Games For All Occasions Part 12

6. Is your affection returned?

7. Have you or has he proposed?

8. What color is his or her hair?

9. What color are his or her eyes?

10. Is he or she handsome?

11. Is he or she conceited?

12. What shape is his or her nose?

13. What size is his or her mouth?

14. What is his or her fortune?

15. How much will he or she allow you?

16. What is his or her chief virtue?

17. What is his or her profession?

18. Where did you first meet?

19. What is your rival's name?

20. Where do you intend to live?

21. How many other proposals have you had, or made?

22. Will the marriage be a happy one?

23. When will you be married?

THE GAME OF CONVERSATION

To play this game successfully two of the company privately agree upon a word that has several meanings. The two then enter into a conversation, which is obliged to be about the word they have chosen, whilst the remainder of the company listen.

When a member of the party imagines that he has guessed the word, he may join in the conversation, but if he finds he is mistaken, must immediately retire.

To give an ill.u.s.tration: Supposing the two players who start the conversation decide upon the word box. They might talk about the people they had seen at the theatre and the particular part of the house in which they were sitting. Then they might say how nice it looked in a garden, and one might mention that it grew into big trees. Perhaps one of the company might imagine that he had guessed the word correctly and join in, when the conversation would be immediately changed, and the two would begin to converse about a huge case in which a very great number of things were packed away. By this time possibly the person who joined in the conversation will leave off, completely mystified.

If, however, the word should be correctly guessed, the person guessing it chooses a partner, and they together select a word, and the game begins again.

GUILTY OR INNOCENT?

One of the company gets himself up to represent the old man of the woods, the rest take the names of various animals, such as lion, tiger, leopard and so on.

The players seat themselves round the room, and the old man standing in the centre tells them that some of their number have committed a crime and he is about to question them, in order that he may discover the guilty ones. He then begins--"Now, Mr. Lion, where have you been hunting, and what have you eaten to-day?" "I hunted in the forest and caught an antelope." "Then you are twice guilty and must pay two forfeits," says the old man; and the lion must pay his forfeit without being told the crime he has committed. The old man pa.s.ses on to a Polar Bear. "Where did you hunt and what have you eaten?" he asks.--"I hunted in the water and had a fine fish to eat." The Polar Bear is p.r.o.nounced innocent. The real game is that no animal may bring in the letter "o"

either in their hunting ground or the food they eat. "Forest" and "Antelope" both have an "o" in them, so the lion has to pay two forfeits whereas "Water" and "Fish" having no "o" the bear was declared innocent. The great fun is for the old man to keep the secret of "guilty" or "innocent" to himself; but even if the other players know the secret, it is very difficult not to make a slip, as the answers must be given promptly.

When the game is over the players must pay for their forfeits in any way the old man decides.

GUESSING GROCERIES

Into bits of muslin should be tied samples of groceries--tea, coffee, starch, rice, beans, spices, etc. The players are allowed one guess for each sample, depending entirely upon the sense of feeling, and the one guessing the largest number correctly is given a prize. The hostess should have the samples numbered in order to keep count of the guesses.

One young lady has a lot of pretty little silk bags filled with these samples and uses them again and again, and they always bring the same amount of fun.

GOSSIP

The leader writes out a short story. It may be a bit of gossip, a newspaper incident or anything he wishes, it should however be rather excitable in character. He reads the story over, that he may whisper it to one of his neighbors without the aid of the paper. The neighbor listens attentively and in turn whispers it to another neighbor, and it is whispered from one to the other until everyone has heard it. The last person to whom the story was told is asked to relate it and then the person who originated the story is asked to read his written copy. It will be almost unbelievable how the facts of the story have changed in the telling. Scarcely ever will the story be accurate in any particular.

HOW? WHEN? WHERE?

One of the players goes out of the room and the players decide upon an object. Let us suppose that the word chosen is chest. The word being agreed upon, the other player is called in. The game is for this player to guess the word by asking the three questions "How do you like it?

When do you like it? Where do you like it?" of each person until the word is guessed. For instance, one player is asked:

"How do you like it?"

"Full of gold coins."

"When do you like it?"

"When I am traveling."

"Where do you like it?"

"In a safe place where robbers cannot find it."

And so the game goes on until the guesser knows the word. If he fails to guess it after asking every one of the players the three questions, "How do you like it? When do you like it? Where do you like it?" he must pay a forfeit. The guesser next time is the person who, in making his answer gave away the word decided upon.

"I LOVE MY LOVE WITH AN A"

To play this game it is best for the players to arrange themselves in a half-circle round the room. Then one begins: "I love my love with an 'A,' because she is affectionate; I hate her with an 'A,' because she is artful. Her name is Alice, she comes from Aberdeen, and I gave her an apricot." The next player says: "I love my love with a 'B,' because she is bonnie; I hate her with a 'B,' because she is boastful. Her name is Bertha, she comes from Bath, and I gave her a book." The next player takes "C," and the next "D," and so on through all the letters of the alphabet.

IT

One of the players is asked to go outside whilst the company think of some person in the room, and on his return he has to guess of whom the company has thought.

The players then arrange themselves in a circle, and agree each to think of his or her right-hand neighbor; it is best to have a girl and boy alternately, as this adds much to the amus.e.m.e.nt.