Rhyming games require more taxing of brains than most players care for. The ordinary rhyming game, without using paper, is for one player to make a remark in an easy metre, and for the next to add a line completing the couplet. Thus in one game that was played one player said—
It is a sin to steal a pin,
Much more to steal an apple.
And the next finished it by adding—
And people who are tempted to,
With Satan ought to grapple.
But this was showing more skill than there is real need for.
An easier rhyming game is that in which the rhyme has to come at the beginning of the line. The players are seated in a circle and one begins by asking the next a question of any nature whatever, or by making any casual remark, the first word of the answer to which must rhyme with the last word of the question. The game is then started, each player in turn adding a remark to that made by the one before him, always observing the rhyming rule. Thus, the original question may be, "Do you like mince pies?" The next player may reply, "Wise people always do." The next, "You, I suppose, agree with that?" The next, "Flat you may knock me if I don't." The next, "Won't you change the subject, please?" And the next: "Eas-ily; let's talk of books."
Telling Stories
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.