The game known by the above title is somewhat uncommon, and has afforded
so much enjoyment to children of an older growth that it can not fail to
entertain our young friends.
It is a round-table game, and may be played by any number of persons. A
watch, slate, and pencil are all the materials required.
One of the players, who is called the leader, selects the name of some
historical personage, and writes upon the slate several of the letters
forming it, in the order in which they occur.
The slate is then passed to the next player, who is allowed two minutes
to form some idea of the name chosen, and to write a single letter
either before or after those already upon the slate. If the letter so
added be the right one, the leader announces it correct, and the slate
is passed to No. 3. If, on the contrary, it is wrong, he calls it a
miss, passing the slate, as before, to the following player, but at the
same time placing to No. 2's credit, or rather discredit, in his score,
a mark to indicate the failure.
No. 3, who has had the advantage of studying the word during No. 2's
allotted time, now takes his turn, scoring or missing, as the case may
be; and so on around the table, only the misses being marked.
The leader is of course the judge of the correctness of the additions,
and must act as time-keeper and scorer as well. Capitals are never used,
and the period with which the word ends is regarded as a letter, with
the difference, however, that all subsequent additions must be prefixed.
Suppose, for example, that the leader, having in his mind Sir Walter
Raleigh, writes upon his slate the letters _eig_. No. 2, at the end of
his time, finds no clew to the word, takes a miss, and No. 3 tries his
hand. A happy thought strikes him: he adds an _l_, which is pronounced
correct; and No. 4 finds himself confronted with _leig_, and with a
thought perhaps of Lord Burleigh, boldly prefixes an _r_. His brilliancy
is rewarded with a demerit mark, and so the game goes on, until, when
the letters have grown to _aleigh_, the period is added, and almost any
one can easily guess the rest. The game is won by the player who at the
end of the sitting has the cleanest score. When one word has been
discovered, the second player becomes the leader, and after him the
others in turn.
No letters should be added at random even should they prove correct, and
any player having reason to suspect that this has been done may demand
the word of the person preceding him. If the latter can give any
historic name in which the letters occur as then written upon the slate,
even if it is not the leader's word, the person so calling is counted a
miss, and the player giving the name chooses anew. If, on the other
hand, he fail to do so, the miss is scored against his account, and the
game proceeds as before.
As it frequently happens that the same series of letters is to be found
in several or many words, one is very apt to get off the track, and the
results are confusing and amusing. The want of capitals also makes even
a completed word look so strange that all of a party have been
confounded by it until the leader, in his turn, added the lacking
period, and the disgust of his companions may be easily imagined. The
game may be pleasantly varied by using noted names in poetry or fiction,
authors, and the like, but it is well to confine it, during one sitting
at least, to a particular class.
All disputes--and there will be many--as to whether a name can properly
be called historical or not, and similar questions, must be decided by a
majority of the players.
The game gives excellent opportunity for the exercise of observation and
quickness, and leads to discussions and researches which prove as
instructive as they are entertaining.
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