Games From Long Ago by Bobbie Kalman, 1995.
This book is about games people would play in 19th century America. There is a variety of different types of games, although the main focus is on parlor games. Many of them have been passed on for generations by word of mouth and are still played today, such as Charades and Blind Man’s Buff, although the book discusses games that are no longer common.
One important concept in 19th century games was the “forfeit”, where losing players would have to perform a kind of silly stunt. The other players might hold onto an object belonging to the losing player, holding it as hostage until they performed the stunt. Forfeits were a common part of parlor games.
The book also talks about popular tabletop games such as dominoes, cards, tiddlywinks, and pick-up sticks. Because dice were often associated with gambling, movements in board games were often determined by spinners or special numbered spinning tops called “teetotums,” which look something like dreidels but with more sides. Board games for children were often educational, teaching them about subjects like history or geography or moral lessons, rewarding “good” decisions and penalizing “bad” ones (although, since movements in these games were determined by spinners, the players were at the mercy of the random chance as to which of these choices their playing pieces landed on, not making actual good and bad decisions by themselves).
There are also examples of games played at work parties, parties or “bees” organized around farm tasks such as barn-building or harvests. These parties might include a hay maze (like a corn maze, but with hay sheaves), a game of Gossip (an early version of Telephone, played exactly the same way), or Bobbing for Apples.
There is a short section about games for specific holiday, although there are only three given. Two of them are for Christmas (one of those is a basic version of Pinata called Bag and Stick), and one for Valentine’s Day. There are also sections about outdoor games and sports.
