Time to Play a Game
Life of A Pioneer Child/ July 16th, 2021
Games were learned by “Word of Mouth”, passed between generations of children. They were one of the most common forms of entertainment for pioneer children, as they were easy to invent and play, and most importantly they made the time pass by faster. Many of the games from the past are still played today, over 200 years later!
Here is a collection of games that the O’Hara children would have played when they were not helping around the Homestead. These games would have served as a source of entertainment, as well as socialization and in some cases were educational.
Charades - Take turns being the actor. Each player must write down a word, name, or phrase on a piece of paper and put it in a hat. The first actor draws out a piece of paper and then act out the mystery word. Whoever guesses correctly first will become the next actor.
I Have A Basket - Players sit in a circle, the first player begins by saying “I have a basket”, the person beside them asks “what’s inside?”. The person with the basket must answer with something starting with the letter A. As the game continues around the circle you go through the alphabet.
Taboo - Players decide on a letter of the alphabet that will be forbidden. One person is chosen to be It. The rest of the players ask It questions to try and make them use the forbidden letter. The questioning continues until It is forced into using the forbidden letter.
Tiddlywinks - Players use a disk called a “shooter” to flip smaller disks into a cup in the middle of the playing area. The first one to get all their “winks” in the cup is the winner.
Pick-Up Sticks - This popular game requires only a pile of wood splinters or straws. Heap the sticks into the middle of the table. Each player takes turns removing a stick from the pile. The goal is to do so without moving any of the other sticks.
Gossip - This game involves whispering a phrase around a circle. Today we play this game but we call it “telephone”.
Corn Husking - Everyone gathers around to help husk corn. The young men who found a red ear of corn got to kiss the young women closest to him.
Post Office - Each player chooses a city. One player is the postal clerk. The rest of the players sit in a circle. The clerk calls out “The mail is going from [insert city 1] to [city 2]”. The two players with these cities must exchange seats without the postal clerk stealing their seats.
Graces - The game of Graces was played by two players, two girls or a boy and a girl. Boys did not play Graces together as it was seen as a girl’s game. Each player has a stick. The object of the game is to toss a hoop back and forth onto the sticks.
Hoops - Hit around a hoop with a stick. See how fast you can get it without it falling over. This was a popular game to play at recess and was helpful to improving eye hand coordination.
Ring Taw - Draw a big circle on the ground, and then a smaller one in the middle of it. Place small marbles called “nibs” in the circle. Players take turns flicking a large marble called a “shooter” into the circle. The goal is to knock marbles out of the circle, you keep the marbles you knock out, the player with the most marbles at the end wins.
Tug of War - This age-old game of pulling a rope between two teams was a favourite for the early settlers.
Buzz - A game to test number and multiplication skills. Everyone sits in a circle and begins to count in turn. Whenever the number seven, a number with seven in it or a multiple of seven comes up the player says “buzz”. If the player says buzz at the wrong time they are out, the game continues until there is one player left.
Crokinole - This game is believed to have been invented in Ontario in the 19th century. Players take turns shooting discs across the circular playing surface, trying to have their discs land in the higher-scoring regions of the board, while also attempting to knock away opposing discs.