Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium Part 45

_10 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 CRAMBO

_10 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 RING

_10 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 pa.s.s 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 pa.s.ses to indicate the pa.s.sage 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 pa.s.sed around the circle:--

"Oh, the grand old Duke of York, He had ten thousand men; He marched them up the hillago, And marched them down again.

"And when they were up they were up, 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FLOWER MATCH]

FLOWER MATCH

_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, j.a.pan, and China.

The players each gather a handful of meadow bloom--blossoms and gra.s.s 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 b.u.t.tercup. All of the players around the circle try to match this, that is, each one who has b.u.t.tercups 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 gra.s.ses or blossoms all counted together at the end. Different sorts of gra.s.ses and leaves count in this game as well as different kinds or colors of blossoms.

GRa.s.s BLADE

_2 to 10 players._

_Out of doors._

This is a pretty game for little children, recorded by Mr.

Culin, as played by the children of j.a.pan, China, and Korea.

Each child gathers a handful of gra.s.s, the soft, flexible gra.s.s blades being best for the purpose. The players are all seated in a group. One child makes a loop of a blade of gra.s.s by holding the two ends in his hand. Another child loops a blade of gra.s.s through this and the two pull; the one whose gra.s.s blade breaks loses, and the two pieces as trophies are given to the successful player, who then matches his gra.s.s blade with the next, and so on around the circle until his gra.s.s 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 DOWN

_10 to 60 players._

_Schoolroom._

This is a schoolroom adaptation of Up Jenkins, and is designed especially for use as children a.s.semble in a cla.s.s 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 of the captain of the _opposing_ side the players pa.s.s the ball rapidly from one to another. Each player makes the motion of pa.s.sing, so as to deceive the opposing group as to the whereabouts of the ball.

[Ill.u.s.tration diagram: HANDS UP, HANDS DOWN]

The captain and players of the opposing group meanwhile keep a sharp lookout for the ball without leaving their seats.

After a short time of pa.s.sing, the captain, who started the pa.s.sing (Group _B_, diagram) calls suddenly, "Hands up!" and immediately all pa.s.sing in Group _A_ must cease, and all hands must be raised high overhead and tightly clinched, so the player having the ball, when the pa.s.sing ceased, may not disclose the fact.

The _B_ captain again gives a sudden command of "Hands down!"

Immediately all hands are brought down softly on the desk in front of each player of Group _A_, hands wide open, palms downward, and again the player with the ball tries to hide it under his hand.

The players of Group _B_, who think they know who has the ball, raise their hands. No player may speak unless called by his captain. When called, he may say, "Under J.'s right hand" (or left hand, as the case may be). J. raises the right hand, and if the guesser be mistaken, places that hand in his lap, it being thereafter out of commission, so to speak. No other player of Group _A_ moves a hand. Should the ball be found under the hand raised, the opposing group, _i.e._ Group _B_, receives as many points as there are hands left upon the desks.

Otherwise, the search continues, the captain of Group _B_ asking players of his group to order a hand raised, or orders it himself, until the ball is discovered. Group _B_ now takes the ball and pa.s.ses it from one to another, and Group _A_ gives commands through its captain. The side making a score of three hundred points wins. A side loses ten points when a player talks or calls for a hand to be raised without the permission or call of the captain.

This adaptation was made by Miss Adela J. Smith of New York City, and received honorable mention in a compet.i.tion for schoolroom games conducted by the Girls' Branch of the Public Schools Athletic League of New York City, in 1906. It is here published by the kind permission of the author, and of the Girls' Branch, and of Messrs. A. G. Spalding & Brothers, publishers of the handbook in which the game first appeared.