My Thought
The players sit in a row or circle, and one, having thought of something—of any description whatever—asks them in turn, "What is my thought like?" Not having the faintest idea what the thought is they reply at random. One may say, "Like a dog"; another, "Like a saucepan"; a third, "Like a wet day"; a fourth, "Like a comic opera." After collecting all the answers the player announces what the thought was, and then goes along the row again calling upon the players to explain why it is like the thing named by them. The merit of the game lies in these explanations. Thus, perhaps the thing thought of was a concertina. The first player, asked to show why a concertina is like a dog, may reply, "Because when it is squeezed it howls." The next may say, "It is like a heavy saucepan because it is held in both hands." The third, "It is like a wet day because one soon has enough of it"; and the fourth, "It is like a comic opera because it is full of tunes."
P's and Q's
Another old game of this kind is "P's and Q's." The players sit in a circle and one stands up and asks them each a question in turn. The question takes this form, "The King of England [or France, or Germany, or Africa, or Russia, or India, whatever country it may be] has gone forth with all his men. Tell me where he has gone, but mind your P's and Q's." The player who is addressed must then reply, naming, in whatever country is mentioned, some town that does not begin with P or Q or with any letter before P in the alphabet. Thus, if the question refers to England, he may say "Salisbury" but not "Bristol," "Redruth" but not "Oxford"; or to France, "Toulon" but not "Lyons," "Versailles" but not "Dieppe."
The game is capable of improvement or, at least, of variety. For instance, instead of P's and Q's, the questioner may say, "Mind your K's and L's," or instead of ruling out all letters before P, all letters after Q may be stopped. And one need not confine the game to geography, but may adapt it to include animals, or eatables, or books.
The Elements
The players sit in a circle, and the game is begun by one of them throwing a rolled-up handkerchief to another and at the same time calling out the name of one of the four elements—air, water, earth, or fire. If "Air" is called, the player to whom the handkerchief is thrown must at once mention some creature that flies. Having done so she throws the handkerchief to some one else, calling perhaps "Earth," whereupon that player must mention an animal that inhabits the earth. And so on. The same animal must not be mentioned twice, and when "Fire" is called, the player to whom the handkerchief is thrown must keep silence until she throws it on again. Sometimes each player, after throwing the handkerchief and calling the element, counts ten as the limit of time in which the answer must be given. If it is longer in coming, or if something is mentioned which has been mentioned before, then a forfeit follows.
Suggestions
This is a game which people either dislike or like very much. The players sit round the fire or table, and one of them begins by naming an article of any kind whatever, such as watering-pot. The word "watering-pot" will immediately suggest something to the next player—say "gardener." He therefore says "gardener." The next is perhaps reminded by the word "gardener" of a bunch of violets she saw the gardener carrying that morning, and she therefore says "violets"; the next at once recollects finding violets when she was in the country last spring, and she therefore says "Vermont." Thus the game goes on for, say, ten rounds, by which time, as we have seen already, the minds of the players have been carried miles away from the original watering-pot which set them at work. It is now necessary to trace the series of suggestions back to watering-pot again. This is done by the last player mentioning, not the last thing that he thought of, but the thing which suggested that to him. (Thus, the player next him may have said, in the last round, "an apple-core," which may have suggested to him "Tom Sawyer." He would not, however, when the task of retracing begins, say "Tom Sawyer," because to repeat your own words is too easy, but "an apple-core" and the next player, going backward, in his turn would repeat the word which suggested "an apple-core" to him.) The second part of the game, retracing the suggestions, is naturally more difficult than the first.