Games

This file includes card games, board games, bingo, children's games, etc. Also things like Swinging, hula hoops and darts. Active and competitive things are in the Sports file.

Game Quotes and Page Toppers

Are You Game?
Children's games are hardly games. Children are never more serious than when they play. (Montaigne)
The first rule of poker: A Colt 45 always beats 4 aces.
Fun and Games
Games lubricate the body and the mind. (Benjamin Franklin)
The Games People Play
Here we have a game that combines the charm of a Pentagon briefing with the excitement of double-entry bookkeeping. (Cecil Adams about Dungeons and Dragons)
Hoopla (hula hoop)
If you must play, decide on three things at the start: the rules of the game, the stakes, and the quitting time. (Chinese proverb)
It's not whether you win or lose,
it's how you play the game.
It's only a game until you lose.
Make games important but not predominant. (Kurt Hahn)
Never do card tricks for the group you play poker with.
Old card players never die...they just shuffle away!
'Round and Around (hula hoop)
The Sweet Smell of Victory
This is a most amusing game. When you play badly it amuses me, and when I play badly and lose my temper it certainly must amuse you. (Mark Twain on pool)
Tractor pulls are for people who can't understand wrestling
Unsportsmanlike Conduct
We don't stop playing because we get old... we get old because we stop playing.
You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)
You don't have to be a beer drinker to play darts...but it helps.

Bingo Quotes and Page Toppers

Bingo is a religion. They play it in churches...don't they?
Bingo is my thing-o!
Support Bingo. Keep grandmas off the street!
Was there life B-4 Bingo?
When the chips are down...yell BINGO!
World's Greatest Bingo Loser!

Chess Quotes

Chess is a foolish expedient for making idle people believe they are doing something very clever when they are only wasting their time. (George Bernard Shaw)
Chess is so interesting in itself, as not to need the view of gain to induce engaging in it; and thence it is never played for money. (Benjamin Franklin)
It is impossible to win gracefully at chess. No man has yet said "Mate!" in a voice which failed to sound to his opponent bitter, boastful and malicious. (A.A. Milne)
Life's too short for chess. (Henry James Byron)
Once the game is over, the King and the pawn go back in the same box. (Italian proverb)

Hiding

(Dorothy Aldis)

I'm hiding, I'm hiding,
And no one knows where;
For all they can see is my
Toes and my hair.

And I just heard my father
Say to my mother -
"But, darling, he must be
Somewhere or other;"

"Have you looked in the inkwell?"
And Mother said, "Where?"
"In the inkwell," said Father. But
I was not there.

Then "Wait!" cried my mother -
"I think that I see
Him under the carpet." But
It was not me.

"Inside the mirror's
A pretty good place,"
Said Father and looked, but saw
Only his face.

"We've hunted," sighed Mother,
"As hard as we could
And I am so afraid that we've
Lost him for good."

Then I laughed out aloud
And I wiggled my toes
And Father said - "Look, dear,
I wonder if those

"Toes could be Benny's?
There are ten of them, see?
And they were so surprised to find
Out it was me!

Hide and Seek

(A.B. Shiffrin)

When I am alone,
and quite alone,
I play a game,
and it's all my own.

I hide myself
Behind myself,
And then I try
To find myself.

I hide in the closet,
Where no one can see;
Then I start looking
Around for me.

I hide myself
And look for myself;
There once was a shadow
I took for myself.

I hide in a corner;
I hide in the bed;
And when I come near me
I pull in my head!

No Deal

(Gerogie Starbuck Gailbraith)

Men will tell you, five out of six,
That women and poker should never mix.
Their knowledge of poker is always scanty.
They fool with their hair when they ought to ante.
They ask if four aces beats a flush
And how are the children? They never hush.
No, women and poker should never meet.
They think the blue chips are awfully sweet.
So they pile them up and sit there grinning
And drive you crazy and keep on winning!

Holding Hands

Last night I held a lovely hand,
A hand so small and neat,
I thought my heart would
burst with joy,
So wildly did it beat.

No other hand unto my heart
Could greater pleasure bring
Than the dear one that
I held last night -
Four aces and a king

Games ABC List

I am a life-long solitaire fan so many of these are card games. Some of the others are games I played when I went to a country school in the fifties and things my girls played in the seventies. I didn't include many computer games as there are so many and it is hard to know which will withstand the test of time. As always I welcome additions to the list.
ALBUM IDEAS: photos of child playing some of the games; game rules; history of game; scans of boxes, playing pieces, cards, etc. For some board games you could sketch them on the page or construct out of paper. For checkers you could use red and black squares, and scans of checkers. Mat photos with some black squares and journal on some red squares.
Be sure to include your child's favorite games.

# - 21, 3-Card Monte, 4-Square, 5-Card Stud, 7-Card Draw, 7-Up

A - Acey-Duecey, Aggravation, Air Hockey, Anagrams, Annie Annie Over, Ants in the Pants, Auld Lang Syne, Authors, Auto Trip, Axis and Allies
B - Baccarat, Backgammon, Baker's Dozen, Balderdash, Barrel of Monkeys, Battleship, Bean Bag Toss, Beggar Your Neighbor, Beleaguered Castle, Bingo, Blackjack, Blind Man's Bluff, Blitz, Block Breaker, Blockhead, Blurt, Bocce, Bridge, Boggle, Bonkers, Booby-Trap, Bunco, Buzz
C - Canasta, Candy Land, Canfield, Carom, Casino, Cat and Mouse, Catch Phrase, Categories, Charades, Charley Over the Water, Checkers, Chess, Chicago, Chinese Checkers, Chutes and Ladders, Citadel, Clock, Clue, Coffee Pot, Concentration, Connect Four, Cootie, Crack the Whip, Crazy Eights, Cribbage, Crokinole, Croquet
D - Deuces Wild, Dice, Did You Ever See a Lassie, Diplomacy, Dodge Ball, Dominoes, Don't Break the Ice, Don't Spill the Beans, Dots and Boxes, Draughts, Drop the Handkerchief, Double Dutch (skipping), Duck Duck Goose, Ducks Fly, Dune, Dungeon, Dungeons and Dragons
E - Eagle Wing, Earth Air Fire and Water, Elevens, Euchre
F - Fan Tan, Farmer in the Dell, Fascination, Fences, Five Hundred, Flinch, Flower Garden, Flying Dutchman, Follow the Leader, Forfeits, Forty Thieves, Four Square, Fox and Geese, Freeze Tag, Frisbee
G - The Game of Life, Game of the States, Ghosts, Ghosts in the Graveyard, Giant Steps, Gin Rummy, Golf, Go, Go Fish, Gossip, Guess Who
H - Hands Down, Hangman, Happy Families, Hearts, Hide and Seek, High Low Jack, Hi-Q, Hide the Thimble, Honeymoon Whist, Hopscotch, Horse, Horse race, Horseshoes, Hot Potato, Hotter Colder, Hul Gul, Hula Hoop, Hungry Hungry Hippos
I - I Doubt It, I Spy, I Took a Trip
J - Jacks, Jacks or Better to Open, Jarts, Jenga, Joker, Joker's Wild, Juggling, Jump Rope
K - Keep Away, Ker Plunk, Kick the Can, King Row Checkers, Kings Cribbage, Kings in the Corner, Kismet, Klondike, Knaves
L - La Belle Lucie, Labyrinth, Lap Sit, Leap Frog, Left Right, Lemonade, Liar's Poker, Life, Limbo, Liverpool Rummy, London Bridge, Looby Loo
M - Mah Jongg, Marbles, Master Mind, Memory, Michigan Rummy, Mille Bornes, Minister's Cat, Monopoly, Mother May I, Mouse Trap, Musical Chairs, My Word, Myst
N - Needle's Eye, Nestor, Newmarket, Nine Mens Morris, Noughts and Crosses
O - Obstacle Course, Oh Hell, Old Maid, Operation, Osmosis, Othello, Ouija, Outburst
P - Paper Rock Scissors, Parcheesi, Party Line, Password, Patience, Payday, Phase 10, Pick Up Sticks, Pictionary, Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Donkey, Pinochle, Pit, Pitch, Poison, Pokeno, Poker, Pom Pom Pullaway, Progressive Rummy, Pyramid
Q - Quadtria, Quartet, Quiddler, Quince, Quinto, Qwitch
R - Red Light/Green Light, Red Rover, Reversi, Ring Around the Rosie, Risk, Rook, Royal Rummy, Rummy, Run Sheep Run
S - Sardines, Scattergories, Scavenger Hunt, Scrabble, Senat, Seven Devils, Seven Up, Shamrocks, Similies, Simon, Simon Says, Skat, Skip-bo, Skittles, SlapJack, Snakes and Ladders, Snip Snap Snorem, Solitaire, Sorry, Spade, Spill and Spell, Spider Solitaire, Spin the Bottle, Spit, Spit in the Ocean, Statue, Stratego, Stud Poker
T - Taboo, Tag, Tarot, Telephone, Tetherball, Three Deep, Thumb Wrestling, Tic-Tac-Toe, Tiddlywinks, Trampoline, TriBond, Tri-Ominos, Trivial Pursuit, Trouble, Truth Or Dare, Tug of War, Twenty-One, Twenty Questions, Twister
U - Uncle Joshua, Uncle Wiggly, Ungame, Uno, Uno Dominoes, Up and Down the River, Ups and Downs, Upset the Fruit Basket, UpWords
V - Variance, Vegas
W - War, Water Works, Whisper Down the Lane, Whist, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Wiffle Ball, Wolf, Wordster
X - X's and O's, Xiang Qi (Chinese Chess)
Y - Yahtzee, YoYo, Yukon
Z - Zeroes and Crosses, Zingo, Zobmondo, Zoofari

Swinging

Page Toppers

Gettin' In The Swing of Things
I'm a Swingin'
In the Swing of Things
Just a swingin'
A Real Swinger
Swingin' Around
Swings are Angels' Wings

The Swing

(Robert Louis Stevenson)

How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
River and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside -

Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown -
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!

Come and swing and play with me.
For youth is innocence and we
are both free to live and dream and be.
(Jessica Atkinson)

At the Playground

Away down deep and away up high,
a swing drops you into the sky.
Back, it draws you away down deep,
forth, it flings you in a sweep
all the way to the stars and back -
Goodby, Jill; Goodby, Jack;
shuddering climb wild and steep,
away up high, away down deep.

A Swing Song

(William Allingham)

Swing, swing,
Sing, sing,
Here! my throne and I am a King!

Swing, sing,
Swing, sing,
Farewell, earth, for I'm on the wing!

Low, high,
Here I fly,
Like a bird through sunny sky;

Free, free,
Over the lea,
Over the mountain, over the sea!

Up, down,
Up and down,
Which is the way to London Town?

Where? Where?
Up in the air,
Close your eyes and now you are there!

Soon, soon,
Afternoon,
Over the sunset, over the moon;

Far, far,
Over all bar,
Sweeping on far from star to star!

No, no,
Low, low,
Sweeping daisies with my toe.

Slow, slow,
To and fro,
Slow-
slow-
slow-
slow.