Publications Archive

Party Games for the Blind

Summary: Games for groups of elderly visually impaired people

By Mary G. Evans

1970

Foreword

In both social centres for the blind and homes, the “recreational facilities” mentioned in Section 29 of the National Assistance Act 1948 play an important part.

Such recreational facilities may include concerts and entertainments provided by outside artists or by the blind themselves, classes in pastime handicrafts, dancing, community singing, and the playing of chess, draughts, dominoes and cards. But, most of all, they include “party games”, and the present handbook is designed to give the social worker and others concerned with the entertainment of the blind a wide range of such games.

For the most part, the games selected do not require much physical activity, for club members have generally arrived at an age when very strenuous exercise would make too great a demand upon their stiffening joints. As a rule, too, the games chosen are simple to learn, and should not tax the mental powers or the memory of the players. Just as only a minority of seeing people care for “paper games”, so comparatively few blind people can cope with games depending on braille frame and style; only a small number of such games is therefore included.

Most of the games given are just plain honest-to-goodness fun. Some of them should, with any luck, encourage even the most well behaved players to be mildly boisterous; there are games which should be played in an atmosphere of good humour and laughter, where nobody minds making a fool of themselves, because the laughter is never unkind. Some are adapted from games played by seeing people, some have been specially devised for the blind, some are particularly suited to deaf-blind players. A large number are competitive. Most people like to win something, whether by skill or chance, and a prize, however modest, is always popular. In some games played at social centres, the principle of the Dodo race in “Alice in Wonderland” should be followed, in which everybody wins a prize.

Those responsible for making a party “go” should observe three rules:-

1. Plan beforehand, so that you always have a suggestion ready, and try to alternate the active games with the quieter ones.

2. As far as possible, let the games chosen be easy to learn, so that everyone will feel able to take part.

3. When interest shows signs of flagging, change the game at once.

No attempt has been made to advise social workers on the production of plays by the blind, but those interested in such production can, if they get in touch with the headquarters of the British Drama League, 9 Fitzroy Square, London W1, receive advice. Simple one-act plays, suitable for amateur production, can be purchased from Samuel French, Ltd., 26 Southampton Street, London WC2.

A large number of social workers have suggested games for this publication, and grateful thanks are extended to them.

Mary G. Thomas

Party Games for the Blind

Adverbs

One player goes out of the room. Those remaining in choose an adverb, eg, kindly, crossly. On returning, the player asks questions in turn to the others, who answer him in the manner of the adverb selected, until he guesses it, when his place is taken by the person last questioned.

Alphabet Ann

Any letter of the alphabet is chosen, and the leader asks each player in turn to give any of the following, beginning with the initial chosen: a town, river, mountain, boy’s name, girl’s name, kitchen utensil, piece of furniture, novelist, poet, statesman, etc. No name once given may be repeated, and any player failing to respond while the leader counts ten is “out”. The player last left in wins the game.

Alphabet Dinner

Players sit round in a circle. The first player says: “I had for dinner some ---“. The food chosen must begin with A (eg, apples, artichokes, etc.). The second player repeats what the first has said, but adds another eatable, this time beginning with B (eg, bread, buns, etc.). The third again repeats what has been said by the other two, but adds an eatable beginning with C. Any player who makes a mistake in his list must drop out, and the game goes on until only one player remains.

Animal Noises

The players stand in a ring round the leader, who holds a stick in his hand. They then move around, but stop as soon as the leader knocks on the floor with his stick and then hands it to the player nearest to him and tells him to imitate the noise of some animal, eg, dog, cat, etc. The leader tries to guess who the player is, and, if his guess is right, the player takes his place in the ring; if he guesses wrong, the players move round again, and the guessing is repeated.

Arithmetic

This is a writing game, or, if not, one involving a good deal of mental arithmetic, and it is therefore only suitable for a limited number of well-educated players.

They are told to take a baker’s dozen; to add to it a cricket team; to divide by the tribes of Israel; to add the lives of a cat; to subtract the blind mice; to multiply by Snow White’s dwarfs; to add both the stitches saved by forethought and the wonders of the world; to divide by the months of the year; to multiply by the Commandments; to add John Buchan’s steps; to multiply by the original number of little nigger boys; to add the Greek Muses; to subtract an emergency call to the police; to multiply by their own age plus three-ninths. And what is the result?

Solution.-Baker’s dozen (13), cricket team (11), tribes of Israel (12), lives of a cat (9), blind mice (3), Snow White’s dwarfs (7), stitches saved by forethought (9), wonders of the world (7), months of the year (12), Commandments (10), John Buchan’s steps (39), little nigger boys (10), Greek Muses (9), emergency call to the police (999). If the instructions are followed, the number obtained before the emergency call to the police is 999; thus, when it is subtracted, the answer is 0, which, of course, remains 0 whatever it is multiplied by, so that the “Multiply by your own age plus three-ninths” is a catch, as the final solution is just NOTHING!

Back and Front Race

Players form two teams, standing in lines facing each other, and a sighted leader stands between the ends of the two lines. He has eight small objects, and gives the end player of each line the first of these, and, as soon as he does so, that player must pass it to his neighbour and receive another from the leader, until all eight objects are in circulation, four on one side of the leader and four on the other. As each object reaches the end of the line, it must be passed by the last player to the back of the line and travel up to the leader that way. The side first completing the return of its four objects to the leader wins the game.

Bean Bags

For this game there must be two rows of players, standing in single file, two leaders and two bean bags. On the word “Go”, each leader gives the first person in her line a bag in the right hand; this player puts the bag on her right shoulder and the person behind her takes it off with her right hand and puts it on her own right shoulder. The last person in the line takes it off with her right hand, puts it on her right shoulder, lifts it off with her left hand, and puts it on the left shoulder of the person in front, who in her turn takes it off with her left hand, etc. The team finishing first wins the game.

Book Balancing

Two lines of people form down the room, and one member o each team must walk down the full length of the team and back to his own place, balancing a book on his head, while his opposite number in the other team does the same thing. If the book is dropped on the way, the player must pick it up, go back to his starting point and begin again. The team which has the greatest number of successful competitors wins the race, and is awarded a small prize. Rope guides down the room may be provided in order that totally blind players may take part.

Bosh

Each player is given the verse of a familiar nursery rhyme, such as “Little Bo Peep”, and must repeat it as quickly and as solemnly as possible, substituting for every alternate syllable the word “bosh”. Thus, “Little Bo Peep” would become :-

    “Litbosh Bobosh

    Has bosh her bosh”, etc.

The winning player is the one who is most correct, most speedy, and most serious.

Burials

“I buried a-and what came up?” In this game, the players are asked by the leader what came up (it must be something that grows from the ground) when something is buried. She has prepared her list beforehand, and invites those who can think of the answers, one by one, as she calls out the “burials”, to put up their hands. The player with the highest score wins a small prize.

Example: I buried a housemaid; what came up? Answer: Broom. Other possible “burials” are: schoolmaster (birch), cigarette (ash), seashore (beech), two things (pear), district of London (poplar), savings certificate (thrift), muff (fir), or-rather more difficult-kiss (tulips).

Buzz

Players sit round the room. The first says 1, the second 2, and so on up to 7, when the player whose turn it is must say “Buzz”; the next player says 8, then 9, but when either a multiple of 7 (14, 21, etc.) or a number including a 7 (17, 27, etc.) is reached, “Buzz” must be said. The game should be played quickly, round and round, and anyone making a mistake drops out, until only the winner is left.

Can You Eat It?

Each blind player should have a sighted partner, to write down the solutions. Each couple is given two lists, one of twenty eatables and the other of twenty place-names. They are required to combine eatables and place-names to show where each article of food comes from. The place-names are Aylesbury, Bakewell, Bath, Cambridge, Canterbury, Cheddar, Colchester, Eccles, Edinburgh, Everton, Lancashire, Finnan, Manchester, Melton Mowbray, Ormskirk, Oxford, Worcester, Yarmouth, York, Yorkshire.

The articles of food are bloater, bun, cake, cheese, duckling, gingerbread, haddock, ham, hotpot, lamb, marmalade, oysters, pie, pudding, relish, rock, sauce, sausage, tart, toffee.

The solution is: Aylesbury duckling, Bakewell tart, Bath bun, Cambridge sausage, Canterbury lamb, Cheddar cheese, Colchester oysters, Eccles cake, Edinburgh rock, Everton toffee, Lancashire hotpot, Firman haddock, Manchester pudding, Melton Mowbray pie, Ormskirk gingerbread, Oxford marmalade, Worcester sauce, Yarmouth bloater, York ham, Yorkshire relish.

Card Race

Several packs of playing cards are scattered on a large table, and the players stand round and pick up the cards, one by one, until the leader calls “Stop”, when the player who has collected the largest number is the winner.

Celebrities

In this game, which has some features in common with “Twenty Questions”, one player goes out of the room, and the others decide what celebrity (living or dead, fact or fiction) he shall represent. On his return he must find out, in a limited number of questions, whom he represents.

Christmas Gifts

One player goes out of the room, and the others decide what celebrity (living or dead, fact or fiction) he is to represent. On his return, each tells him what they intend to give him as a Christmas gift, and he must deduce from the gifts who he is supposed to be. For example, the recipient of a box of paints, a hat rather small in the head, a box of cigars, and a Christmas card with the V sign would naturally guess that he was Winston Churchill.

Clock Tick Race

Players are divided into two teams, and one player is chosen from each team. The two race towards the clock, which is placed at the other end of the room, guiding themselves by its tick. The first to reach it and to touch it scores for his side. Two other players, one from each team, then take their turns, until everyone has taken part, and the team with the highest score wins. To prevent the clock being knocked over, it is well to have a sighted person standing by it.

Clothes Peg Race

Two teams form in lines, facing each other, each with a leader. The leader of side A takes the left wrist of his neighbour with his right hand; this player does the same to his neighbour, and so on, all down the line. The leader of side B takes the right wrist of his neighbour with his left hand, and so on down the line.

Beside each leader there is a chair on which are ten clothes pegs, and at the word “Go”, each leader picks up a peg, and it is passed down to the opposite end of the line. A chair stands by the last player, and as he receives each peg, he places it down on the chair. Then, when all are passed down, the pegs are returned, one by one, the first side completing the passing being the winner.

Clumps

This game closely resembles “Twenty Questions”. Players divide into two groups or clumps, and seat themselves in small circles at opposite ends of the room. One player is then selected from each clump to go out of the room. Those who are sent out choose an object, eg, Queen Victoria’s crown, and on their return each goes to one of the clumps to be questioned. They are then asked the usual questions, eg, Is it animal, vegetable or mineral? Can you eat it? etc., and must answer “Yes” or “No”. Each clump tries to keep as quiet as possible, so that their questions and answers are not overheard by their opponents. Questioners put as many questions as they like until the article has been identified. The winning side is then allowed to claim the player from the unsuccessful clump, and two more persons, one from each clump, are sent out. The game ends when all players have been won over into one clump.

Coffee Pot

One player goes out of the room, and the rest sit in a circle, and choose a word (the “coffee pot”), which has more than one meaning, eg, time and thyme, nose and knows, place and plaice, etc. The player then comes in and, by asking questions round the circle, tries to find out the hidden word. If, for example, the word chosen was “place” and “plaice”, the questioner might ask, “How are you today?” and receive the answer, “Very well, this coffee pot (place) suits me”, or “Not very well; I ate some coffee pot (plaice), and it did not agree with me”. As soon as the hidden word is guessed, the player last questioned goes out, and a new word is chosen.

Comb Concert

Six competitors with some taste for music are asked to come forward, and each is given a small comb and some tissue paper. A number of simple tunes have been placed in a hat, and each competitor is asked to draw one, and to play it on the comb. The audience vote for the winner, who receives a small prize.

Consequences

A non-writing variant of this popular game can be played if the club leader will collect the details and write them down herself. She goes round the players in turn and each whispers a contribution, as follows :-

1. Adjective.

2. Man’s name.

3. Where he lived.

4. Adjective.

5. Woman’s name.

6. Where she lived.

7. Where they met.

8. What he said to her.

9. What she said to him,

10. What he gave her.

11. What she gave him.

12. What the consequences were.

13. What the world said.

Cross Wires

Players sit in a ring, and are told to grasp their noses with their right hands and their right ears with their left hands. At the word “All Change” from the leader, they must release their hold, clap their hands three times, and change their grips, now grasping their noses with their left hands, and their left ears with their right hands. Again, at “All Change”, they must clap their hands three times, and change over once more. The more quickly the game is played, the greater the laughter and confusion.

Disobedience

The players stand side by side in a row, and are told that they must, when they receive an order from the leader, do the opposite, eg, if the order, “March forward three steps” is given, they must march three steps back; if the leader says, “Two steps to the right”, two steps must be taken to the left. Commands should be given quickly, and any player making a mistake loses a “life”; after three lives are lost the player is “out”. The game goes on until only on player is left.

Eavesdropping

Two players go out of the room, and agree on a word having two or more meanings. On their return, they talk to each other, using the meanings of the word, but not mentioning it. Suppose the word “skate” is chosen. One could say, “It is plentiful this season”, and the other reply, “I enjoy the chance to do it in cold weather”. A soon as any of the other players thinks he has guessed the word, he does not say so, but joins in the conversation. If he is right, he then chooses a partner, and the game begins again, with himself and his partner as the two who go out of the room and choose a new word. If, after joining in, he realises that he has made a mistake, he must drop out of the conversation. Should nobody guess the chosen word, the first two players may go out a second time and select another.

Egyptian Thought-reading

In this game the leader needs the help of a confederate. The leader goes out of the room, and the confederate asks the players to choose any word of not more than six letters. When the leader returns, the confederate, who holds a stick in his hand, makes marks and taps on the floor, and from time to time says something. Actually the marks made on the floor have no significance, and are only intended to mislead the audience, so they can be varied from time to time. The taps, however, stand for the vowels in the word (one tap for A, two for E, etc.). At the end of the word, the confederate makes a cross with his stick on the floor. The consonants in the word are conveyed by short sentences, each beginning with one of the consonants. Suppose, for example, the players choose the word “Flat”. The confederate, after making some meaningless marks on the floor, night say, “Few people understand thought-reading”, then, after a short pause, “Little did you think you had a thought-reader here today”; he would now tap once on the floor for A, add “Terribly simple, really”, and draw a cross to show that the word is ended. He might then make a few more meaningless marks on the floor, further to mystify the audience.

Find the Scent

The game, specially suited for the deaf-blind, consists in hiding a flower or scented article somewhere in the room, and requiring the players to find it.

Follow Your String

In this treasure hunt a number of small prizes (eg, handkerchiefs, bags of sweets, scent, bath cubes, etc.) are tied to long pieces of string. The strings are wound in and out of the furniture, and may even lead from one room to another. Each player is given his piece, and must follow it until he reaches his prize.

Footsteps

One player at a time walks across the room behind a curtain, and those on the other side have to guess who it is. He does not attempt to disguise his footsteps.

Furs

In this game each blind player may have a sighted partner, to help him by writing down solutions. A list of questions is given, the answers to which must begin with the sound (not necessarily the pelting) “fur”. Examples: A fur that is earnest (fervent). A fur that is hot (furnace). A crop-yielding fur (fertile).

If preferred, the examples may be given in the form of a story. Example: Once upon a time Mrs Fursely went out to call on a friend who lived a-long (furlong) away. The sun in the-mament (firmament) glowed like a-nace (furnace), etc.

A similar game can be played with other word-endings, as, for example, “Kate”, where every word must end in the “Kate” sound Examples: A Kate who gives up a throne (abdicate). A Kate who points the way (indicate). A Kate who tells lies (prevaricate), etc.

Going Abroad

The leader says, “I am going abroad, and shall take with me (here he names something, eg, umbrella). The next player says, “I am going abroad and shall take with me -(here he names something else, eg, travelling rug, a wife, bicycle, etc.). The third player in his turn says what he intends to take, until everybody has mentioned something. Then the leader says what he intends to do with his umbrella, eg, “I shall open it”, or “I shall put it on the rack”, or “ I shall roll it up”, etc., and the second player must say the same thing but substitute his own object, eg, “I shall take my wife and put her on the rack”. In the third round, the leader may change the subject and in the fourth, change what he intends to do with it. The more inventive the leader, the greater the amusement caused by the incongruities of the game.

Good Morning

Two players are selected, and there must also be a time-keeper. The first player says, “Good morning”, and the second must respond with a sentence beginning with a G, which is the last letter in “morning”. He might say, for example, “Going to rain, I fear”, at which the other must reply with a sentence beginning with an R, the last letter in “fear”. The dialogue goes on as briskly as possible, but if between the sentences the time-keeper can manage to count ten, the player who has hesitated is “out”, and his place taken by someone else, until everyone has had a turn.

Grandfather’s Trunk

Players sit in a circle, and the first says, “I packed grandfather’s trunk, and in it I put-“. Here he names an article, eg, a pair of shoes. The second player says, “I packed grandfather’s trunk and it I put a pair of shoes and-“. He names another article. The third repeats what the second has said, but adds a further article, and so the game continues, each playing adding one article to the list. Any player who fails to repeat the earlier sentences correctly, by including all the articles in the right order, must drop out. The player last left in wins the game.

Other variants of the game are: “My mother has a garden, and in it she grows-“, “My father has a grocer’s shop, and in it he sells-“ or “My sister has a wardrobe, and in it she stores-“.

Group Acting

This is a useful game to play at the beginning of a social as it helps he members to get together and to know one another. Players sit around the room, and the club leader goes round saying, “Silk, satin, velvet, muslin, cotton, rags”, repeating this until everyone in the circle has been given the name of a material. She then tells all the “Silks”, all the “Satins”, etc., to get together into groups, and invites a totally blind member of the club to come to the platform and to act as judge. The players who are not acting at any particular time are asked to keep as quiet as possible, to give the group in action fair play, and to help the judge.

Each group in turn is given the same word to act, eg, singing, whistling, hopping, humming, etc., and the judge, who is, of course, not told what the action is, so that he depends on sound alone, decides which group in his opinion gets the sound over best. Each group scores a mark when it is adjudged the best, and the group getting most marks wins the prize.

Guess What the Sound Is

The leader collects a number of articles, and stands behind a screen, where she performs certain actions; eg, beating an egg, brushing a coat, scrubbing the floor, ironing, etc. The other players have to guess what the sounds represent. A variant on this game is “Guess what the smell is”, when articles having a distinctive scent have to be identified, eg, coffee, soap, orange peel, mace, cinnamon, etc.

Handbags

This is a game for women, and each blind woman should have a sighted partner, who will act as her “runner”. The two teams into which the players are divided should sit facing one another, on opposite sides of the room which, if the game is really to be successful, should be large. Each blind woman should hold her handbag on her knee, and be seated next to her sighted partner, but the partner should not take any share in the game, other than acting as “runner”. The leader stands at the extreme end of the room between the two teams, and a list of the things which might be found in a handbag, eg, handkerchief, purse, keys, book of stamps, money of different denominations, lipstick, aspirin, etc. The leader calls out the name of an article, and the players rummage in their bags. As soon as one has been found, the player hands it to her “runner”, who races up to the leader and hands it in. The first to reach her scores a point for the side, and the side with the largest score wins.

It

A person who does not know the game already is sent out of the room, and those who remain within are told that “It” is always their right-hand neighbour. The player outside comes in, and tries by questioning to find out what “It” is. The answers, of course, are often contradictory, as, for example, if Mrs Brown’s right-hand neighbour is a man, and Mrs Smith’s a woman.

Legacies

Before the social, the club leader makes a numbered list of articles as varied as possible, eg, sponge bag, baby’s rattle, aeroplane, etc., long enough to give each player three “legacies”. If, for example, thirty players are expected, a list of ninety articles should be made. In addition, slips numbered from 1 to 90 should be placed in a hat. When the game begins, each player draws three slips from the hat, is told the numbers in them, and asked to memorise them until they are called. The club leader then says that a wealthy benefactor has left a will, in which certain articles are to go to the holders of their appropriate numbers, and calls them out. The holder of each number answers to it, and is informed what his legacy is.

A variant of the game can be played in which each member of the club receives one “legacy”, but that a real gift, eg, bag of sweets, scent, etc.

Limericks

These can take two forms. The club leader may give the first line only (eg, There was an Old Man of the Sea, There was a Young Lady of Perth, etc.), and say that a prize will be given to the member who, at the next meeting of the club, submits the best limerick, beginning with the selected line.

In the second, or simpler form, the last line only of the limerick is asked for, and these can be submitted at the meeting itself, the leader writing each down as received, and then getting the members to vote for the best. A book of limericks can often be found in a public library, but topical ones are generally much appreciated, and these the club leader and her friends can probably devise, something on the following lines :-

    There once was a learner of braille,

    Who scrubbed at the dots with his nail,

    Said his teacher: “Don’t do it,

    Or else you will rue it”,

    ...................................

“Lost Memory”

The club leader beforehand gets some player to hand in her handbag, or, if a man, to empty his trouser pockets, explaining quietly why. Then, in the course of the afternoon, the leader states that some member of the club is supposed to have lost his (or her) memory, and it is hoped to identify him or her from the contents of handbag or pocket. The leader then describes each article in turn, and those present are asked to try to guess from the articles found who is their owner.

Magic Chain

A long piece of chain is needed, and it has to have attached to it two ribbons, a green one at one end, a red one at the other. Each player is asked to choose which link she would like, eg, “The third from the green ribbon end”, or “The fifth from the red ribbon end”, etc. As each selects a link, his name is written on a slip of paper, and pushed through the link, until all the players have made their choice. The club leader will have written down one number and placed it beforehand in a sealed envelope, and when all have chosen, the envelope is opened, and the player whose name is in the selected number is given a small prize.

Matchbox Filling

Each player is handed an empty matchbox, and is asked to bring it to the next meeting of the club, containing as many different articles as possible, with, if possible, a list of the articles. The matchbox, when returned, must, of course, shut properly. A prize is given to the player producing the largest number of articles, which may include such things as a needle, pin, bit of string, sealing wax, etc.

Mother Mackenzie’s Cat

Players are divided into four or five groups of half a dozen or more persons in each. The club leader says to the first group:-

    “Though it was not true, a gossip said

    That Mother Mackenzie’s cat was dead.

    How was it said to die?”

The group, holding up and waving their right hands, say, “With a waving paw held high”. The leader then goes to the other groups in turn, repeating the question, until all groups are waving their right hands. In the second round, the answer is “With her mouth all awry”, and in the third, “With a dreadful cry”, in each case the words being accompanied by action. Finally, the leader says :-

    “’Twas but a lie,

    ‘Tis not good-bye

    To puss. For I

    Can now descry

    Her stealing pie-

    Our party pie.

    Fie, pussy, fie,

    Skash, sh-sh-“

and the game ends with all players making a chasing noise.

Mrs Beeton

Players are divided according to sex, all the men being sent out of the room. Those in the room decide upon a cake, pudding, savoury, etc., and then, calling in the first man, ask him how he would make it. After he has given his recipe, the second man is called in, and the first tells him the ingredients he has used, and asks him to name the dish. Having done so, the second player remains in the room, and asks the third for the recipe of the dish he has given; and so on, till all the men in turn have either given the name of the dish or the ingredients. The final player’s recipe is often startlingly far removed from the original!

Musical Parcel

Players sit in a circle, and while music is being played on the piano, they pass a small parcel from one to another. The person holding the parcel when the music suddenly stops must drop out of the game, and the prizewinner is the last player to be left in. The parcel itself contains a small prize.

In another and rather more elaborate version of this game, the prize is concealed under many wrappings, and when the music stops the player holding it removes one wrapping. Between each wrapping there is a card with a forfeit, braille or hand-written, on it (eg, say the alphabet backwards, lie down on the floor with folded hands and get up without touching anything), and this forfeit must be “paid” before the music begins again. The winner is the player who removes the last wrapper, and so reveals the prize.

Musical Story

Each blind person should, if possible, have a sighted partner, who can write down the solutions. The club leader reads a story, which she has composed, leaving out certain words, which can be filled in with the title of a song. As she reads, she will pause whenever an omission is made, and the tune will be played on the piano, and time given for it to be written down. A story might begin:-

“There once lived a young man called --(Robin Adair), who served in --(The British Grenadiers), and was too fond of a certain --(Little brown jug). One day, when returning from (Widecombe Fair) he met --(Annie Laurie) as she was --(Comin’ through the rye). She saw his unsteady footsteps, and cried out --(Oh, dear, what can the matter be?), etc.”

The player with the highest score of correct titles wins the game.

Newspaper Reporting

This is one of the more difficult games, with only a limited appeal, and only suitable for writers of braille. Each player notes down on his paper five nouns, contributed at random by the company, and from them he has to compile a news item.

For example, the words contributed might have been: Psychology, hearthrug, river, princess, sausage roll. The news item could be: When Princess Anne recently visited the Institute of Psychology, she took lunch in a room overlooking the river, and much enjoyed her sausage roll, which she ate standing on the hearthrug.

Nursery Rhymes

Players are divided into two teams, and sit facing one another. The first team sings a nursery rhyme, and afterwards counts rapidly, “One and two and three and four and five and six and seven and eight and nine and ten”. Immediately they finish, the other team must sing another nursery rhyme, and again count up to ten. Both teams succeed each other with no delay, no rhyme ever being repeated, until one finally breaks down and loses the game.

Orchestra

Each player is given something that makes a noise, eg, bunch of keys, mouth organ, bicycle bell, comb, rattle, etc. The leader plays a lively tune on the piano, and the players join in, keeping time. Later, Solo parts may be arranged, or one player may be asked to whistle, another to imitate a dog or cat, etc.

Proverbs

One player goes out, and those who remain in the room choose a proverb, and assign each word in it to a different person. The returning player goes round, asking each a question, and in their answer they must introduce the word assigned to them. It adds to the questioner’s difficulty if players include in their reply other words, without making their sentence too long. In, for example, the proverb “A stitch in time saves nine”, in reply to a question “How are you today?” the player whose word was “stitch” might reply, “Not very well, as I have measles and mumps, a cold in my head, a stitch in my side, and a broken arm”.

Proverb Singing

One player is sent out of the room. A proverb is chosen, which, if possible, does not contain any very noticeable word; such a proverb as “It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good” or “It’s a long lane that has no turning” are suitable. Everybody is assigned one syllable in the proverb, but not in the order in which they are seated. It does not matter how many people are present, as several can sing the same syllable if necessary. When the player is recalled everyone sings his own syllable to a tune, such as “John Brown’s body”, and the recalled player has to guess what the proverb is.

Quotations

One player goes out of the room, and those who remain select a well-known quotation, and assign each word in it to a different player. They then call in the player from outside, and greet him by shouting their assigned word three times. In the babel of sounds, it is quite likely that he will fail to identify the quotation.

Railway Stations

Two teams sit on opposite sides of the room, each with a referee in charge. On the word “Go”, each referee must whisper to the first player the name of an English railway station, eg, Bradford. The first player then whispers to his next-door neighbour another railway station, beginning with the last letter of the first-named town, the second another beginning with the last letter of the second-named town, and the team which finishes first wins the round. Team 1 might begin Bradford, Derby, Yeovil, Liverpool; while Team 2, also starting with Bradford, might have Bradford, Dunstable, Exeter, Runcorn, etc.

Rattling Game

Matchboxes might be given to players at one social, and they could be told to bring them back at the next meeting with some rattling object inside. Each player present would then guess at the contents of the boxes from their sounds, and the winner who guessed most right would receive a small prize.

Ring on a String

In this game it is well to have a sighted umpire, who stands inside the circle of players, to act as referee in cases where the person who has the ring is not clear.

Players stand in a circle, holding a stout piece of string with a brass ring threaded on it; the ring should be large enough to slip along the circle of string easily and small enough to be covered by the hand. Players let the string run through their hands, over their thumbs and under their fingers, and must constantly bring them together and out to touch their neighbours’. The object is to keep the ring hidden and to pass it on as quickly as possible, as soon as one finds it in one’s hand-either way. Music is played, and when it stops the person who has the ring is “out”. As the players left in grow fewer, the string must be retied to form a smaller circle.

Sentence Passing

This is a game for blind-deaf players able to use the manual alphabet. They form into two teams, standing in lines opposite one another, with a club leader at the head of each team. When the word “Go” is said, each of the two leaders spells the same sentence into the hand of the first player who, in his turn, spells it into the hand of the second, and so on right down the line. The winning team is the one which finishes first, and gives the sentence most correctly.

Serial Story

This is a rather difficult game, and will therefore only be suitable for a limited type of player. The club leader begins a story, “Once upon a time”, and then continues, leaves off in the middle of a sentence, eg, “Suddenly the door opened, and John saw facing him an enormous-“. At this point, the second player takes up the story, and he too tries to leave off at an exciting point. The story continues, each player contributing a few sentences, until the club leader feels that interest and amusement are waning, when she will say, “This story is concluded in our next issue”, and the next player has to wind up as best he can.

Shopping Lists

This is a game only suitable when all the players know one another by name. The first player begins: “I am going shopping, and on my list I have -- (and then names some well-known brand of article, eg, Lux, Bovril, Bournville cocoa). Immediately she has named her article (only one), she calls out the name of another player, who must repeat, “I am going shopping and on my list I have Bovril (or whatever commodity has been given by the first player) and—“. She adds her own commodity, following it immediately by the name of another player, who must repeat the list, adding one. The game goes on until the first mistake is made, when the player who makes it must drop out; it then continues, until finally only one player is left.

Sing Song Pass

All sit in a ring, and join in a popular song like “Ten Green Bottles”. During the first verse a handkerchief is passed from one player to the next, and whoever is holding it when the last word is sung is “out”. Thus, one player drops out with each verse, until only the winner remains.

Stool of Repentance

This game is a very old favourite. One player goes outside, and all those who remain in the room make some remark about him, eg, his hair wants cutting; he has forgotten to change his collar today; he is always late getting up, etc. The remarks are written down, and when he comes in, he is asked, “Who says you are... so-and-so?” As soon as he guesses aright, the person whose name he has given must be the next victim.

String Winding

Players are placed in pairs, and each pair is given a ball of string of equal size. On the word “Go”, the second player must wind the string as fast as he can till he completes the ball, which he then hands back to the first player to rewind. The first couple to finish win a small prize.

Strolling in Hyde Park

Each blind player has a sighted partner, and the two stroll, arm in hand, in all directions of the room, in which chairs are scattered about in pairs, with one pair short (ie, for twelve couples, eleven pairs of chairs). Music is played and stops suddenly, as in Musical Chairs, when all the couples try to find chairs, and the ones who fail are “out”. As each couple falls out, two chairs are removed, and the last couple to be left in wins the game.

Subject and Object

Two people go out of a room, and they think of a subject and an object, eg, cat and mouse, dog and bone. They return and, in answer to questions (one answering questions relating to the subject and the other relating to the object) they must say only “Yes” and “No” until the subject and object are discovered.

Taking the Lift

One player is chosen as lift attendant, and is given any letter of the alphabet. Suppose he is given F. He will say “Going up”, and must add six articles beginning with the letter F, eg, frying pans, flowers, fog horns, furniture, flour, flannel. To this list he must add any seventh word he likes, eg, potatoes. Immediately his next-door neighbour must say, “Going down”, initial letter of potatoes, and any seventh word he likes, which in its turn must be taken up by his next-door neighbour on the other side, with “Going up”; and so on with a fresh list each time.

Telegrams

A fairly long word is chosen (not less than ten letters), and the players have to compose a telegram, using the letters of the chosen word as the initial letters of the words in the telegram, and using them in the same order as in the chosen word. If, for example, the word “Nottingham” had been chosen, a possible telegram might read: “Nearly overcome terrible toothache. Improving now. Going home after Monday.” Players may, if they wish, use the first letter of the chosen word for the addressee and the last for the sender of the telegram. As this is one of the more difficult games, it is generally played by those who write braille, or by a blind and seeing player in partnership. It may, however, be set as a competition to be done at home, the word being given at one social and the solutions being brought to the next meeting and voted upon by the members.

Things to Remember

Before the social, the club leader should make a list of twenty small objects, each beginning with a different letter of the alphabet, but not in alphabetical order. A possible list might be: Button, yeast, feather, mustard, acorn, onion, candlestick, rattle, halfpenny, pistol, trumpet, duster, sandwich, jam, knife, gimlet, ink, lipstick, needle. Read the list aloud three times quite slowly, and then play another game or games. Later in the evening, ask the company if anyone remembers an article in the list beginning with an A; all those who are correct receive one mark. Continue through the alphabet, and the player with the highest score wins the game.

Thought-reading

Here an accomplice is needed. The player in the secret goes out of the room, and the accomplice invites any member of the company to choose an object, saying that the player who goes out of the room will guess it on his return. When the player returns, the accomplice mystifies the company by taking each of the player’s hands in his and stroking them, in order that the “magnetic power” may pass into them. He then begins asking the player questions: “Is it a --?”, “Is it a --?” and after having had negative answers for some time, he says, “It’s a --?” The inversion from “Is it a --?” to “It is --?” is a signal to his confederate that the next question is to be answered by a “Yes”.

Treasure Hunt

Before the game begins, the club leader privately hands one of the players a sixpence, and announces that the tenth person (or perhaps the twentieth if there are thirty or more players) with whom this player shakes hands will be given the sixpence. Everyone will, of course, begin shaking hands with everyone else. When the tenth (or twentieth) person has shaken hands with the holder of the sixpence, he calls out “Stop”, and the sixpence is presented. This is a good game to play early in a party, as it helps to break the ice, and to get the company moving around. It may be elaborated by requiring each player to say: “Pleased to meet you; sorry I can’t stop.”

Twist the Tail

This is a game that the more musical people should enjoy. The club leader plays on the piano a very short tune, such as “Baa baa black sheep”, or a couple of lines from a well-known tune, and then invites someone to continue with the words and make a different tune to finish them.

Voices

This is a game specially suitable for totally blind persons; those who have a good deal of sight should be blindfolded, when they are “It”. “It” stands at the end of the room, and in turn the other players come up to him and say “Good evening, sir. Fine day” in disguised voices. He must guess who it is who speaks.

Washing Day

Two clothes lines are stretched across the room, and the players are divided into two teams. A player from each team is given six pairs of stockings and six handkerchiefs to hang up with the clothes pegs provided. The player who gets the washing hung up first scores a point for his side, and the team with the best score wins the game.

Weight Guessing

A number of objects are placed on the table, and the competing players are required to guess the weight of each, the most nearly correct being given the prize. Suitable objects are a stone, shoe, cup and saucer, paper weight, poker, etc., and the club leader must have weighed them beforehand and recorded the weights.

What’s in the Bag?

The club leader should make ten small bags (flour-bags are excellent, if obtainable), and put one article, unlikely to break when handled, into each. Competitors must guess what the bags contain. The following are suggested articles: Ball, walnut, apple, unpointed pencil, shoe-horn, pill box, bottle, thimble, pin cushion, key, teaspoon, tape measure (rolled up and tied), full matchbox, book.

Woolworth and Marks & Spencer

Players sit in two rows facing one another, and are told that one row represents Woolworth and the other Marks & Spencer. The club leader, standing between the two teams, says she intends to do her Christmas shopping in the firm having the most stock, and then calls out the names of any articles which might be sold at either store, eg, lady’s shoe, man’s tie and collar, powder puff, key, handkerchief, scarf, man’s muffler, shoe lace, etc. Any player having the required article passes it to her next-door neighbour, and the first to reach the “buyer”, who should be a sighted person standing between the two teams with a tray, wins a point for the side. Generally about twenty articles are asked for, and the store having the largest stock wins.

Word Changing

A word of three or four letters is chosen (beginners will find a word of only three letters best), and players sit in a circle. Suppose the word “tap” is chosen; the second player alters it by one letter only, eg, “top”, “lap”, “tab”, etc. Similarly the third player makes a one-letter alteration, changing, eg, “top”, to “toe”, and so on. Any player who fails to make a new alteration (words must not be repeated, once they have been used) drops out until only the winner remains. When a player drops out, his neighbour may begin with a completely new word, unrelated to what has gone before.

Word Ladders

This is a rather difficult, but interesting, game, which suits the more thoughtful type of player as something to “worry out” between one social and another. A word is given, and the player is required to alter it to a contrasted word of the same number of letters by changing only one letter at a time. For example, “meat” can be changed into “pork” in four moves: meat, peat, pert, port, pork.

Word Making

A long word is chosen, and from it the players have to make as many other four-lettered words as possible in a given time. When the time is up, the first player reads his list, but if any other player has a similar word upon it, no player scores anything. That is, only words which are on one list only count for scoring purposes. The winner is the player having the longest list of words found on nobody else’s list.

The Zoo

The club leader says that each of the players present is to represent an animal in the zoo, such as lion, bear, etc., but reminds them that as there are many hundreds of different kinds of zoo animals, they may have to wait some time before their own animal is called. She then says she will whisper each person’s animal into his ear, and goes round the ring whispering “Donkey” to each one, and tells each player to make the appropriate noise of his own animal when the correct name is called, or-if he does not know what the noise is-to just growl. She then begins, “Antelope, rhino, llama”, or whatever animals she likes; then, after five or six, says “Donkey”, and is greeted with a chorus of “Hee-haw” from all the players.

Classification

The games are given alphabetically in the handbook above, but in the following index a rough classification has been attempted, as it may be useful to social workers to have some grouping of the games.

ACTION GAMES

ADVERBS

GROUP ACTING

MOTHER MACKENZIE’S CAT

BRAINY GAMES

ARITHMETIC

BURIALS

CAN YOU EAT IT?

FURS

KATE

LIMERICKS

NEWSPAPER REPORTING

SERIAL STORY

TELEGRAMS

WORD LADDERS

WORD MAKING

DEAF-BLIND, GAMES FOR

FIND THE SCENT

FOLLOW YOUR STRING

GUESS WHAT THE SMELL IS

MAGIC CHAIN

MATCHBOX FILLING

SENTENCE PASSING

STRING WINDING

TREASURE HUNT

WEIGHT GUESSING

WHAT’S IN THE BAG?

GUESSING GAMES

ANIMAL NOISES

CELEBRITIES

CHRISTMAS GIFTS

CLUMPS

COFFEE POT

EAVESDROPPING

PAGE

FOOTSTEPS

GUESS WHAT THE SOUND IS

PROVERBS

QUOTATIONS

RATTLING GAME

STOOL OF REPENTANCE

SUBJECT AND OBJECT

VOICES

LETTER GAMES

ALPHABET ANN

ALPHABET DINNER

GOOD MORNING

TAKING THE LIFT

WORD CHANGING

MEMORY GAMES

GOING ABROAD

GRANDFATHER’S TRUNK

SHOPPING LISTS

THINGS TO REMEMBER

GAMES

BOSH

BUZZ

CARD RACE

CONSEQUENCES

CROSS WIRES

DISOBEDIENCE

EGYPTIAN THOUGHT-READING9 IT

LEGACIES

LOST MEMORY

MRS BEETON

RING ON A STRING

THOUGHT-READING

THE ZOO

MUSICAL GAMES

COMB CONCERT

MUSICAL PARCEL

MUSICAL STORY

ORCHESTRA

PROVERB SINGING

SING SONG PASS

STROLLING IN HYDE PARK 21

TWIST THE TAIL

TEAM GAMES

BACK AND FRONT RACE

BEAN BAGS

BOOK BALANCING

CLOCK TICK RACE

CLOTHES PEG RACE

HANDBAGS

NURSERY RHYMES

RAILWAY STATIONS

WASHING DAY

WOOLWORTH AND MARKS & SPENCER

Content author: library@rnib.org.uk

Last updated: 08/04/2008 18:38

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June's story - June Croft was told she had glaucoma after having an eye test. She was given drops to prevent further deterioration and later had an operation. 'Having an eye test is the most important thing you can do. It stopped me from going blind. People don't realise how quickly something can go wrong with their eyes. It doesn't hurt, everyone should do it.' June's full story.