This classification os for any game that can be played by an informal gathering of people. They generally require very little equipment, if any. I call them parlor games, because of the romanticized vision of Victorian era socialites gathering in the parlor after dinner to play an intellectual game. However, hanging out in your livingroom or around a campfire would be the most common settings for these games today.
Almost all of these games involve a battle of wits. Perhaps you’re competing to create a rhyme or name something within a topic that hasn’t been said before. Perhaps it requires deduction, where someone gives clues and the other players must guess the answer.
Occasionally, a game might have an element of physical challenge, such as racing to sit first in a game of Musical Chairs. Parlor games are worth knowing, simply because they can usually be played anywhere you have a group of at least three players.
“Getting warmer…” “Oh, you’re ice cold!” Sound familiar? That was a parlor game called Hot Boiled Beans. But what about the games that led up to it?
Did you know that charades was once played without any gestures? Or that Jane Austen helped to spread it? Learn the fascinating roots of this party game.