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ROUND OR PARLOUR GAMES.

PAGE

Acting Proverbs 9 Acting Rhymes 9 Adjectives 10 Adventurers, The 10 AEsop's Mission 11 Alphabet Games 11 Artists' Menagerie, The 12 Baby Elephant, The 12 Bird-catcher, The 13 Blind man's Buff 13 Blind Postman 13 Blowing out the Candle 13 Bouts Rim?s 14 "Brother, I'm Bobbed" 14 "Buff says 'Baff'" 14 Buff with the Wand 15 Capping Verses 15 Charades 15 Clairvoyant 17 Comic Concert, The 18 Consequences 18 Conveyances 19 Crambo 19 Cross Questions and Crooked Answers 20 "Cupid is Coming" 20 Cushion Dance, The 20 Definitions 21 Dumb Crambo 21 Dwarf 21 Elements, The 22 Farmyard, The 22 Feather, The 22 Finding the Ring 22 Flying 23 Forfeits 23 Giant 28 Giraffe, The 28 Grand Mufti, The 28 Hands 28 "He can do little who can't do this" 29 Hiss and Clap 29 "Hot Boiled Beans" 29 Hot Cockles 29 House Furnishers 29 "How do you like your Neighbour?" 30 "How, When, and Where?" 30 Hunt the Ring 30 Hunt the Slipper 30 Hunt the Whistle 31 "I Apprenticed my Son" 31 "I Love my Love" 31 "Jack's Alive" 31 Jolly Miller, The 32 Judge and Jury 32 Magic Answer, The 32 Magical Music 33 Magic Hats, The 33 Magic Wand, The 33 "The Minister's Cat" 34 Mixed-up Poetry 34 Musical Chair 35 "My Master has sent me unto you" 35 Nouns and Questions 35 Object Game, The 35 Old Soldier, The 36 Oranges and Lemons 36 Original Sketches 37 "Our Old Grannie doesn't like Tea" 37 Pairs 37 Person and Object 37 Pork-Butcher, The 38 Postman's Knock 38 Proverbs 38 Quaker's Meeting, The 38 Resting Wand, The 39 Retsch's Outlines 39 Reviewers, The 40 Rhymes 40 Rule of Contrary 41 Russian Gossip 41 Schoolmaster, The 41 Shadow Buff 41 Shouting Proverbs 42 "Simon says" 42 Spanish Merchant, The 42 Spanish Nobleman, The 42 Spelling Bee 43 Spoon Music 43 Stage Coach, The 44 Stool of Repentance 44 Tableaux Vivants 45 Telescope Giant, The 46 Think of a Number 46 This and That 46 Throwing Light 47 Toilet 47 Trades, The 48 Traveller's Alphabet, The 48 Twenty Questions 49 Two Hats, The 49 "What am I Doing?" 49 "What is my Thought like?" 49 Who was he? 50 Wild Beast Show, The 50 "Yes or No?" 50

TOY GAMES AND TOY-MAKING.

AEolian Harp 52 Animated Serpent 52 Annulette 53 Apple Mill 53 Apple Woman 53 Bandilor 54 Battledore and Shuttlecock 54 Bell and Hammer 54 Bird Whistles 54 Birds, Beasts, and Fishes 54 Bombardment 54 Bottle Imps 54 Brother Jonathan 55 Camera 55 Cannonade 55 Carpet Croquet 56 Castle Bagatelle 56 Common Whistle 56 Crack Loo 56 Cup and Ball 56 Cupolette 56 Cut-water 57 Dancing Highlander 57 Dancing Pea 57 Dart and Target 58 Dartelle 58 Decimal Game 58 Demon Bottle 58 Drawing-room Archery 59 Dutch Racquets 59 Enfield Skittles 59 Flying Cones 59 French and English 60 Gas Balloons 60 German Balls 60 German Billiards 61 Hat Measurement 61 Homeward Bound 61 Hydraulic Dancer 61 Immovable Card 61 Indian Skittle Pool 61 Jack-in-the-Box 62 Japanese Fan 62 Jerk Straws 62 Le Diable 62 Magic Fan 62 Magic Figure 64 Magic Flute 64 Magician of Morocco 64 Magnetic Swan 65 Magnetic Wand 65 Magnifying Pinhole 66 Mechanical Bucephalus 66 Microscope 66 Mocking Call 67 Moorish Fort 67 Navette 67 Nine pins 68 Noughts and Crosses 68 Obedient Soldier 68 Palada 68 Paper Bellows 69 Paper Boat 69 Paper Boxes 70 Paper Chinese Junk 70 Paper Dart 72 Paper Hat 72 Paper Parachute 72 Paper Purses 73 Parlour Bowls 74 Parlour Croquet 74 Parlour Quoits 74 Patchesi; or, Homeward Bound 75 Pegasus in Flight 75 Pith Dancer 76 Prancing Horse 76 Prophet 76 Puff and Dart 77 Push Pin 78 Puzzle-wit 78 Quintain 78 Quiz 78 Race Game 78 Racquets 79 Revolving Ring 79 Ringolette 80 Ring the Bull 80 Royal Star 80 Schimmel 81 Shovel Board 82 Skittle Cannonade 83 Slate Games 84 Spillikins or Spelicans 85 Squails 86 Squeaker 86 Steady Tar 87 Summer Ice 87 Sybil 87 Table Croquet 87 Targetta 87 Teetotum 88 Tit-tat-to 88 Tournament 88 Trails 88 Trouble Wit 88 Wonderful Trumpet 88

MECHANICAL PUZZLES.

Balanced Pail, The 90 Balanced Stick, The 90 Bridge of Knives, The 91 Square and Circle Puzzle, The 91 Carpenter's Puzzle, The 91 Divided Farm, The 92 Vertical Line Puzzle, The 92 String and Balls Puzzle, The 92 Puzzling Rings, The 93 Balls and Rings Puzzle, The 93 Staff Puzzle, The 94 Victoria Puzzle, The 94 Artillery Puzzle, The 94 Six Rows Puzzle, The 94 Six-Square Puzzle, The 94 Magic Octagon, The 94 Accommodating Square, The 94 Magic Cross, The 95 To Take a Man's Waistcoat off without Removing his Coat 95 To Break a Stone with a Blow of the Fist 96 The Key, the Heart, and the Dart 96 Prisoners' Release Puzzle, The 96 Hampton Court Maze 96

ARITHMETICAL PUZZLES.

American Puzzles, "15" and "34" 97 Magic Nine, The; or, Puzzle of Fifteen, The 98 Magic Thirty-six, The; or, Puzzle of One Hundred and Eleven, The 98 Magic Hundred, The; or, Puzzle of Five Hundred and Five, The 99 Twenty-four Monks, The 99 To take One from Nineteen so that the Remainder shall be Twenty 100 Famous Forty-five, The 100 Costermonger's Puzzle, The 100 Progression of Numbers, The 101 How a Number thought of or otherwise indicated may be told 102 Magical Addition 103 Clever Lawyer, The 104 A New Way of Multiplying by 9 104 To Reward the Favourites and Show no Favouritism 105 Dishonest Servants, The 105 Lord Dundreary's Finger Puzzle 105 Uniform Results of Multiplication 105 To Ascertain a Square Number at a Glance 106 To Distinguish Coins by Arithmetical Calculation 106 Properties of Numbers 106

CARD GAMES.

Long Whist 107 Short Whist 115 Piquet 116 Euchre 118 Vingt-un 120 Speculation 121 Napoleon 122 Cribbage 122 Ranter go Round 125 ?cart? 126 Loo 128 Cassino 129 Put 131 Matrimony 131 All Fours 132 Poker 134 Snip-Snap-Snorum 136 Commerce 137 Sift Smoke 138 Lottery 138 Quince 139 Pope Joan 139 Spinado 140 Old Maid 141 Spade and Gardener 142 Happy Families 142 B?zique 143 Snap 144 Zetema 145 French Vingt-un, or Albert Smith 148 Beggar my Neighbour 149 Catch the Ten 149 Cheat 150 Truth 150

PARLOUR MAGIC.

Conjuring 151 Simple Deceptions and Minor Tricks 152 Card Tricks and Combinations 153 Conjuring with and without Special Apparatus 167 Clairvoyance or Second Sight 178 Ventriloquism and Polyphony 180

FIRESIDE FUN.

Decapitations 185 Curtailments and Retailings 186 Anagrams 189 Word Squares 191 Birds, Fruits, and Flowers Enigmatically Expressed 192 Rebuses 193 Arithmorems 194 Diamond Puzzles and Word Puzzles of Various Shapes 196 Cryptography 197 Chronograms 198 Logograms 200 Metagrams 202 Word Capping 203 Paragrams 203 Extractions 204 Transpositions 204 Definitions 205 Inversions 206 Hidden Words 206 Numbered Charades 208 Letter and Figure Charades 210 Verbal Charades 211 Acrostics 211 Enigmas 213 Alphabetical Puzzles 215 Guessing Stories 216 Mental Scenes 217

CASSELL'S

BOOK OF IN-DOOR AMUSEMENTS.

ROUND OR PARLOUR GAMES.

ACTING PROVERBS.

In this game each player may take a part, or if thought preferable, the company may divide themselves into actors and spectators. The actors then each fix upon a proverb which is to be represented by every one of them individually. There is to be no connection between them in any way. Each one in turn has simply to act before the rest of the company the proverb he has selected. The first player might, for instance, come into the room holding a cup in his hand; then, by way of acting his proverb, he might repeatedly make an appearance of attempting to drink out of the cup, but of being prevented each time by the cup slipping out of his hands, thus in dumb show illustrating the proverb, "There's many a slip between the cup and the lip." The second might come into the room rolling a ball, a footstool, or anything else that would do to represent a stone. After rolling it about for some time he takes it up and examines it with astonishment, as if something were wanting that he expected to find on it, making it, perhaps, too plainly evident to the company that the proverb he is aiming to depict is the familiar one of "A rolling stone gathers no moss." If really good acting be thrown into this game, it may be made exceedingly interesting.

ACTING RHYMES.

A word is chosen by the company which is likely to have a good many other words rhyming with it.

ADJECTIVES.

A sheet of paper and a pencil are given to the players, upon which each is requested to write five or six adjectives. In the meantime one of the company undertakes to improvise a little story, or, which will do quite as well, is provided with some short narrative from a book.

The papers are then collected, and the story is read aloud, the reader of the same substituting for the original adjectives those supplied by the company on their papers, placing them, without any regard to sense, in the order in which they have been received.

The result will be something of this kind:--"The sweet heron is a bird of a hard shape, with a transparent head and an agitated bill set upon a hopeful neck. Its picturesque legs are put far back in its body, the feet and claws are false, and the tail very new-fangled. It is a durable distorted bird, unsophisticated in its movements, with a blind voice, and tender in its habits. In the mysterious days of falconry the places where the heron bred were counted almost shy, the bird was held to be serious game, and slight statutes were enacted for its preservation," and so on.

THE ADVENTURERS.

The great advantage to be derived from many of our most popular games is that they combine instruction with amusement. The game we are about to describe is one of this number, and will give the players the opportunity of exhibiting their geographical knowledge, as well as any knowledge they may have as to the physical condition, manufactures, and customs of the countries which, in imagination, they intend visiting.

The company must first of all fancy themselves to be a party of travellers bound for foreign lands.

A starting-place is fixed upon, from which point the first player sets out on his journey. In some cases maps are allowed, and certainly, if any one should be doubtful as to the accuracy of his ideas of locality, both for his own sake and that of his friends he will do wisely to have a map before him.

The first player then proceeds to inform the company what spot he means to visit, and what kind of conveyance he means to travel in; on arriving at the place what he means to buy, and on returning home which of his friends is to be favoured by having his purchase offered as a gift.

To do all this is not quite so easy as might at first be imagined. In the first place there must be some knowledge of the country to which the traveller is going; he must know the modes of conveyance, the preparations he will have to make, and the time that will be occupied during the journey.

Also, he must know something of the capabilities of the people whom he means to visit, because what he buys must be something that is manufactured by them, or that is an article of produce in their country. For instance, he must not go to North America for grapes, or to the warm and sunny South for furs. The presents, too, must be suitable for the persons to whom they are to be offered. A Japanese fan must not be offered to a wild schoolboy, or a meerschaum pipe to a young lady. Forfeits may be exacted for any mistakes of this kind, or, indeed, for mistakes of any description; the greater will be the fun if at the end of the game a good number of forfeits should have accumulated.

The second player must make his starting-point where his predecessor completed his travels, and may either cut across the country quickly, make his purchase, and return home again, or he may loiter on the road to sketch, botanise, or amuse himself in any other way.

It is astonishing how much pleasure may be derived by listening to the various experiences related, especially when a few of the company are gifted with vivid imaginations.

Sometimes rhyme is employed instead of prose for recounting the travels, and with very great success. When this is done the speaker may, if so inclined, end his description abruptly, thus leaving it to the next player about to commence his narrative to supply a line which shall rhyme with the one just uttered.

AESOP'S MISSION.

This being a game of mystery, it is, of course, necessary that it should be unknown to, at any rate, a few of the company--the more the better. One of the gentlemen well acquainted with the game undertakes to represent AEsop. In order to do so more effectually, he may put a cushion or pillow under his coat to imitate a hump, provide himself with a thick stick for a crutch, make a false nose, and put a patch over one eye. The rest of the company must then each assume the name of some subject of the animal kingdom--a bird, beast, or fish--and having done this must prepare themselves to listen to the words of their great master. Limping into their midst, AEsop then tells them that the wrath of the great god Jupiter has been aroused, and as the cause of a calamity so terrible must be that one or more of them have been committing some crime or other, he is anxious to discover without further delay who are the guilty subjects. "I shall therefore," continues he, "question you closely all round, and I shall expect you every one to give me truthful answers. To begin with you, Mr. Lion, as you are the king of beasts, I sincerely hope you have done nothing derogatory to your high position; still, as it is absolutely necessary that you should be examined with the rest of your friends, will you please tell me what food you have eaten lately?" Should the lion have eaten a lamb, a sheep, a tiger, a bear, or any other dainty that is spelt without the letter O, he is acquitted as innocent; but should he have eaten a leopard, a goose, a fox, or any other creature, in the name of which the letter O occurs, he is pronounced by AEsop to be deserving of punishment, and is therefore sentenced to pay a forfeit. The other animals in turn then undergo a similar examination, during which each one must remember that in naming their prey they must confine themselves to such food as is suited to the species they have adopted. The game may be carried on for any length of time, or until all have discovered the secret in it. There is no fear of the interest flagging, so long as even only one of the company is still left unable to solve the mystery.

ALPHABET GAMES.

Provided with a good boxful of letters, either on wood or cardboard, a clean table, a bright fire, and three or four pleasant companions, I have no hesitation in saying that a very pleasant hour may be spent. It is almost needless to give directions how to proceed with the letters, for they can be used in a variety of ways, according to inclination. Sometimes a word is formed by one person, the letters of which he passes on to his neighbour, asking him to find out what the word is. A still more interesting method is for the whole party to fix upon one long word, and all try in a certain time how many different words can be made of it. Or another way, even better still, is to shuffle the letters well together, and then to give to each person a certain number. All must then make a sentence out of the letters, whether with or without sense, as best they can. The transposition of words, too, is very amusing, and can be done either with the loose letters or with pencil and paper.

The names of poets, authors, or great men famous in history may be given, the letters of which may be so completely altered as to form words or sentences totally different from the original.

For instance:--

We lads get on. W. E. Gladstone. Rich able man. Chamberlain. Side Rail. Disraeli. Pale Noon. Napoleon.

THE ARTISTS' MENAGERIE.

THE BABY ELEPHANT.

A very good imitation of a Baby Elephant can easily be got up by two or three of the company, who are willing to spend a little time and trouble in making the necessary preparations. In the first place a large grey shawl or rug must be found, as closely resembling the colour of an elephant as possible. On this a couple of flaps of the same material must be sewn, to represent the ears, and also two pieces of marked paper for the eyes. No difficulty will be found in finding tusks, which may consist of cardboard or stiff white paper, rolled up tightly, while the trunk may be made of a piece of grey flannel also rolled up. The body of the dear little creature is then constructed by means of two performers, who stand one behind the other, each with his body bent down, so as to make the backs of both one long surface, the one in front holding the trunk, while the one behind holds the tusks one in each hand. The shawl is then thrown over them both, when the result will be a figure very much resembling a little elephant. When all is complete, the services of a third performer should be enlisted to undertake the post of keeper to the elephant. If the person chosen for this capacity have great inventive faculties, the description given by him may be made to add greatly to the amusement of the scene.

THE BIRD-CATCHER.

One of the party is chosen to be the bird-catcher. The rest fix upon some particular bird whose voice they can imitate when called upon, the owl being the only bird forbidden to be chosen. Then sitting in order round the room with their hands on their knees, they listen to the story their master has to tell them. The Bird-catcher begins by relating some incident in which the feathered tribe take a very prominent position, but particularly those birds represented by the company. Each one, as the name of the bird he has chosen is mentioned, utters the cry peculiar to it, never for a moment moving his hands from his knees. Should the owl be referred to, however, every one is expected to place his hands behind him, and to keep them there until the name of another bird has been mentioned, when he must, as before, place them on his knees. During the moving of the hands, if the Bird-catcher can succeed in securing a hand, the owner of it must pay a forfeit, and also change places with the Bird-catcher.

We must not forget to observe that when the leader, or Bird-catcher, as he is called, refers in his narrative to "all the birds in the air," all the players are to utter at the same time the cries of the different birds they represent.

BLIND MAN'S BUFF.

A handkerchief must be tied over the eyes of some one of the party who has volunteered to be blind man; after which he is turned round three times, then let loose to catch any one he can. As soon as he has succeeded in laying hold of one of his friends, if able to say who it is he is liberated, and the handkerchief is transferred to the eyes of the newly-made captive, who in his turn becomes blind man. This position the new victim must hold until, like his predecessor, he shall succeed in catching some one, and naming correctly the person he has caught.

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