The Games People Play Trivia Game | Games & Toys

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. As the hostess with the mostest you have organised an evening of Canasta. What is Canasta?

Answer: A card game

Canasta is a form of rummy. It is normally played by four people in two partnerships with two standard decks of cards. Like rummy the idea is to make sets of cards, in this case seven of the same rank, and you go out by playing all of your cards. In the post World War II era when there was no television and money was short card evenings were a very popular form of entertainment.

2. The large houses of the rich and aristocratic often had a games room. In the late 1800s, which game would male guests be invited to participate in?

Answer: Snooker

The snooker room was strictly a male preserve. They could also smoke and drink freely there without having to observe many of the social niceties required in mixed company. The women were expected to retire to a separate room where they entertained themselves, sometimes with a game of cards, or with the latest fashion magazines. Where card or board games were part of the entertainment offered at a party these were for both sexes.

3. One very popular game at English country house parties involved a mallet, balls and hoops. What was this?

Answer: Croquet

Croquet lawns were an integral part of the country house garden, and some even had indoor croquet areas in case of wet weather. The game took England by storm in the 1860s, both as a recreational pastime and as a competitive sport. The All England Croquet Club was founded at Wimbledon in 1868.

4. One gambling card game was very popular in England during the Regency period. It was played at parties, in side rooms at dances and in gambling halls. What was it?

Answer: Faro

Faro originated in France, but quickly came to England, and then to America. It was very popular because the rules were easy to learn and the play was fast. Played with one deck and a banker, any number of players could participate. Unfortunately though cheating became rife and the game soon garnered an unsavoury reputation.

5. Played by two teams, one team guessing a topic set by the other team, which parlour game has been popular entertainment for many years?

Answer: Charades

Charades, where one member of a team acts out a topic set by the other team for their team mates to guess, has been popular at parties for many years.
It was a staple entertainment for guests at house parties, as well as for families at Christmas. So popular has it been over the years that various television series, including the British "Give Us A Clue" and the Canadian "Acting Crazy" have been based on it.

6. A forerunner of pin ball machines, what was the name of the game that consisted of a wooden board, with semi-circles of nails hammered in it and metal balls propelled by a spring loaded pull handle?

Answer: Bagatelle

Bagatelle was a very popular home table top game from the 1930s through to the early 1960s. Boards were around 3ft long, with a semi circular top end. A raised edge ran round the whole board. The metal balls, which were about the size of marbles, were launched by pulling back a spring loaded handle, which to a skilled player gave quite a lot of control. Points were scored by the ball landing in one of the semi-circles of nails placed at various places on the board.

7. Which of these is the odd one out?

Answer: Old Maid

Old Maid is a card game, the others are all board games. The purpose of Old Maid is to pair up and then discard all your cards. The game is played with 51 cards, either with a special deck, or with a normal deck of cards with one queen taken out. The player left with either the Old Maid card or the spare queen is the loser.

8. The Victorians were very fond of memory and logic parlour games. Which of the following was a real game?

Answer: Elephant's foot umbrella stand

Elephant's foot umbrella stand was a real memory test. Player one would start by saying "I went to the store and bought an elephant's foot umbrella stand". Subsequent players would then add items but had to recite the whole list before adding their own. In addition to this each item had to start with the next letter of the phrase "elephant's foot umbrella stand", so number two could be large plate, number three egg whisk, number four paper bag etc. etc.
Players were eliminated as they missed something from the list or did not start their item with the correct letter.

9. Popular with adults and children, which game involves one person trying to identify others in the group by feel only?

Answer: Blind Man's Bluff

One person is blindfolded, the other guests scatter and hide around the room and the blindfolded person tries to find them. When they catch someone they have to identify them by touch alone. If they are right that person is then the blindfolded one. If wrong they stay blindfolded until they do catch and identify someone. This game has been played at parties since the early 1800s.

10. Pencil and paper games were a popular pastime at country house parties. Which one involves everyone adding one line to a story without seeing any of the previous lines?

Answer: Consequences

The more players the better for this one. Player one writes one line of a story, folds the paper over so what they have written cannot be seen and passes it to player two. Player two adds a line, folds it over, passes it one and so on to the last player. The paper is then unfolded and the story read out.

Source: Author Christinap

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor WesleyCrusher before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

The Games People Play Trivia Quiz

Games used to be a large part of social entertaining. This is a look at games that could have been played at parties, or just in the evening at home, over the years.

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