Parlour games make a comeback

Parlour games were an invention of the Victorian era, where they were played on special occasions in genteel households.

The late Queen Elizabeth II was a big fan, to the extent that no Royal Christmas during her long reign was complete without a game of charades.

Whether King Charles shares his mother’s passion is not yet known, but younger generations are rediscovering the games that today’s seniors used to play as children.

Millennials and Gen Z even have their own versions of these games – with modern twists that might have shocked their Victorian forebears.

However, there’s nothing quite like the originals, so here are the rules of five games we used to play back in the day.

Charades 

Charades is a classic word-guessing game where players act out a word or phrase without speaking, while the other players try to guess what it is.

Setup: Write down a list of words or phrases on small pieces of paper and place them in a container.

Gameplay: A player selects a paper from the container and acts out the word or phrase using gestures, miming, and body language. No verbal communication is allowed.

Guessing: Other players try to guess the word or phrase based on the actions. The actor can use creative movements to convey different aspects of the word.

Winning: The game continues until all the papers are used, or for a set time. Players take turns being the actor. The player with the most correct guesses wins.

Twenty Questions 

In this game, players take turns thinking of an object, and the others have 20 yes-or-no questions to guess what it is.

Setup: One player thinks of an object while the others decide who will start the questioning.

Gameplay: The players take turns asking yes-or-no questions to narrow down the possible objects. The person thinking of the object can only respond with “yes”, “no”. “maybe”, “sometimes” or “I don’t know”.

Guessing: After 20 questions or when someone thinks they know the answer, they make a guess. If the guess is correct, that player wins; if not, the person who thought of the object wins.

Sardines 

Sardines is a reverse hide-and-seek game, where one person hides and others seek. However, when a seeker finds the hider, they join them in the hiding spot.

Setup: Choose one player to be the hider. The rest are seekers.

Gameplay: Seekers close their eyes and count while the hider finds a hiding spot. Seekers then spread out to find the hider.

Finding: When a seeker finds the hider, they quietly join them in their hiding spot. This continues until all the seekers have found the hider.

Winning: The last seeker to find the hiding spot becomes the hider in the next round.

Blind Man’s Bluff 

In this game, one player is blindfolded and tries to tag the other players, who must avoid being caught.

Setup: Choose one player to be “It” and blindfold them. Other players scatter around the playing area.

Gameplay: The blindfolded player tries to tag the other players using only their sense of touch and hearing. The other players can’t leave the designated area.

Winning: The blindfolded player wins by tagging another player, who then becomes the new blindfolded player.

Musical Chairs 

This game involves walking around a circle of chairs while music plays and trying to sit in a chair when the music stops. One chair is removed each round.

Setup: Arrange chairs in a circle facing outward. There should be one fewer chair than the number of players.

Gameplay: Players walk around the chairs while music plays. When the music stops, they must find a chair to sit in. The player left standing is out.

Winning: The game continues with one fewer chair in each round until only one player – the winner – remains.

The late Queen was said to be especially fond of the Name Game, where the name of a famous person is written on a Post-It note and stuck to players’ foreheads.

Players then take turns asking questions trying to guess the identity of the person on the note they are wearing.

Related reading: Newsweek