Parlor Games During The Victorian Era

Parlor Games

Ha-Ha! There was laughter everywhere when people played parlour games. Have you ever wondered how people, during the Victorian Era pass time? The parlour games were nice, fun, and dangerous for passing time. “There were men who played card games like poker to the extent of losing their wages. This habit of the men, who were the only earning members of the large families, forced the entire family to make extra efforts to preserve whatever little they had. Men also played outdoor games like tennis, shooting, cricket, and fishing” (Vaijayanti). “Women coming from well-to-do families participated in charitable events. The working hours during the 19th century took a toll on the entertainment aspect in the women’s life. Not many women could afford it. Here weren’t too many games for women. Croquet and Lawn were played by both
men and women”(Vaijayanti). “Children brought up in the cities had different forms of entertainment than the countrybred children. In cities, children were permitted to play only after the household work was done. Most of them had to play indoors until the time some adult was free to take them outside. This was a precautionary measure adopted by parents as they felt unsafe to let the child go out alone”(Vaijayanti). Do not get tricked though not all of them were nice and fun. Some of them were dangerous.
There were many Victorian Era entertainment parlour games that wasn’t the smartest. Some weird parlour games they played weren’t only weird but deadly. A really horrible game was called Snap-Dragon. You fill a bowl with brandy, put several raisins in the bowl and let them sink to the bottom, and then light the brandy on fire.(West) The entire object of the game is to retrieve raisins from the bottom of the fire without burning yourself too badly.(West) “Typically, lights were extinguished or dimmed to increase the eerie effect of the blue flames playing across the liquor” (Boyle.). The worst part about it was you charge your head into a burning bowl of brandy, risking your life and you reward is dehydrated raisins.(West) “According to an eighteenth-century article in Richard Steele's Tatler magazine, “the wantonness of the thing was to see each other look like a demon, as we burnt ourselves, and snatched out the fruit. It was mainly played in England and the United States” (Boyle). “Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language (1755) describes it as “a play in which they catch raisins out of burning brandy, and extinguishing them by closing the mouth, eat them” (Boyle.). Could there be a game as dangerous? Maybe but probably not as hot.
Another dangerous Victorian Era parlour game is Hot Cockles.
Don’t get trick by the name though it isn’t pretty. “Hot Cockles was a popular game during christmas 200 years ago” (Britten). “The book “Sports and Pastimes” written by the author and artist Joseph Strutt, lifts the lid on the famous games of the day that families and friends would play at parties” (Britten). A copy of the book was found in a house in Staffordshire and was auctioned January 2009.(Britten) “The rules of Hot Cockles are as follows- One player sits down, another player is blindfolded, kneels, and places his/her head on the sitter’s lap. The kneeler places an open hand on his/her back, with the palm uppermost, which other players take it in turns to strike, And the kneeler must guess who has struck the blow” (Britten). Hot Cockles was popular because it allowed mild amorous. It dates back to the 16-century. (Britten) The object of the game is for the guy/girl being kicked to correctly guess who just kicked them.(West) If he/she gets it right. The person he identified is the new punching bag.(West) How brutal could games get? Well, I honestly couldn’t tell
you.
This game isn’t brutal but it is extremely deadly. The game was called Bullet Pudding. It had a bullet but no pudding something deadlier, flour. “Bullet Pudding was extremely popular in Regency-era Britain because it combined two of their favorite things: people humiliating themselves and live ammunition.(West) In the game Bullet Pudding the people fetch a large serving dish( like a dish you use for the (West).. These during thanksgiving meal.(West) Then, you place a huge 2 foot stack of flour on the pan.(West) The you place a bullet at the top of the flour mountain balanced carefully on top of it.(West) A game it might remind you of is Jenga. Each player playing pokes the stack of flour.(West) Then, the person that makes the bullet falls, goes fishing. The player who caused the bullet to fall puts their hand behind their back and slams their face into the flour, digging around using only their teeth. It can be read in the diaries and letters of the people who played this game back then that the real challenge of the game was to do all of this without laughing too hard, because if you did you would run into the risk of inhaling the flour and choking yourself to death” (West).” These games are bad what will the next one be, deadly, fun, or boring.
Another game that was popular was called The Bellman. “If you’ve ever dressed up as Santa Claus and worked the donation kettle for the Salvation Army, you’re going to be amazing at this conviction” (West). A person was given a bell and then the other players blindfolded each other. The bellman sneaks around the room quietly then when he finds a good spot they ring the bell. Then, the blindfolded people try to get the person that is it. “It was played mostly in the Victorian-era which I guess was still too early for people to realize the inherent danger of several blindfolded people all running towards the same place with conviction” (West).
The effects of parlor games during the victorian-era was big. They were big because during the Victorian-era the games were popular. Like they were the heart of parties. Since there was no television during the Victorian-era, or any video games. They relied on parlor games to do the fun. The Victorian-era is what started the parlor games. There might not even be any parlour games today, but since there was no television, or video games they thought of parlour games
The parlour games were dangerous, bloody, and an awesome way of passing time. Snap-Dragon was a game that people should’ve thought twice about playing. Hot Cockles was not hot or nice. It was just a painful game. If you could run around with other people like headless chickens you would be great at the Bellman. Some Victorian Era games were not safe in any way or shape.