Victorian Parlour Games

With no television, cinema or computers to amuse them, Victorians had to think up other ways of passing the long winter evenings. Besides visits to the opera, dances and card-playing, ‘household amusements’ or parlour games were also very popular. Here are some you might like to try when you next have some friends round, taken from Cassell’s Household Guide, which was published in the 1880s. The Victorians certainly weren’t dour and severe all the time!

Cartoon from Punch
May 11, 1895

The Messenger
The party are seated in line, or round the sides of the room, and some one previously appointed enters with the message, ‘My master sends me to you, madam,’ or ‘sir’ as the case may be, directed to any individual he may select as his option. ‘What for?’ is the natural enquiry. ‘To do as I do,’ and with this the messenger commences to perform some antic, which the lady or gentleman must imitate – say he wags his head from side to side, or taps with one foot incessantly on the floor. The person whose duty it is to obey commands his neighbour to the right or to the left to ‘Do as I do,’ also and so on until the whole company are in motion, when the messenger leaves the room, re-entering it with fresh injunctions. While the messenger is in the room he must see his master’s will obeyed, and no one must stop from the movement without suffering a forfeit. The messenger should be some one ingenious in making the antics ludicrous, and yet kept within moderate bounds, and the game will not fail to produce shouts of laughter.

Prussian Exercises
The players are drawn up in line along one side of the appartment, and are supposed to represent a regiment. On the extreme right of the party a corporal is stationed, and the captain, selected for his knowledge of the game, takes his place in front. It is his duty to give the word of command for the movements of the line, and he must do this with mock solemnity, however absurd the antics which he orders to be performed. Thus, he commences with the ordinary ‘Attention! Eyes right!’ at which all are bound to look straight at the commander; and he then gives orders such as his own will and experience may dictate. ‘Fold arms!’ ‘Extend arms!’ ‘Slap cheeks!’ ‘Tweak noses!’ ‘Ground knees!’ and similar evolutions are all to be performed at the same instant by the whole company, under penalty of a forfeit; and the corporal on the right, who has had a previous consultation with the captain, sets the example for the guidance of the rest, where the meaning of the order is not clear. At the word ‘March!’ the party must move one foot after the other, as in walking, but without changing position; at ‘Right march!’ they move the right leg only, backwards and forwards, ‘Left march!’ they do the same with the left. ‘Ground knees!’ may be varied by ‘Ground right knee!’ or ‘left’ and in this case the regiment sinks with that knee to the ground.

This is a favourable position for bringing the amusement to a climax, as follows. When the party are on one or both knees, the order is given, ‘Present arms!’ which they do by stretching them out in front. The next command is ‘Fire!’ and the corporal, who is in on the secret, then gives his next neighbour a nudge with the shoulder. This causes him, as he is already kneeling, to lose his equilibrium; and falling sidewise, he brings down the next person to him, and so on along the whole line, which is thus ‘floored’ in a moment.

People in the nineteenth century were more used to learning poems and speeches by heart. The following game can be adapted by the Orator reading a poem aloud for the Actor to bring alive (perhaps one the ‘Audience’ has chosen that will be particularly funny when acted out).

The Dumb Orator
This is a very amusing performance, enacted by two persons for the benefit of the rest of the company. One of the two recites a speech, or any popular piece of declamation, keeping all the while perfectly motionless and without a quiver on his countenance, while the other, standing silent by his side, gesticulates furiously, according to the emotions called up by the passage recited. Of course, the more closely he follows and burlesques the action natural to the words throughout, the greater the amusement created.   

Twirling the Trencher
This is a brisk game, requiring activity without ingenuity. A circle is formed in the room, and a good space is left clear in the midst. A trencher or round wooden platter is obtained, or, if such a thing is not available, a small round tray or waiter will answer the purpose. When all the party are seated, one of the company stands up in the centre and twirls the tray round upon the floor, at the same time calling out the name of any other person present, who must rise and pick up the trencher before it falls to the ground, otherwise he or she pays a forfeit. The person who twirls the trencher returns to his own seat immediately and the one who picks it up, or has been called upon to do so, has the privilege of making a call afterwards.

Cartoon from Punch
July 6, 1895