FORFEITS
In going through this book of—games the reader will find that the players for various reasons are penalized or required to pay a forfeit. When a player is so fined he must immediately surrender some pocketpiece or personal belonging as a pawn or security which may later be redeemed when "Blind Justice" passes the real sentence.
The players usually select some ready witted person to assume the part of Justice, another acts as Crier or Collector. Justice is blindfolded and the Crier holds the article over his head saying: "Heavy, heavy hangs over thy head." Justice asks: "Fine or Superfine?" If it be an article belonging to a gentleman the Crier answers "Fine"; if it belongs to a lady he answers, "Superfine," and asks, "What shall the owner do to redeem his (or her) property?" and Blind Justice renders the sentence.
If the proper person has been chosen for Justice a great deal of fun may be caused by the impromptu imposition of ridiculous penalties. Or the persons making up the party may in turn take the part of Justice, each imposing a penalty. Some of the most familiar penalties are:
Put one hand where the other cannot touch it.—Grasp the elbow.
Take the Journey to Rome.—The culprit is required to go to each person and say that he or she is going on a journey to Rome and ask whether they have anything to send to the Pope. The players load him up with various articles, the more cumbersome the better, which he must carry until every person has been visited. Then he must walk out of the room and back, distributing the articles to their proper places.
Spell Constantinople.—When the offender begins to spell and reaches C-o-n-s-t-a-n-t-i-, the players cry "no" (the next letters in the word being n-o). Each time the culprit gets to C-o-n-s-t-a-n-t-i-, the players cry "no," and unless he knows the trick he will begin the spelling again and again.
Kiss Your own Shadow.—If the culprit is not familiar with this forfeit he will kiss his own shadow on the wall, but realizes how foolish he was when he sees some other victim place himself between the light and a lady and kiss his shadow which then falls on the lady.
Sit Upon the Fire.—This forfeit will puzzle the culprit, but may be easily accomplished by writing the word "fire" on a slip of paper and sitting upon it.
Ask a question Which cannot be Answered in the Negative.-"What do the letters y-e-s spell?"