What Shall We Do Now? by Dorothy Canfield Fisher (unputdownable books .TXT) 📕

This is another of those fireside games that need more readiness of mind than many persons think a game should ask for. The first player begins an original story, stopping immediately (even in the middle of a sentence) when the player who is appointed time-keeper says "Next." The next player takes it up; and so forth until the end comes, either at the end of the first round or whatever round seems best.

Another way is for each player to contribute only a single word; but this is rarely successful, because every one is not at the same pitch of attention. Except on the part of the person who is narrating there ought to be absolute silence.

The company, according to the number of persons, divides up into two or three or even four groups, or clumps, in different parts of the room, seated closely in circles. As many players as there are clumps then go out and decide on some extremely out-of-the-way thing which the clumps have to guess. In one game, for example, the mine was thought of from which the iron was taken to lay the first railroad rails in America. That is the kind of far-fetched and ingenious thing. When it is decided upon, the players return to the room and take their places, one in the midst of each clump. Questions are then put to them the answers to which must be either "Yes" or "No," and the clump that discovers the thing first is the winner.

The same game can be played without such keen rivalry, one player sitting in the midst of a great circle and answering questions in turn. There is also a game called "Man and Object," in which two players go out and decide upon a man (or woman) and something inanimate or not human with which he is associated or which he is known to have used, such as "Washington and his hatchet," "Whittington and his cat," "A druid and his mistletoe-knife." They then return and each player asks them each a question in turn until the problem is solved.

The same game is sometimes turned inside out, the players that remain in the room deciding upon some one whom the player that has gone out has to personate and discover. In this case it is he who puts the questions. As he is supposed for the time being actually to be the thing thought of, he ought to frame his questions accordingly: "Am I living?" "Have I been dead long?" "Am I a man?" and so forth.

This is a catch game and useless except when one of the company knows nothing about it. That player is sent out of the room, and after a due interval is called in again and told to guess what the other players have thought of. He may ask any questions he pleases that can be answered by "Yes" or "No." The thing thought of is each player's right-hand neighbor, who is of course so different in every case as to lead in time to the total bewilderment of the guesser.

One player leaves the room, while the others decide on some word, the name of a thing for choice (such as tale, tail), which has one pronunciation but two or three different meanings and perhaps spellings. They then sit in a circle or line and the other player is called in, his object being, by means of questions put in turn to each player, to discover what the word is. His questions must take the form, "How do you like it?" "When do you like it?" and "Where do you like it?" Let us suppose that "tale" is the word thought of. "How do you like it?" he will ask the first of the circle. The answer may be, "I like it amusing" (tale). "How do you like it?" he may ask the next. "I like it active" (tail). To the next, "When do you like it?" "I like it at night" (tale). To the next, "Where do you like it?" "At the end" (tail). To the next, "Where do you like it?" "In an armchair" (tale). And so on until he guesses the word.

A similar game is called "Coffee-Pot" or "Tea-Pot." In this case also the company think of a word with more than one meaning, but instead of answering questions about it they make a pretense of introducing it into their answers by putting the word "coffee-pot" in its place. As the player who is guessing is at liberty to put any kind of question he likes it is well to choose a word that will go easily into ordinary conversation. Let us suppose, for instance, that the word is rain, reign, rein. The questions and answers may run something like this:—"Are you feeling pretty well to-day?" "I always feel well when there is no coffee-pot" (rain). "Have you been reading anything interesting lately?" "Yes, a very interesting book on the present coffee-pot" (reign). "I hope your toothache is better." "Thank you, I hope its coffee-pot will soon be over" (reign). "Did you walk here this evening?" "No; we came with the assistance of the coffee-pot" (rein). The guesser is allowed to make three guesses aloud, but after that he must meditate on the word in silence or put questions to test his theories. If the word is a verb and a past tense or present tense has to be used in an answer, the player says "coffee-potted" or "coffee-potting."

This is much like "How, When, and Where," except that instead of asking questions the player, or players, that went out sit still and listen to the others talking to each other concerning the selected word's various meanings. Thus, if it is "Spring," the first may remark, "It makes our drives so much more comfortable"; the next, "I am always happier then than at any other time"; the next, "To drink there is to know what drinking really is"; and so on.

This is also a similar game to "How, When, and Where," except that the player who goes out of the room has, on his return, to guess something belonging to one of these three groups. His first question therefore is, "Is it animal?" Perhaps it is not. "Is it vegetable?" "No." He knows then that it is mineral, and after that to find out what it is is only a matter of time.

One or two players go out. The others sit in line and choose a proverb having as many words as there are players. Thus, if there were eight players, "They love too much who die for love" would do; or if more than eight, two short proverbs might be chosen. Each player having made certain what his word is, the others are called in. It is their duty to find out what proverb has been fixed upon, and the means of doing so is to ask each player in turn a question on any subject whatever, the answer to which must contain that player's word in the proverb. If the first round of questions does not reveal the proverb, they go round again and again.

In this game, instead of answering questions one by one, when the guesser or guessers come in the players at a given signal shout the words which belong to them at the top of their voice and all together. The guessers have to separate the proverb from the din.

This is a very simple acting game. The players should divide themselves into actors and audience. The actors decide upon a proverb, and in silence represent it to the audience as dramatically as possible. Such proverbs as "Too many cooks spoil the broth," and "A bad workman quarrels with his tools," would be very easy—almost too easy if any stress is laid upon guessing. But, of course, although the guessing is understood to be part of the fun, the acting is the thing.

Two players go out. The others choose the name of a well-known person, public or private, the letters of whose name are the same in number as the players left in the room. Thus, supposing there are seven persons in the room, the name might be Dickens. The letters are then distributed; each player, as soon as he knows which letter is his, selecting some well-known living or historical character beginning with the same letter, whom he has to describe or personate. To personate is more fun than to describe. The players seat themselves in the right order to spell the name, and the other two are called in. When they are ready the first player, D, is called on to describe or impersonate his letter; and so on in the right order.

In this game the company divides into two. One half goes out, and the one that remains decides upon a verb which the others shall act in dumb show. A messenger is then despatched to tell the actors what the chosen word rhymes to. Thus, if "weigh" were the verb fixed upon, the messenger might announce that it rhymes to "day." It is then well for the actors to go through the alphabet for verbs—bay, bray, lay, neigh, pay, prey, pray, play, stay, say; and act them in order. When the word is wrong the spectators hiss, but when right they clap. If the word chosen has two syllables, as "obey," notice ought to be given.

A very simple game. One player goes out. The others decide on some workman to represent, each pretending to do some different task belonging to his employment. Thus, if they choose a carpenter, one will plane, one will saw, one will hammer, one will chisel, and so on. Their occupation has then to be guessed. It is perhaps more interesting if each player chooses a separate trade.

One player goes out. The others then say in turn something personal about him—such as, "He has a pleasant voice"; "His eye is piercing"; "He would look better if he wore a lower collar." Those remarks are written down by one of the party, and the player is called in and placed on a chair in the middle. The recorder then reads the remarks that he has collected, and the player in the middle has to name the persons who made them.

A sheet, or a screen made of newspapers, is hung up, and two holes, a little larger than eyes and the same distance apart, are made in it. Half the players retire to one side of it, and half stay on the other. They then look through the holes in turn, while those on the opposite side try to name the owner of the eyes. The game sounds tame, but the difficulty of recognition and the false guesses made soon lead to laughter.

This is a trick. Those in the company who have never played the game go out of the room. One of the inside players, who is to represent the potentate, then mounts a chair and is covered with a sheet which reaches to the ground. At the point where it touches a shoe is placed, the toe of which is just visible. In the potentate's hand is a sponge full of water. One of the players outside is then invited in; he is told to kneel down and kiss the toe; the potentate on the chair leans forward