A game from “Titbits Book of Wrinkles”, 1938.
A game for the less athletic this week – if you can eat a trayful of chocolates in record time, you can win this one.
Category: Games
An easy little trick with matches from The Weekend Book, 1938.
The idea is to make two matches “kiss” with the “lady match” being lifted up, as if swept off her feet, Hollywood-style. Whittling legs is optional.
This game needs a group of people large enough to be split into two teams (to make any number of hunters and two hunted), the great outdoors and a pub lunch – what could be better?
From “The Weekend Book”, 1938.
“Outdoor active games
Man-Hunt
This is strenuous and any number can join in. It is more exciting than a paper chase, and does not litter the country with paper.
First mark out an agreed area, say six miles by one, on the map, limited by recognisable natural features, outside which the men must not go, with your starting point on one end line and a suitable pub, as your objective, in the middle of the other end line. The hunters set off later and the two men a quarter of an hour later. The hunters may not blockade the starting point nor the objective but should stretch a cordon across the area and ambush likely points in the attempt to stop the men from passing through.
You have lunch at your objective and man-hunt home. It is unsuitable for crowded suburban areas.”
Some Friday No Fun today. It’s not just swearing that was a no-no in the 1930s. Here are some card, dice and wheel games that were designated illegal way back in the midsts of time. They are “Ace of Hearts”, “Faro” (or “Pharoah”), “Bassett”, “Hazard”, “Passage” and “Roly-Poly”.
All the games have hundreds of years of provenance. “Passage” (also known as “Passe-dix”) was an ancient dice game and “Ace of Hearts” and “Roly-Poly” formed elements of what is now “Roulette”.
The card game “Faro” was once the most widely played gambling game in England. My 1950 edition of game bible “Hoyle’s Games” says it is “rarely met with in the domestic circle…..chiefly, it may be said, because the game has for long been in pretty bad odour through the large sums of money that may be lost at it and through the almost unlimited opportunities that are afforded to (and often taken by) an unscrupulous banker to “fleece the lambs”. It is a pity; because Faro, when honestly played, is one of the best of all the banking games.” “Bassett” was a variation of this.
“Hazard” was a dice game mentioned in Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales”, with rather complicated rules – http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazard_(game). Not a million miles from the League of Gentlemen’s wonderful Go Johnny Go Go Go Go:
A judge’s ruling upheld their illegality in 1935, as well as all card games that were not based on pure skill (therefore meaning all card games would technically be illegal according to this judgement, as there is always the element of chance with cards).
Some info on the ruling is here in The Spectator’s archive – http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/4th-october-1935/11/when-bridge-is-illegal
There’s no mention of the games in the latest gambling legislation, however. But they’re not on the list of games approved for play in casinos, although this is probably because they’re not played anymore anyway – http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/pdf/list%20of%20approved%20casino%20games%20%20-%20july%202008.pdf
Today’s fun is an indoor game for those who own a number of lemons and, trickier, multiple walking sticks. Having tried this myself, I can only concur with the statement “Until you have tried to poke a lemon along in this fashion, you have no idea how unruly a thing it may be.”
“Jogging the Lemon – This is an amusing race game, for which a fairly large room is needed with a clear floor. Any number can take part. Each competitor holds a walking stick, and with the point of this he must jog a lemon up the room and back again. No hitting is allowed. Until you have tried to poke a lemon along in this fashion, you have no idea how unruly a thing it may be.”
From the Pelham Pop Annual, 1970 – a fairly difficult Beatles quiz.
The Pelham Pop Annual aimed to only feature artists that would stand the test of time and, looking at their features, they mostly did well. Cliff Richard, Tom Jones, The Who are all here. Unfortunately, the annual only seemed to last for the one, 1970, edition though.
A classy riddle from “The Young Ladies Journal”, February 1st 1870.
Can you guess it?
My first is a vegetable well known to all;
My second’s an insect tiny and small;
My whole forms one of a large class in this nation;
Tho’ rather low down in the scale is his station.
This is a game for the more robust personality. In the wrong crowd, this is not so much a way to break the ice at parties, as a way to crash into a bloody great iceberg. The kind of game they’d make everyone play in the Big Brother house if they wanted to cause murder.
In short, a vengeful god demands sacrifices and a piece of paper is passed round the group who have to mark on it who they would sacrifice first, and that person has to leave the room. This continues until there are only two people left, and this is where it gets slightly confusing. The instructions say to call out the name of the person least worthy to survive, but if there’s only two left then I’m not sure how it would work. Unless the we’re-not-worthy sacrificed in the hall outside are the ones shouting…?
The Crosswires game – this is quite a good one. I absolutely challenge you to do this right first time.
From The Universal Book of Hobbies and Handicrafts, 1935 (Sid G. Hedges).
A fairly self-explanatory game of how to box your opponents ears here, although it’s not as easy as it sounds. I love the Janet and John style illustration.
From The Universal Book of Hobbies and Handicrafts, 1935 (Sid G. Hedges).