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Definition of Parlor Games: "A parlour game is a group game played indoors." "During the Victorian era in Great Britain and in the United States, these games were extremely popular among the upper and middle classes." "They were often played in a parlour, hence the name."
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About Parlour Games:
"During the 19th century, wealthy men and women had more leisure time than people of previous generations." "This led to the creation of a variety of parlour games to allow these gentlemen and ladies to amuse themselves at small parties. Parlour games decreased in popularity in the first half of the 20th century as radio, movies, and later, television captured more of the public's leisure time." "Though decreased in popularity, parlour games continue to be played. Some remain nearly identical to their Victorian ancestors; others have been transformed into board games such as Balderdash."
"Many parlour games involve logic or word-play." "Others, such as blind man's bluff, are more physical games, but not to the extent of a sport or exercise. Some also involve dramatic skill, such as in charades. Most do not require any equipment beyond what would be available in a typical parlour." "Parlour games are usually competitive, but cumulative scores are not usually kept and the only reward for winning a round is the admiration of one's peers." "The length and ending time of the game is typically not set; play continues until the players decide to end the game." "Boxed Parlour Games especially around Christmas were very popular from around 1920 until into the 1960's when suddenly the companies producing them presumably failed to sell enough and simply stopped producing them." "A number of companies have re-established themselves over the last few years, for example D & G. Parlour Games, others can be be found on the Internet under Games or Christmas Games." "The phrase "parlour game" has entered political dialogue, and is used to accuse opponents of using deliberately nebulous or confusing language when describing a particular position on an issue."
Examples of parlor games:
- Are you there Moriarty?: Are you there Moriarty? is a parlour game in which two players at a time participate in a duel of sorts. Each player is blindfolded and given a rolled up newspaper (or anything that comes handy and is not likely to injure) to use as a weapon. The players then lie on their backs head to head with about three feet of space between them - or in other versions hold outstretched hands, or stand holding hands as in a handshake. The starting player says "Are you there Moriarty?" (game rules)
- Squeak Piggy Squeak: Squeak Piggy Squeak is a parlour game that is sometimes called Grunt Piggy Grunt. To play the game, one player is chosen to be the 'farmer'; the others are the piggies. The farmer is blindfolded. All other players sit in a circle surrounding the farmer. The farmer is spun around three times and then has to make his way to the piggies, and sit in the lap of one of them. The farmer then says 'Squeak Piggy Squeak'. The chosen piggy then squeaks and the farmer has to guess the name of the player on whom he is sitting. If the farmer guesses correctly, the piggy becomes the farmer in the next round. If the guess is incorrect, then the farmer remains for the next round.( rules)
- Carnelli: It is played by a group of people who arrange themselves in a circle, with the nonplaying judge (or "Carnelli Master") standing in the center of the circle. The Carnelli Master starts the game by pointing to one of the players and saying a title. The pointed-to player must continue the game by saying a title himself, which must connect to the previous title in some way, such as having a word in common (The Time Machine and Time Enough for Love), etc- rules
- Charades: Charades or charade is a word guessing game. "In the form most played today, it is an acting game in which one player acts out a word or phrase, often by pantomiming similar-sounding words, and the other players guess the word or phrase." The idea is to use physical rather than verbal language to convey the meaning to another party. It is also sometimes called Activity, after the board game." (game rules)
- Consequences: Consequences is an old parlour game in a similar vein to the Surrealist game exquisite corpse and Mad Libs. It also has a variation known as Picture Consequences. (game rules)
- Dictionary (Fictionary): Fictionary, also known as the Dictionary Game or simply Dictionary, is a word game in which players guess the definition of an obscure word. (game rules)
- Snap-dragon: "Snap-dragon (also known as Flap-dragon, Snapdragon, or Flapdragon) was a parlour game popular from about the 16th to 19th centuries." "It was played during the winter, particularly on Christmas Eve." (It is said this game is played in the U.S. on Halloween or Twelfth Night) "Brandy was heated and placed in a wide shallow bowl; raisins were placed in the brandy which was then set alight." Typically, lights were extinguished or dimmed to increase the eerie effect of the blue flames playing across the liquor." "The aim of the game was to pluck the raisins out of the burning brandy and eat them, at the risk of being burnt."(rules) Children's games | Drinking games | Party games | Christmas traditions | Winter traditions
- Twenty questions: "Twenty Questions is a spoken parlor game which encourages deductive reasoning and creativity." "In the traditional game, one player is chosen to be the answerer." "That person chooses a subject but does not reveal this to the others." "All other players are questioners." "They each take turns asking a question which can be answered with a simple "Yes" or "No." " (rules)
- Blind Man's Bluff: Blind man's bluff or blind man's buff is a children's game played in a spacious area, such as outdoors or in a large room, in which one player, designated as "It," is blindfolded and gropes around attempting to touch the other players without being able to see them, while the other players scatter and try to avoid the person who is "it", hiding in plain sight and sometimes teasing them to make them change direction. The game is a variant of tag.( rules)
- Mafia/Werewolf: Mafia (also known as Werewolf or Assassin) is a party game modeling a battle between an informed minority and an uninformed majority. (game rules)
- Elephant's foot umbrella stand: Elephant's foot umbrella stand is a parlour game that can be played with a various number of players, in which preferably only one participating players is familiar with the game." Play takes the form of rotating around the group of players, each player adding an item of their choosing to a list. The item is then either allowed or disallowed by the player(s) familiar with the rules based upon the logic to the game. The basis of the game is to not only to remember the list, which can be difficult as the game progresses, but also to work out the logic behind what items are allowed. (game rules)
- Wink Murder: Wink Murder, Murder Wink, or Wink Wink Murder is a party game or parlour game. It is also variously known as Killer and Lonely Ghost. The practical minimum number of players is four, but the spirit of the game is best captured by groups of at least six players, and can be played by as many as 35 players and up. (game rules)
- The Minister's Cat: The Minister's Cat is a Victorian parlour game. The game involves describing the eponymous cat using adjectives beginning with each letter of the alphabet. All players sit in a circle, and the first player describes the minister's cat with an adjective beginning with the letter 'A' (for example, "The minister's cat is an adorable cat") Each player then does the same, using different adjectives starting with the same letter. Once everyone has done so, the first player describes the cat with an adjective beginning with the letter 'B'. This continues for each letter of the alphabet. (game rules)
- Tiddlywinks: Tiddlywinks is an indoor game played with sets of small discs called "winks" lying on a surface, usually a flat mat. Players use a larger disc called a "squidger" to pop a wink into flight by pressing down on one side of the wink. The objective of the game is to cause the winks to land either on top of opponents' winks, or ultimately inside a pot or cup. (game rules)
- Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon: The trivia game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon is based on the concept of the small world phenomenon and rests on the assumption that any actor can be linked through his or her film roles to actor Kevin Bacon. rules
See also:
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