Leggo my Lego! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Aunt Sally

Aunt Sally is a traditional pub game that tests hand-eye coordination. It was a game that was developed in Oxford that eventually became a coconut shy. Usually, the object to be hit (the 'sally') sits on top of a post and the player throws the baton at it. My inventive grandfather fixed three wooden sallys (made to look like a simple flat doll with a head and body) with hinges to a stand.

Instead of using a baton, my grandmother made balls for us from old socks. My brother and I could play for hours to see who would throw down the most sallys. Because we used the soft sock balls, we were allowed to play it inside on a wet day, or in garage.

Answer: Carpet bowls

Carpet bowls is a lot like lawn bowls except it's played on a carpet, usually green (because that really makes it look like grass!) and inside. My grandpa used to take us down to the Rechabites hall where the youth of the district used to meet and play games. We'd unroll the carpet, set the kitty in place, and try to get our bowls close to it. When it was hard to determine which bowl was closest to kitty, my grandfather would bring out the calipers to measure the distance. I don't want you to think my brother and I argued about it. Not much!

Answer: Quoits

It is said that quoits was played by convicts or sailors as they travelled to Australia to serve out their sentences. While the game from which it originated, horseshoes, is centuries old, quoits is a relatively recent invention. The two ends of a short length of rope are spliced to form a circle.

The aim of the game is to get as many of your quoits over the spike as possible. My grandfather had made a heavy-bottomed spike for us to use (presumably so it wouldn't move when the ship tossed in the waves!) but we used to buy quoits. Each set of three quoits had its own colour threaded through the ring to enable us to know whose it was.

Answer: Consequences

'Consequences' was a great game to play in a larger group and caused a lot of hilarity. Each player was given a sheet of paper on which he wrote a word in a blank (blanks occurred variously at the start, middle or end of a sentence). The player folded the top of the paper over to cover their insertion and handed it to the next player, who filled in the next blank, folded the top over their insertion and so on. No peeking!

There were usually about ten or fifteen blanks to complete the story. Once all the blanks were filled, players took it in turns to read out the story on their paper. Ours always started out: (Blank) went to party. (Blank), who was wearing (blank), said "(blank)" to which (Blank) replied, "(blank)". It went on a bit longer so that it was possible to tell quite a story - whether you followed your own story line for each insertion was up to you.

Invariably, one or two members of the British Royal family got a mention and were usually wearing a polka dot bikini or something else wildly unlikely. The talking parts usually consisted of a question or comment about who would win the cricket or football, a scandal about a public figure, or a pretended offense like: "How dare you call me that?!". The fun part was that because everyone was creating their own story, and then passing it on to the next person, when the stories were read out at the end, they were a jumble of improbable and humorous situations. Innocent, good fun. :)

Answer: Squatter

The board game 'Squatter' was launched at the Royal Melbourne Show in 1962, and is uniquely Australian. It's a bit like Monopoly - the aim is to be the first player to have 6000 sheep on a fully irrigated sheep station. As in real life, farmers face natural disasters such as drought, bush-fire and floods.

There's a saying that Australia was built on the sheep's back - my brother and I had heaps of fun playing the game with the benefit of learning a little Aussie history and culture on the way.

Answer: Beetle

When I was about seven, and my brother nearly ten, Beetle got a whole lot more sophisticated, as the parts to the beetle came in a box and could be assembled! When we were younger, though, or when we were in the car travelling, we'd play Beetle using pen and paper.

A six thrown in the die allowed us to draw the beetle's body, and a five allowed us to add the head. Both of these had to be earned before we could start adding the peripheral body parts. Then we added legs, eyes, feelers and wings. When the boxed game came out later, the wings were replaced by a curly tongue.

Answer: Bobs

Hope you weren't expecting to see croquet among the answers! Bobs, Bob's Bridge or Bob's Balls, depending on where you grew up, is a bit like a variation of snooker. At one end of the table there's the wooden structure that's a series of bridges, or arches, each labelled with a number (that's where you earn your points).

We would lay an old blanket across the kitchen table and push it against the wall for us. We'd position the bobs 'bridge' at the wall end of the table, and use the cue or even just our hands to try to get the wooden balls through the arches. I am not even sure of all the rules anymore, but I still have the set my grandfather made for us. No idea why we painted it lilac.

Answer: Hookey

A hookey board reminds me a bit of a dart board but for kids. It's a similar concept but instead of throwing a dart to score, you throw a small ring that catches onto a hook numbered from one to thirteen. The one we had was triangular in shape, not round like most of the bought ones; and it conveniently had a net attached to the bottom to make it easier to collect ring that fell short. I don't know what the bought versions used for the rings, but we used to use the rubber rings that went under the rim of the lids of my grandmother's fruit and veg bottling jars!

Answer: Chinese Checkers

In this game, each player chooses which colour marbles they wish to play, then set their ten marbles up in the triangle closest to where they are sitting, with their opponent(s) doing the same on their side. The aim is to transfer your marbles to the other side of the board using a series of steps or by jumping your opponent's marbles. The worst feeling is to realise you've left one lone marble behind; then it becomes a race to see if you can get it 'home' before your opponent wins!

My grandfather made us a Chinese Checkers board, with a little drawer underneath in which to store the marbles.

Answer: Test Match

We were excited when we received this cricket board game one Christmas. The idea is to set up the field and 'bowl' at your opponents batsmen to get them out, while the batting side tries to score as many runs as possible.

Though some versions with more bells and whistles were released in the 1970s, the one we had was an earlier version that really simulated a test match with randomisers to indicate the type of ball bowled, and the type of stroke played by the batsman. Of course, I'd rather be at a real game of cricket!