Board Games In The Victorian Era
What Games Did The Victorians Play
Christmas Games In The Victorian Era
Games In The Victorian Era -
Video Games In The Victorian Era

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In the Victorian era this game was typically played outside but had indoor variations as well. It is still a popular indoor pub game in some areas of the UK and United States. It consisted of a round hard ball and several Skittles, usually around nine. The object of the game was to roll the ball and knock down as many skittles as possible. Marbles are still used today, but aren’t as popular as they were in the Victorian era. Many games were played with marbles. To name some, Bouncers, Shooting, and Hundreds were all played with marbles. Poor children usually had clay marbles, while the.

The Victorians were fortunate in the respect that they abided in somewhat more radical times than our 17th-century ancestors. For in 1647, the Puritans - in the form of the Long Parliament of Cromwell - banned Christmas revelry altogether. Only after the Restoration thirteen years later were celebrations brought, once more, to the fore, and even in King Henry VIII's day, games were restricted to Christmas time alone.

The nostalgic Victorians were responsible for resurrecting Christmas as we now know it, and they celebrated the festive season with much gusto. That great British institution, the pantomime, was an exciting Christmas ritual for all, and from Boxing Day onwards all the major theatres around Britain were packed to capacity with patrons eager to see a lavishly-staged play. Home entertainment was especially popular at Christmas time, except for servants, post office and railway employees for whom it was work as usual. Inside the typical Victorian house, fireworks burned and 'exploding bon-bons' (known as crackers from the 1920's onwards) were pulled to the delight of all when small toys and trinkets poured out. There were after-dinner singing sessions around the piano; ghostly story-telling hours by the fireside; conjurors; dancing and Punch and Judy, theatrical or magic lantern shows. An intrinsic part of the entertainment program was the parlor game.

The Victorians were particularly fond of parlor games, a number of which have since been forgotten, though a select few have been passed down to successive generations and remain firm favorites even today. Victorian families were among the first ever to be blessed with abundant free time, and among the last to pass that time without television. They enjoyed numerous interactive parlor activities, ranging from cards (euchre, bridge, seven-up) and board games (dominoes, checkers, chess) to 20 Questions and charades. Young ladies and their mothers spent their leisure time learning needlecrafts, creating ornaments, and reading novels. Popular titles of the age include Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES and L. Frank Baum's THE WIZARD OF OZ. Male and female family members alike frequently gathered around a parlor organ, a piano, or a player piano to have 'a sing.' New entertainment technologies of the year included the phonograph, a stand-alone console for playing back recorded audio programs, and the stereograph, a handheld device for viewing 3-D-like images.

HOUSEHOLD AMUSEMENTS. - I.

IT is related of one of England's greatest statesmen, that some one calling to see him unexpectedly on grave political affairs, found him, not absorbed in state papers and official documents, but on all fours in his nursery, with his children romping upon and around him. And of another eminent man, the late Earl of Derby, it has been recorded, in a graceful tribute paid to his memory, that while at times he would seek recreation from political labours in the translation of Homer, at others he loved to find it in 'Making some wonder for a happy child.'
Many other instances might be quoted to prove that the busiest and greatest men, as well as the humblest, have often found delight and solace in participation in the amusements of youth in their own households. Not, therefore, the young only, but also those in more advanced life, the best among us feel that it is desirable to cultivate the recreations of home, and to be ready at times for frolic and the innocent enjoyment of household pastimes. We shall try, in a series of papers, to guide all who may read this work in the choice of such recreations, by giving a description of many which are familiar, and of others less generally known ; sometimes choosing the simplest in-door games, and at others, commenting on pastimes of a more intricate character, and thus enabling all to select the amusement which is most suited to the tastes and circumstances both of themselves and those around them.
The dark evenings of winter and early spring call into request games for round parties, and we shall devote the present paper to some of these. To commence with a very simple one, we will describe a game of German origin, known as:

The Ball of Wool- The party are seated round a table, from which the cloth must be drawn. A little wool is rolled up into the form of a ball, and placed in the middle of the table. The company then commence to blow upon it, each one trying to drive it away from his own direction, and the object of all being to blow it off; so that the person by whose right side it falls may pay a forfeit. The longer the ball is kept on the table by the opposing puffs of the surrounding party, the more amusing the game becomes, as the distended cheeks and zealous exertions of the players afford mirth to lookers-on as well as to themselves.
Similar to this is a game called 'Blowing the Feather,' in which a small feather set floating in the air answers the same purpose as the ball upon the table. The forfeit falls to the individual whose puff is ineffectual in keeping the feather afloat, or who suffers it to drop when it reaches him.
Of a different character, and still more comic in its results, is a game called

Shadows.- This game, sometimes called 'Shadow Buff,' is productive of much amusement in a round party. It consists in the detection of the individuals who compose the company by their shadows; but these they are at liberty to disguise as much as possible. The following is the method pursued:-
A white tablecloth or a sheet is suspended on one side of the apartment, and, at a short distance before this sheet, one of the party, chosen for the purpose, is seated upon either the ground or a low stool, with his face directed towards the cloth. Behind him, on the farther side of the apartment, the table is placed, and upon it a lamp or taper, all other lights in the apartment being extinguished. Each of the company in turn passes before the lamp and behind the person who is gazing upon the cloth, which thus receives a strong shadow, If the individual seated can name the person whose shadow is thus thrown, the latter has to pay a forfeit, or to take the place of the guesser, as may be agreed upon. It would be easy, in playing this game, to detect particular individuals if they passed in their natural attitude ; but they arc free to change this as much as lies in their power, by stooping, standing more erect than usual, bending the limbs, or using the arms in any way calculated to obscure the outline of the shadow and render it difficult of detection. An alteration in costume, such as turning up the collar or changing the coat, if a gentleman, and enveloping the head in a hood, in the case of a lady, is also allowable. The game gives rise to a good deal of ingenuity in this fashion, and may often proceed for some time before many forfeits have resulted.

The Messenger.- Theparty are seated in line, or round the sides of the room, and some one previously appointed enters with the message, 'My master sends me to you, madam,' or 'sir,' as the case may be, directed to any individua

Games In The Victorian Era