Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium Part 43

WRESTLING

(See "_Contests for Two_" under "Feats and Forfeits.")

YARDS OFF

_3 to 30 or more players._

_Out of doors._

This is a form of I Spy or Hide and Seek, and seems indigenous to New York. All players properly caught by the spy become prisoners, but may be freed in a prescribed way. The procedure which gives time for hiding is also distinctive.

Two players are chosen, one to be It and one for stick thrower. All the players stand grouped around a goal, and the stick thrower throws a stick as far away from the goal as he can. As soon as the stick touches the ground, all of the players, including the thrower, but not the one who is It, scatter and hide. The one who is It must walk to the stick (never run), take it up, bring it back, and stand it up, resting against the goal. He then starts to hunt for the hidden players. He must run back and touch the goal for any player whom he discovers, saying, "One, two, three, for--!" naming the player. Any one caught in this way becomes a prisoner at the goal. Any player who has not been detected by the spy may run in to the goal at any time and throw the stick away, whereby all of the prisoners, _i.e._ those who have been spied and previously caught, become free and hide again.

Whenever this freeing of prisoners happens, the spy must return to the goal, walk to the stick, pick it up, walk back with it to the goal again, and go on with the play as before. This continues until the spy has touched the goal for all of the players, though they need not all be prisoners at once. Any player spied who reaches the goal before the spy, is thereafter free; _i.e._ out of the game. The last one caught becomes spy for the next game.

QUIET GAMES

QUIET GAMES

NOTE.--The games in this division are not necessarily noiseless or lacking in movement; but are distinguished from the active games largely by the lack of chasing or other vigorous exercise.

AUTHOR'S INITIALS

_2 to 60 players._

_Parlor; schoolroom._

Each player is given a piece of paper on which is written various series or groups of words, each group descriptive of some author, and each word beginning with one of his initials in regular order. The player wins who guesses the largest number of authors. The following are suggested; others may be devised:--

1. Juveniles firmly conquered (James Fenimore Cooper).

2. Name honored (Nathaniel Hawthorne).

3. Bright humor (Bret Harte).

4. One wholesome humorist (Oliver Wendell Holmes).

5. Really lasting stories (Robert Louis Stevenson).

6. Cheerful laborer (Charles Lamb).

7. Tender, brilliant author (Thomas Bailey Aldrich).

8. Heroism wisely lauded (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow).

9. Just, gentle writer (John Greenleaf Whittier).

10. Poetry bridged skyward (Percy Bysche Sh.e.l.ley).

11. Clever delineator (Charles d.i.c.kens).

12. Rare brain (Robert Browning).

13. Weird imagination (Was.h.i.+ngton Irving).

"B" GAME

_5 to 30 or more players._

_House party._

Each player is given a sheet of paper with numbered questions prepared like the following list. The answer to each question is to be written opposite it, and must consist of the letter B as an initial and added to it the number of letters designated, the whole conforming to the definition given. The following examples will ill.u.s.trate:--

1. B and one letter, meaning to exist.--Be.

2. B and two letters forming a sack.--Bag.

3. B and three letters forming a storehouse.--Barn.

4. B and three letters, side of a stream.--Bank.

5. B and three letters, a young creature.--Baby.

6. B and three letters, a bag of goods.--Bale.

7. B and three letters, without hair.--Bald.

8. B and three letters, a surety.--Bond.

9. B and three letters, timber.--Beam.

10. B and three letters, a vegetable.--Beet.--Bean.

11. B and three letters, a poet.--Bard.

12. B and three letters, a drink.--Beer.

13. B and three letters, a globule.--Bead.

14. B and three letters, part of a bird.--Beak.

15. B and three letters, a vessel.--Boat.

16. B and four letters, an appendage.--Beard.

17. B and four letters, a tree.--Beech.

18. B and four letters, to commence.--Begin.

19. B and four letters, a strand.--Beach.

20. B and four letters, a receptacle.--Basin.

21. B and four letters, a kind of meat.--Bacon.

22. B and five letters, a combat.--Battle.

23. B and five letters, a hound.--Beagle.

24. B and five letters, a signal.--Beacon.

25. B and five letters, a cup.--Beaker.

26. B and eight letters, a demon.--Beelzebub.

The player wins who answers correctly the largest number. This game may be devised for any initial letter.

BARGAIN COUNTER