Contrary to popular belief, the Victorians loved games and were particularly fond of what were known as ‘parlour games’. The name comes, oddly enough, from the fact that these games were often played in the household’s parlour and were especially popular with the middle and upper class Victorians. During the 19th Century, wealthier people at least, found themselves with more disposable leisure time than ever before and this led to the creation of games that could be played both at home and at social functions by both small and large groups of people of all ages. Most parlour games were very simple to play and involved a mixture of word play and logic. Parlour games suffered heavily with the arrival of radio, films and later television although ,to this day, most families will have at least one variation of a parlour game that they still enjoy playing at family gatherings. Among the most popular are charades (which even made its way onto our television screens in the Eighties in the shape of ‘Give Us a Clue’), Balderdash (now a hugely popular board game), blind mans bluff and the ‘Name Game’ which involves guests writing the names of famous people on small pieces of paper, putting them into a basket and then taking another one out and placing it on their forehead without looking and trying to guess who they are by asking the other guests questions about themselves. A large number of parlour games are ideal for playing with young children as many of them involve using memory and logic which will in turn help them develop how they think and solve problems. Other popular Victorian parlour games include… The Vicar’s Cat This is a word game for all ages, and one that children, in particular will enjoy. Each person takes his or her turn to describe and name ‘the vicars cat’, using letters of the alphabet in order. For example, the first player might say “the vicar’s cat is arrogant and his name is Albert” and the next may continue with “the vicar’s cat is belligerent and her name is Bessie”. Keep going until a player hesitates for too long, when they have to drop out or – to stay in the game – perform a forfeit chosen by the previous player. I’m Thinking of Something One person picks something and commits it to memory (Houses of Parliament, the London Eye, Eiffel Tower, a household object, for example). They do not tell the other guests what this item is, but they say for example “I’m thinking of something large”. The guests are then allowed to ask yes or no questions. “Is it a building?” ”No.” “Is it an animal?” “Yes.” and so on until one person guesses the item correctly. If the person guesses incorrectly the game still ends and the wrong person must choose a new something to be. Players only get one guess at the actual item.