Really, Really Old School Gaming

by Gen

Looking forward to a great weekend of games at U-Con?  Enjoy game nights with your family and friends on the other weekends of the year?  Well, you have the Victorians to thank!

Most people in our entertainment-obsessed society think of the Victorians as rather proper and boring (when they bother to think of the Victorians at all).  But the truth is, those tight corsets and shirt collars didn’t stop the Victorians from cutting loose with a fun evening of games.

Humans have always played games, but game nights became hugely popular in the nineteenth century.   The middle and upper class people of the United States and Great Britain found themselves with more free time than in previous eras, and they loved to entertain each other in their homes, especially in the family parlor.  The “parlor games” they played were enjoyed by both children and adults, and a great many of them you would recognize today.

Have you played Taboo, Balderdash, or Outburst?  Congratulations, you’ve played a Victorian parlor game! Balderdash, for example, is the modern, boxed version of Dictionary, a parlor game the Victorians played with nothing more than a dictionary, a pencil, and bits of paper.  We still play Charades and 20 Questions, as well as Murder (or Wink Murder, as it is also called).  You may have heard of Blind Man’s Bluff as an old game for kids, but try to picture it being played by ladies in long skirts and men in evening jackets, and it suddenly becomes far more silly and hilarious.

Interested in finding out more?   Come to the Masquerade Contest and Social on Saturday evening at 6pm–not only will we pay tribute to these historical gems, but we’ll try some of them out!  And your ticket is free!

Oh, and there will also be fabulous costumes and prizes, and lots of general good times.  See you there!