No boy or girl need ever be dull on a dark night or a rainy day. There are hundreds of ways of enjoying ourselves by the fireside, and here are some games that we can play as we sit, even without moving from our chairs.
Players take it in turn to count up to 100, but instead of saying "seven" the word "Buz" must be used, and repeated at fourteen, twenty-one, and all the multiples of seven. If "Bang: be used at every fifth interval, someone will surely have to pay forfeit.
The player at one end of our row says: "I'm thinking of a word that rhymes with rip" (though any word may be chosen). Then each in turn tries to guess what the word is by asking a question, thus: "Is it something that sails on the sea?" If wrong, the thinker replies: "No, not a ship." Another perhaps asks: "Do we partly speak with it?" "No; not lip." "Can we do it with a rope?" cries a third. "Yes," answers the thinker, "the word is skip." Then the guesser chooses a word, and the game begins again.
One of the party must leave the room while the rest select a word to be guessed. The player is then called back and begins the task of finding the word by asking each of the party the three questions: How do you like it? When do you like it? And where do you like it? Supposing the word to be a simple name like "tea" or "sugar," the answers will soon reveal it; but the game can be made more difficult by choosing a word with two meanings, such as "pen." This may either mean the little too we write with, or the pen that sheep are folded in.
Whoever sits first in the row is A, and says: "I love my love with an A, because he is affable" (or anything nice beginning with the first letter of the alphabet). "I hate him with an A, because he is artful" (or something else not nice). "He took me to Aden and gave me some apples. His name is Andrew, and he comes from Aberdeen." Of course, these last descriptions of "my love" may vary as the player wishes, just as the first do. The next player uses words beginning with a B, and so on down to Z.
This game will show you how easily a story grows. No. 1 whispers to No. 2 a short sentence. No. 2 repeats it to No. 3, adding an adjective or an adverb. No. 3, in telling it to No. 4, adds another word, and, when reaching the last player, he, or she, repeats it aloud. You will be surprised to find how the story has grown since starting from No. 1.
This is a game for clever children. The first player begins a word, which he does not tell, starting with A, the second player adds a letter, and all the players do so in turn. The player ending a word drops out or pays forfeit.
Suppose the first player says T, the second R, the third E. Now comes the critical moment; if the fourth player says E, he finishes a word-- Tree. But, if he is clever he will say A, and the fifth player may, perhaps, say T. But he need not do so, as he can say S, leaving the next player to say U. Then the next might say R, and the next E, which would end the word Treasure. If the eighth player is clever, however, he will say I instead of E, so that the tenth player must make the word Treasuring or Treasuries.
The great point of the game is to keep a word up as long as possible, but, of course, some words must end. No proper names are allowed, and it is best not to count words of three letters. The game should be played through from A to Z, the first word beginning with A, the second with B, and so on.
One of the players is counted out to go and hide, but, without leaving the circle, thinks of some good place in whihc it may be supposed he or she is hiding. Having called "Cuckoo!" the others begin guessing one spot after another until the right one is hit upon, when the guesser hides in turn. In such a game, the hiding ground may be anywhere in the world: "A street in Paris," or "The top of Pike's Peak." Each player takes it in turn to ask questions as to the whereabouts and nature of the hiding place: but as the one who is answering may only say "Yes" or "No," the seekers may have a long search. It is their business to question the hidden one so that his answers, "Yes" or "No," give some idea of the place. For example, the will naturally ask whether it is far or near, high or low, and so on.