil so that the line can be traced from one piece of paper to another, or with carbon copy paper between the sheets. Thus each person has the same line, and the one who uses his in the most fantastic and unexpected way is the winner. The only rule about making the line is that a circle shall not be made. The two ends must be left ready to add the rest of the design. It is well sometimes to limit the pictures to human faces, as this makes the grotesque unlikeness of the drawings all the more absurd.

Five DotsFive Dots

OutlinesOutlines

The usual thing to draw with shut eyes is a pig, but any animal will do as well (or almost as well, for perhaps the pig's curly tail just puts him in the first place). Why it should be so funny a game it is difficult quite to explain, but people laugh more loudly over it than over anything else. There is one lady at least who keeps a visitor's book in which every one that stays at her house has to draw an eyes-shut pig. The drawings are signed, and the date is added. Such a guest book is now manufactured, bound in pig skin, or in cloth.

While on the subject of novel albums the "Ghost of My Friends" might be mentioned. The "ghost" is the effect produced by writing one's signature with plenty of ink, and while the ink is still very wet, folding the paper down the middle of the name, lengthwise, and pressing the two sides firmly together. The result is a curious symmetrically-shaped figure. Some people prefer "ghosts" to ordinary signatures in a visitors' book.

The "Book of Butterflies" is on the same order. With the book come four tubes of paint. The paint is squeezed on the page, which is doubled and flattened. The effects are very beautiful, and surprisingly lifelike.

Another guest book is the "Hand-o-graph," in which the outline of the hand of each guest is kept. The "Thumb-o-graph" is on the same principle, except that in this case theimprint of the guest's thumb is preserved, made from an ink pad supplied with the book.

A remarkable collection can be made of ink-blot pictures. A drop of ink, either round as it naturally falls, or slightly lengthened with a pen, is dropped on paper which is then folded smartly together and rubbed flat. The most surprising designs are the result, some of which, aided a little by the pen, look like landscapes, figures and complicated geometric designs.

Six drawing tricks are illustrated on this page. One (1) is the picture of a soldier and a dog leaving a room, drawn with three strokes of the pencil. Another (3) is a sailor, drawn with two squares, two circles, and two triangles. Another (5), Henry VIII, drawn with a square and nine straight lines. Another (6), invented for this book, an Esquimaux waiting to harpoon a seal, drawn with eleven circles and a straight line. The remaining figures are a cheerful pig and a despondent pig (4), and a cat (2), drawn with the utmost possible simplicity.

Drawing TricksDrawing Tricks

In this game the first player writes the name of an animal at the top of the paper and folds it over. The next writes another, and so on until you have four, or even five. You then unfold the papers and draw animals containing some feature of each of those named.

Composite Animals 1

Composite Animals 2

A variation of this game is for the players to draw and describe a new creature. On one occasion when this game was played every one went for names to the commoner advertisements. The best animal produced was the Hairy Coco, the description of which stated, among other things, that it was fourteen feet long and had fourteen long feet.

A good guessing contest is to supply every person with a slip of paper on which is written the name of an animal. He draws a picture of it and these pictures are all exhibited signed with the artist's name. The person who guesses correctly the subjects of the greatest number of them wins.

For this game sheets of paper are handed round and each player draws at the top of his sheet a head. It does not matter in the least whether it is a human being's or a fish's head, a quadruped's, a bird's, or an insect's. The paper is then turned down, two little marks are made to show where the neck and body should join, and the paper is passed on for the body to be supplied. Here again it does not matter what kind of body is chosen. The paper is then folded again, marks are made to show where the legs (or tail) ought to begin, and the paper is passed on again. After the legs are drawn the picture is finished.

Each player sits, pencil in hand, before a blank sheet of paper, his object being to make a picture containing things chosen by the company in turn. The first player then names the thing that he wants in the picture. Perhaps it is a tree.He therefore says, "Draw a tree," when all the players, himself included, draw a tree. Perhaps the next says, "Draw a boy climbing the tree"; the next, "Draw a balloon caught in the top branches"; the next, "Draw two little girls looking up at the balloon"; and so on, until the picture is full enough. The chief interest of this game resides in the difficulty of finding a place for everything that has to be put in the picture. A comparison of the drawings afterward is usually amusing.

As a change from ordinary letter-writing, "Hieroglyphics" are amusing and interesting to make. The best explanation is an example, such as is given on pages52and53, the subject being two verses from a favorite nursery song.

Each player draws on the upper half of the paper an historical scene, whether from history proper or from family history, and appends the title, writing it along the bottom of the paper and folding it over. The drawings are then passed on and each player writes above the artist's fold (or on another sheet of paper) what he thinks they are meant to represent, and folds the paper over what he has written. In the accompanying example the title at the bottom of the paper is what the draughtsman himself wrote; the others are the other players' guesses.

Picture and TitlesVarious Descriptions by the PlayersThe Abbot of Christchurch, near Bournemouth, surveys the scaffolding of the abbey.The end of the Paris Exhibition.An old man coming back to the home of his childhood, looks across the river, where a duck is swimming, to the dilapidated cathedral and town which represent the stately piles he remembered.The building of the Ark.The Artist's DescriptionThe Last Man surveying the ruins of the Crystal Palace.

The Abbot of Christchurch, near Bournemouth, surveys the scaffolding of the abbey.The end of the Paris Exhibition.An old man coming back to the home of his childhood, looks across the river, where a duck is swimming, to the dilapidated cathedral and town which represent the stately piles he remembered.The building of the Ark.

The Abbot of Christchurch, near Bournemouth, surveys the scaffolding of the abbey.

The end of the Paris Exhibition.

An old man coming back to the home of his childhood, looks across the river, where a duck is swimming, to the dilapidated cathedral and town which represent the stately piles he remembered.

The building of the Ark.

The Last Man surveying the ruins of the Crystal Palace.

Many of the games under this heading look harder than they really are. But the mere suggestion of a writing game is often enough to frighten away timid players who mistrust their powers of composition—although the result can be as funny when these powers are small as when they are considerable. The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.

There are "Simple Acrostics" and "Double Acrostics." The simple ones are very simple. When the players are all ready a word is chosen by one of them, either from thought or by looking at a book and taking the first promising one that occurs. Perhaps it is "govern." Each player then puts the letters forming "govern" in a line down the paper, and the object of the game is to find, in a given time, words beginning with each of those letters. Thus, at the end of time, one player might have—

G ravyO rangeV ioletE stherR obinN umbskull

The players then describe their words in turn, one letter going the round before the next is reached, and from these descriptions the words have to be guessed, either by any player who likes or by the players in turn. The player whose paper we have quoted might describe his words like this: G——"Something that makes hot beef nice"; O—— "A fruit"; V—— "A flower"; E—— "A girl's name"; R—— "A bird"; and N—— "A name for a silly person." If any one else has the same word neither of you can score it, and it is therefore important to seek for the most unlikely words.

Another way of playing "Simple Acrostics" is to insist on each word being the same length. Thus "govern" might be filled in by one player thus:—

G raveO ddlyV erseE arthR ebelN inth

In "Double Acrostics" the game is played in precisely the same way, except that the letters of the word, after having been arranged in a line down the paper, are then arranged again in a line up the paper, so that the first letter is opposite the last, and the last opposite the first. Thus:—

G NO RV EE VR ON G

The players have then to fill in words beginning and ending with the letters as thus arranged. One paper might come out thus:—

G rai NO rde RV ersatil EE ... VR apall ON othin G

This word is rather a hard one on account of the E and V. As a rule, words of only three letters are not allowed in "Acrostics," nor are plurals. That is to say, if the word has to end in "S," one must not simply add "S" to an ordinary word, such as "grooms" for G——S, but find a word ending naturally in "S," such as "Genesis."

It is not necessary to invert the same word in order to get letters for the ends of the words. Two words of equal length can be chosen and arranged side by side. Thus (but this is almost too difficult an example):—

D KI IC PK LE IN NS G

"Acrostics" may be made more difficult and interesting by giving them a distinct character. Thus, it may be decided that all the words that are filled in must be geographical, or literary, or relating to flowers.

"Fives" is a game which is a test also of one's store of information. A letter is chosen, say T, and for a given time, ten minutes perhaps, the players write down as many names of animals beginning with T as they can think of. The first player then reads his list, marking those words that no one else has and crossing off all that are also on other players' papers. Then the names of vegetables (including flowers, trees, and fruit) are taken; then minerals; then persons; and then places. The player who has most marks wins the game.

A variety of this game is to take a long word, say "extraordinary," and within a given time to see how many smallerwords can be made from it, such as tax, tin, tea, tear, tare, tray, din, dray, dairy, road, rat, raid, and so on.

"Lists" is a variety of "Fives." Paper is provided, and each player in turn calls out something which the whole company write down. Thus, suppose there are five players and you decide to go round three times: the first may say a river; the second, a doctor; the third, a complaint; the fourth, a play; the fifth, a State in the Union; the first again, a musical instrument; the second again, a poet; and so on, until the fifteen things are all written down. Each paper will then have the same list of fifteen things upon it. One of the company then opens a book at random, and chooses, say, the first letter of the third word in the first line. Perhaps it is T. For a given time each player has to supply his list with answers beginning with T. At the call of time one of the papers may present this appearance:—

A river TeesA doctor. Mr. TrevesA complaint Tic DoloreuxA play Timon of AthensA state in the Union TennesseeA musical instrument TromboneA poet TennysonA flower TrefoilA mineral TinA lake TanganyikaA tree TulipA country TurkeyAn author TrollopeAn artist TademaA preacher Talmage

Each player in turn reads his list aloud, strikes off those words that others also have, and puts a mark against the rest. The specimen list here given is too simple to be called a goodone. Players should reject the first thing that comes into their thoughts, in favor of something less natural.

The first thing for the players to do is to decide what kind of name they will bury. The best way is to call out something in turn. Thus, if there are four players they may decide to bury the name of an author, a girl, a town, and a river. Each player writes these down and a fixed time is given for burial, which consists in writing a sentence that shall contain the name somewhere spelled rightly but spread over two words, or three if possible. At the end of the time the sentences are read aloud in turn, while the others guess. Of course, the whole game may be given up to burying only one kind of name, but variety is perhaps better. Examples are given:—

An author: I like to keep the yew in good order.A girl: The boy was cruel, lazy and obstinate.A town: Clothes that arenew have no need of brushing.A river: To see spoilt ham especially annoys me.

It is permissible to bury the name in the middle of one longer word, but it is better to spread it over two or three. Perhaps the best example of a buried English town is this: "The Queen of Sheba sings to keep her spirits up." This is good, because the sentence is natural, because of the unusual number of words that are made use of in the burial, and because in reading it aloud the sound of the buried town is not suggested.

In this game you begin with the Letter. The first thing to write is the address and "My dear ——," choosing whomever you like, but usually, as in "Consequences," either a publicperson or some one known, if possible, to every one present. The paper is then folded over and passed on. The next thing to write is the letter itself, which should be limited to two minutes or some short period, and should be the kind of letter that requires a reply. The paper is folded and passed on again, and the subscription, "Believe me yours sincerely," or whatever adverb you choose, and the signature are then added. (These may be divided into two separate writings if you like.) The signature should be that of another public person, or friend, relation or acquaintance of the family. The paper is then passed on once more, and a reply to the letter, in the form of a telegram, is written. That is to say, you must say as much as you can in ten words. Example:—

The LetterThe first player writes:—My dear Buffalo Bill.The second player writes:—Can you give me any information about suitable songs for our village choir?The third player writes:—Believe me yours slavishly.The fourth player writes:—Kitchener of Khartoum.The Reply TelegramThe fifth player writes:—Be with you to-morrow. Have sheets aired. Am bringing everything.

The Letter

The first player writes:—My dear Buffalo Bill.The second player writes:—Can you give me any information about suitable songs for our village choir?The third player writes:—Believe me yours slavishly.The fourth player writes:—Kitchener of Khartoum.

The Reply Telegram

The fifth player writes:—Be with you to-morrow. Have sheets aired. Am bringing everything.

There is also the game of "Telegrams." In this the first thing to write is the name of the person sending the telegram. The paper is then passed on, and the name of the person to whom it is sent is written. The papers are then passed on again and opened, and the players in turn each say a letter of the alphabet, chosen at random, until there are ten. As these are spoken, each player writes them on the paper before him, leaving a space after it; so that when the ten are all written down his paper may look like this:

—

From theDuke of YorkToBarnum and Bailey.H ... A ... P ... N ...W ... E ... K ... S ... F ...T ...

A period of five minutes or more is then allowed in which to complete the telegram, the message having to be ten words long, and each word to begin, in the same order, with these letters. The players should, as far as possible, make the telegrams reasonable, if not possible. Thus, the form given above might, when finished, read like this:—

From theDuke of YorkToBarnum and Bailey.Have Awning Prepared NextWednesday Evening Kindly Send FiveTickets

In calling out the ten letters which are to be used in the telegram, it is well to avoid the unusual consonants and to have a vowel here and there.

An amusing variety is for all the players to compose telegrams on the same subject; the subject being given beforehand. Thus it might be decided that all the telegrams should be sent from President Roosevelt to Alice in Wonderland asking for her views on the tariff. Then having completed these messages, the answers may also be prepared, using the same letters. But, of course, as in all games, family matters work out more amusingly than public ones.

Paper is handed round, and each player thinks of some public person, or friend or acquaintance of the company, and writes in full his or her Christian name (or names) and surname.Then, for, say, five minutes, a character sketch of the person chosen has to be composed, each word of which begins with the initial letter of each of the person's names, repeated in their right order until the supply of thought gives out or time is up. Thus, suppose the person chosen is Frank Richard Stockton, the story writer. The character sketch might run:—

F ancifully R ecounts S trange F reakish R omantic S tories. F indsR isibility S urely. F requently R aises S miles.

An occasional "and" and "of" may be dropped in if necessary. Where one of the names begins with a vowel (such as WilliamEwart Gladstone) the character sketch can be made to run more easily.

It is sometimes more amusing to give every one the same names to work on; and in some houses the players are not allowed to choose names for themselves, but must pass the paper on. The characters of towns and nations may be written in the same way, using all the letters of the word as the initials.

A more difficult game is "Riddles." At the top of the paper is written anything that you can think of: "A soldier," "A new dress," "A fit of the blues," "A railway accident"—anything that suggests itself. The paper is passed on and anything else is written, no matter what. It is passed on again and opened. Suppose that the two things written on it are, first, "A school-teacher," and second, "A pair of skates." The duty of the player is to treat them as a riddle, and, asking the question either as "Why is a school-teacher like a pair of skates?" or "What is the difference between a school-teacher and a pair of skates?" (whichever way one prefers), to supply a reasonable answer. This game, it will be seen, is suited particularly to clever people.

This is a game that needs a certain amount of readiness and some skill with words. Each of the party writes at the top of a piece of paper a question of any kind whatever, such as "How old was Cæsar when he died?" or "What is your favorite color?" The paper is folded over and passed on, and the next player writes a word—any word—such as "electricity," "potato," "courageously," "milk." The papers are then passed on once more and opened, and the task of each player is to write a rhyme in which the question on his paper is answered and the word on his paper is introduced.

Every one is supplied with a piece of paper and pencils and tries to write down correct answers to questions about everyday things which we none of us know. A suggestive list is given but any one can add to it indefinitely.

1. How big do you think a postage-stamp is, in inches—a five dollar bill?2. Draw a picture of a clock's face with the hands pointing to five minutes of twelve.3. How tall do you think a man's silk hat is, a derby?4. Draw the design in panels of the door to the room you are in. (Of course without looking at it.)5. How many holes are there in a high laced shoe—your own?6. How many toes has a cat, a dog?7. How many legs has a fly?8. How does a cow lie down? A horse?9. About how many petals has a common daisy? A wild rose? A sun flower?10. How high from the ground is a street-car?—a railway car?

The person who can answer most correctly the greatest number of questions is the winner.

"Consequences" is always a favorite game when a party has reached its frivolous mood. The method of playing is this: Sheets of paper and pencils are handed round, and every one writes at the head (1) an adjective suitable to be applied to a man, such as "Handsome." This word is then folded over so that it cannot be read, and each paper is passed on to the next person. The name of a man (2) is then written, either some one you know, or a public person, such as the president or Mr. Carnegie. This in turn is folded over and the papers are passed on. The word "met" is understood to be inserted at this point. That is to say, the completed story will tell how Handsome Mr. Carnegie met some one. The next thing (3) is to put down an adjective suitable to apply to the woman whom he met, such as "Buxom," and then (4) the woman's name, again either some one you know, or a public person,—the papers being folded and passed on after every writing. The remaining items are these:—(5) The place where they met—say, on the pier. (6) What he said to her—say, "I hope your neuralgia is better." (7) What she said to him—say, "There's nothing like rain for the crops." (8) What the consequence was—say, "They were married." (9) What the world said—"All's well that ends well."

It must be remembered that unless there are very few players, when it is less fun, you do not get the chance of writing more than once, or at most twice, on the same sheet of paper, so that it is of no use to have a reasonable series of remarks in your mind. The specimen given above is an average one. In print nothing could be much less funny, but when the company has the spirit of "Consequences," even so tame a storyas this might keep the room merry. The game is always full of the unexpected, and the people who meet each other are almost sure to be laughing-stocks. The results are often better if all the papers are handed to one player to read.

The form of "Consequences" above given is the ordinary one and the simplest. But in certain families the game has been altered and improved by other clauses. We give the fullest form of "Consequences" with which we are acquainted. As it stands it is rather too long; but players may like to add to the fun of the ordinary game by adopting a few of these additions:—

Adjective for a man.The man.What he was wearing.What he was doing.(Met)Adjective for a woman.The woman.What she was wearing.What she was doing.The person he would much rather have met.Where they met.What he thought.What he said.What she thought.What she said.What he gave her.What she did with it.Where they went.What they did.What the consequence was.What the world said.

Example:—

The honorable Theodore Roosevelt, who was dressed in a Moiré antique bath-towel and was eating walnuts, met coy Aunt Priscilla in a Khaki tea-gownplaying with her Noah's Ark, when he would much rather have met Madame Tussaud. They met at South Hampton. What he thought was, "Here's this woman again," but he merely said, "That's a very chic costume of yours." What she thought was, "I wonder if he's seen Peter Pan," but she only said, "That's wet paint you're leaning against." He gave her a piercing glance, and she swallowed it. So they went to prison together and learned to ride the bicycle, and the consequence was they caught influenza, and the world said, "It's an ill wind that blows nobody good."

Another folding-over and passing-on game is "Composite Stories." Paper is passed round, and for five minutes each player writes the opening of a story with a title prefixed. The papers are passed on, and each player reads through as much of the story as has been written and for five minutes adds to it. And so on, until each player has written once on each paper. The papers are then passed on once more, with the result that each paper will be found to be lying before the player who began it. The next and last five minutes are then spent by each person in reading through the story and bringing it to an end, sometimes a difficult enough task. If six persons are playing and allowances of five minutes have been given, there will be at the end of thirty-five minutes six complete stories to read aloud.

A variety of the story game is for each player to write the name of a well-known person or friend of the family on the top of the paper, fold it over, and pass it on. This happens, say, five times, which means that when the papers are opened the names of five persons will be found on each. A story has then to be written introducing these people.

Another story game is one in which each player attempts to tell the most improbable or impossible story. In this casethe papers are not passed on, but a certain amount of time is given for the stories to be written in.

This is a rather elaborate but really very easy game to play. One player, who acts as editor, takes as many sheets of paper as there are players and writes at the head of each the title of a section of a newspaper. Thus on one he will write, Paris Correspondence; on another, English Correspondence; on another, Berlin Correspondence; on a fourth, Political News; on a fifth, Our Fashion Page; on a sixth, Reviews; on a seventh, Weather Report; and so on. Each player then, for a given time, writes on the subject allotted to him, more or less in the manner of the daily press, and at the end the result is read aloud by the editor.

The plan is easily adapted to family or village life. The heading may refer to domestic matters, such as Nursery Correspondence, Kitchen Gossip, Fashions for Gentlemen (an account of father's new suit), Garden News, Village Chatter, and so on. Or, instead of a newspaper, a popular magazine may be contributed, with illustrations.

This is a good game for a company of ingenious people, and it will be found that almost every one is ingenious when confronted with a difficult situation and given time to think out a solution. Every one is given paper and pencil (or this is not necessary since the solutions may be oral). Then one player starts the game by suggesting some predicament and asking the company "What would you do in such a case?" Five minutes are given for reflection, and fifteen if the answers are to be written. Then each in turn must say how he would have extricated himself from the scrape.

A few suitable subjects are given here. If you foundyourself in a strange city, where you didn't know a soul, with no money and nothing you could pawn, what would you do?

If you should wake up in the night and see a burglar just entering the room, what would you do?

If you should look out of your school-room door and see smoke and fire in the hall, what would you do?

If you should be in a foreign country, not able to speak the language and wanted to order a room and breakfast, what would you do?

Card games proper, such as Bezique and Cribbage and Whist, do not come into the scope of this book. Nor do games such as Chess, Draughts, Halma and Backgammon. It is not that they are not good games, but that, having to be bought, their rules do not need enumerating again. The description of a few very old and favorite games with cards, and one or two new ones, is, however, given, because they can be made at home.

Onpage 178will be found the simplest letter game. Letters can be used for a round game by one player making a word, shuffling it, and throwing it face upward into the middle of the table. The winner is the player who first sees what it spells.

Distribute a box of letters among the players, dealing them face downward. In turn each player takes up a letter at random and puts it face upward in the middle of the table. The object of the game is to make words out of these letters. Directly a player sees a word he calls it out, and taking the letters places them in front of him, where they remain until the end of the game, when each player counts his words and the owner of the greatest number is the winner. If, however, a word has been chosen which, by the addition of another letter or so from the middle of the table, can be transformed into a longer word, the player who thinks of this longer word takes the shorter word from the other player and places it before himself. Thus, A might see theword "seat" among the letters, and calling it out, place it before him; and then B, noticing another "t," might call out "state," and adding it to A's word, take that to himself. If, however, A then detected an "e" in the middle and called out "estate" the word would be his again. These losses and reconquests form the chief fun of the game. An "s" at the end of a word, forming a plural, is not allowed.

Many games of "Patience" can be played as well with numbered cards as with ordinary playing cards. It does not matter much what size they are, but for convenience, in playing on a small table, they may as well be about an inch wide and two inches long, with the number at the top. Thus:—

Patience

A "Patience" set consists of four packs of cards each containing four sets of thirteen cards numbered from 1 to 13. These can be made at home perfectly well, and a little bag to hold each pack should also be made. The simplest game is to arrange the four sets in their right order. One player empties her four bags into a basket, shakes them up, and callsthem out as she picks them out (at random). The others, who have the cards spread before them, then arrange them in four rows as well as may be, until a 1 is called and there is a chance to begin packing the others upon it. With inexperienced players five rows are sometimes allowed. We do not give other games of "Patience," for two reasons. One is that it is not exactly a children's game, and the other, that it is one of the games which can be properly taught only by personal instruction. Varieties of "Patience" are very numerous, and good books can be had on the subject.

There can be no real need to describe "Snap," but perhaps it may be useful to have the rules in print here in case of any dispute. A pack of "Snap" cards is dealt round, any number being able to play; and the game begins by the players taking their cards one by one from their hands and in turn laying them face upward on the table before them. If a card is turned up similar to a card already on view on the table, the player who turns it up or the player who owns the similar card cries "Snap," and the cards go to the player who says "Snap" first. As it is sometimes difficult for the players to distinguish which says "Snap" first, it is well to have an umpire. In the case of an undoubted dead-heat the game should go on as if nothing had happened. The player who won the cards gathers up also into his hand all the cards which were before him and continues the game. When a player has transferred all his cards from his hand to the table he waits until his turn comes and then takes them into his hand again. This is a very exciting moment, because, if his top card were snapped, then he would lose everything.

In good "Snap" packs there are several sets of cards which are intentionally made nearly but not absolutely alike,and it is very common to say "Snap" by mistake when one of these turns up. In that case the cards of the player who cried "Snap" are placed in the middle of the table, where they stay until some one turns up a card exactly like the top one and "Snap Centre" is called, when both the centre pack and the pack in front of the turner-up belong to the player who cried "Snap Centre." It may of course be the turner-up himself, but is very likely somebody else, because whereas under ordinary conditions only the owners of similar cards may cry "Snap," when there are cards is the middle too any one may cry "Snap Centre." (In some houses any one may cry "Snap" all through the game, but that is not the best way.)

When a player has lost all his cards he is out of the game until there are cards in the middle again, when an opportunity comes of snap-centring them and getting into play again. The game goes on until one player has all the cards.

In "Grab," a very rowdy variety of "Snap," a cork is placed in the middle of the table. The rules are the same as in "Snap," except that, instead of saying "Snap," you snatch for the cork; in the case of "Snap Centre," snatching and saying "Centre" too.

"Snap" cards may just as well be home-made as bought. They either can be painted, in which case you must be careful that the sets of four articles are just alike, or you can cut out shapes of different colored paper and stick them on. A bundle of wall-paper patterns is splendid material for a pack. The only advantage that bought "Snap" cards have over home-made ones is that they slip better.

This game can be played by any number, either with a home-made pack or with ordinary playing cards from which three of the queens have been taken away; the remaining queen being the old maid. The cards are then dealt and each player first weeds out all pairs, such as two knaves, two aces, two fives, and so on. All having done this, the player who begins offers her hand, with the cards face downward, to her neighbor, and her neighbor takes one. She then looks through her cards to see if it pairs with any that she already has, and, if it does, throws the pair on the table. Having finished her examination she offers her cards in the same way to the next player, and so it goes on. As the possessor of the old maid card is, at the end, the loser of the game, each one who gets it does all in her power to induce the next player to take it. As the cards get fewer and fewer the excitement grows and grows.

"Old Bachelor" is played in the same way, except that three of the kings are then thrown out.

"Pig" is a very noisy game. It is played with ordinary cards, unless you like to make a "Pig" set, which would be very easy. Having discovered how many persons want to play, you treat the pack accordingly. For instance, if five want to play you throw out all cards except five sets of four; if six, or three, you throw out all cards except six sets of four or three sets of four. Thus, if five were playing, the cards might consist of four aces, four twos, four threes, four fours, and four fives; or, if you began at the other end, four kings, four queens, four knaves, four tens and four nines. The cards are shuffled and dealt round, four each, and the game is for each player to complete a set of four. You do not, as in"Old Maid," select one from the cards that are offered, face downward, but each player hands whatever card he likes to the next player, who is bound to accept it. Directly a player has a set of four complete he lays the cards on the table, either very stealthily or with a bang, whichever he likes. Immediately a set is laid on the table (or directly the other players notice it) all other cards have to be laid there, too. The player who is last in laying them down is Pig. The game is played for as many rounds as you like, the player who was last the fewest times being the winner. The word Pig alters with each round. The last player to lay down his cards in the second round is not merely Pig, but Little Pig; in the third, Big Pig; in the fourth, Mother (or Father) Pig; in the fifth, Grandmother (or Grandfather) Pig; in the sixth, Ancestral Pig; in the seventh, Venerable Pig; in the eighth, Primeval Pig; in the ninth, Crackling.

This is a memory game and a very amusing one. It is played with two packs of cards of any sort. One pack is laid in a heap, face down, in the middle of the table. The other pack is distributed to the players, who lay them face upward in rows; each person should not have more than twelve cards since it is practically impossible to remember more than that number. Any one can begin by giving either a prophecy or a characteristic—thus: "Who will inherit a fortune inside a year?" or "Who will be the first in the room to wear false teeth?" at the same time turning up a card from the centre pile. Whoever has the card matching this, takes it, lays it face down on his card repeating the prophecy, "I will be the first to wear false teeth." The next in turn gives a characteristic, "Who has the worst temper?" or "Who has the most unselfish disposition?" This process continues around,until all the centre cards are matched. Then the memory test comes in. Every player in turn tries to remember and repeat all the prophecies and characteristics which have fallen to his share, giving them aloud in rapid succession. He is allowed for deliberation on any one only the time while ten is being counted. The one who remembers the greatest number is the winner.

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 written the names of articles of food and clothing, household utensils, and other domestic and much advertised things: such, for example, as a frock-coat, a round of beef, a foot-warmer, a box of pills. A story, somewhat on the lines of that which follows, must then be prepared and copied into a note-book. The company take their places and the cards are handed round. These should be held face downward. When all is ready one of the players reads the story, pausing at each blank for the player whose turn comes next to fill it in by calling out whatever is on his uppermost card. No matter how often the game is played (provided the cards are re-shuffled) the unexpected always happens, and it is usually so absurd as to be quite too much for a room all ready for laughter. The number of blanks in the story should be equal to the number of cards, and in order that the story may run on smoothly it is well for the next player always to glance at his top card just before his turn, so as to bring it out readily and naturally. The following story, which makes provision for nearly fifty cards, should be found serviceable until a better and more personal one is written. It will add to the amusement if the player whoreads it substitutes the names of real shops and, if he likes, real people:

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