Victorian Games
Those crazy Victorians, says Jan Johnstone
AS the Christmas festival approaches, most of us will be looking forward to relaxing over the winter holiday. A big gathering with family might be off the table for the time being (or maybe not, who knows) as might losing ourselves in the midst of organising parties and other entertainments. But what will be possible are days snuggling up on the sofa and doing as little as possible when there’s always plenty to enjoy on the television, or festive carols to listen to.
The Victorians occupied their leisure time with a varied range of festive parlour games, gathering around the table over the long winter evenings with candles lit and a roaring fire in the grate. Some of their games deserve a revival but all perhaps prove that our Victorian ancestors took themselves a lot less seriously than we might have thought!
Happy Families
A simple game enjoyed by children, the aim was to make up a “set” of four cards depicting a Mr, Mrs, Master and Miss of a trade such as Miss Switch, the schoolmaster’s daughter, Master Grub, the gardener’s son, and Miss Batter, the baker’s daughter.
The aim was to collect complete sets of the families by asking another player “Have you got . . .” If the answer was yes, the card would be handed over and the eventual winner was the person who had collected the most sets.
Walker’s Tour
During the Victorian era, games designed to both amuse and educate became very popular. Many were printed by companies who had previously printed maps; an apt extension of their trade, and an example being Walker’s Tour Through England and Wales, produced in 1809. The object was to move tokens
representing tourists to a numbered position on a printed map. The player would spin a “teetotum”, a small octagonal top with the numbers one to eight on the sides, to decide the location. Players could then read information about the region on which they had landed out loud and the game was won when one player reached the city of London.
Statues
A game with many variations called Statues was played by children and adults alike and has stood the test of time. I remember playing it in the schoolyard when I was about 10.
One player is chosen to be the sculptor and the rest of the players then stand completely still as statues. The sculptor then poses them in positions that are very difficult to hold and attempts to make them laugh. The first one to do so then takes over the role of sculptor.
Forfeits
A very popular game during the Victorian Christmas festivities. One player is nominated as the judge and leaves the room whilst the other players place a small personal item such as a bracelet, a watch chain or a glove in a box. The judge then returns and selects an item from the box before describing it to the players. The owner has to identify themself and in order to get the item back has to perform a forfeit decided upon by the judge. This could be either amusing or embarrassing: a gentleman might be
blindfolded and have to kiss every lady in the room, bark like a dog, or sing a comic song. Ladies may be asked to pat their head whilst rubbing their tummy, hop on one leg or walk in a circle backwards. Undoubtedly these antics led to much hilarity, particularly in the days when disciplined behaviour was expected of Victorian youth.
The Minister’s Cat Extremely popular with the Victorians and still around today is The Minister’s Cat, a good workout for the memory based on the alphabet. Players would form a circle and the first player would start with an adjective beginning with A in the phrase “the minister’s cat is an admirable cat”, for example. The next player then had to repeat the phrase and add on a word beginning with B, such as “the minister’s cat is an admirable, bonny cat”. Each player would then continue on through the alphabet and upon reaching Z would start again at the beginning. As players inevitably stumbled over the ever-lengthening phrase they were gradually eliminated from the game until there was an outright winner.
Are you there, Moriarty?
Two blindfolded players surrounded by other party-goers lie head to head on the floor, each holding a rolled up newspaper. The first person asks “Are you there, Moriarty?”, and the second person replies “Yes” to indicate their position. Bizarrely, the players would then proceed to attempt to hit their opponent with the newspapers whilst avoiding the blows by rolling to one side or the other. The first person to get hit was the loser. Admittedly far more amusing for the onlookers than those playing it!
Snap Dragon
Originating in the 16th century, this was traditionally played on the night of Christmas Eve with all lighting extinguished. Raisins were placed in a bowl filled with hot brandy at the centre of a table surrounded by the players. The brandy was set alight and players attempted to snatch the raisins out of the burning brandy and eat them, thus putting out the flame. A chant to accompany this activity was written in 1879 and excitedly repeated for the duration of the game. The first verse went as follows: “Here he comes with flaming bowl, Don’t he mean to take his toll, Snip! Snap! Dragon!”
Hot Potato
First appearing in the 1880s, this game generated great excitement. Music was played and the potato tossed from person to person. Whoever was left holding the hot potato when the music stopped was eliminated, until only one person was left. Still played today, it is usually a beanbag or ball which is now tossed from hand to hand, but it’s interesting to note that the term hot potato, meaning something it would be advisable to get rid of, still exists in our language today.
Pass the Slipper
A simple game of guesswork. Players would sit in a circle whilst a shoe or similar item was passed behind the players’ backs. A person standing in the centre with their eyes closed would open them suddenly and all action would immediately stop whilst they made a guess as to who had the slipper. If correct, they would join the circle and the person who had the slipper would become the centre figure.
Hunt the Thimble
A small item would be chosen – maybe a thimble or a paperknife or an item of jewellery – and one person would stay in the room whilst all others left. This person would then place the item somewhere conspicuous but cunning. On returning, the other players would look for the item and, if spotted, sit down but not reveal its whereabouts. The game continued until only one person was left standing.
The Memory Game
When all the frantic games had been played and it was time to take a rest, this was a popular choice. A tray was prepared with a quantity of items and a cloth thrown over it. This was placed in the centre of the room with all participants sitting in a circle around it. The cloth was removed and players were given a minute to try and memorise the items. The winner was the person who remembered the most.
Charades
Still very popular today in our festive celebrations, Charades arrived from France in the 18th century. The object was to guess a word or phrase from a physical mime, with the person using their fingers to indicate how many words and syllables. Other clues were allowed to help out, such as miming curtains to indicate a theatre, putting a hand to the ear to mean “sounds like”, and spreading the palms to indicate a book.