Playing Parlor Games was a big part of a Victorian Christmas get together.
After an evening of trimming the Christmas Tree and singing Christmas Carols,
Victorians gathered in the parlor for an evening of fun and games. Below are
just a few samples of the games that were played.

Charades

Charades is a fun game to play when people come to visit. Players take turns being the actor. Each player writes down a word, name, or phrase on a piece of paper and puts it in a hat. The first actor takes a piece of paper from the hat. He or she must act out the mystery word or phrase within one or two minutes. Sometimes the actor gives clues such as pulling on an ear, a gesture that means "sounds like," and then acts out a word that rhymes with the word on the paper. The player who guesses the word or phrase is the next actor.

Twenty Questions

The settlers loved to pass the time playing Twenty Questions. It is still a fun game. One person thinks of a person, place, or thing. The other players try to guess who or what it is by asking questions that can be answered "yes" or "no." For example, a player may be thinking of a blacksmith. If another player asks "Are you thinking of an animal?" the answer would be "no." If the next question is "Are you thinking of a thing?" the answer would be "no." If the next question is" Are you thinking of a person?" the player answers "Yes." The game continues until the players discover who or what the person is thinking of, or until all twenty questions have been asked- whichever comes first.

Dumb Crambo

Two teams are needed for this game. Team 2 leaves the room while Team 1 picks a word, such as "pie," as well as a rhyming word to offer as a clue. Team 2 re-enters the room and is told that the secret word rhymes with "sky." Team 2's job is to act out the secret word. If the players on Team 2 are wrong, the Team 1 players hiss loudly. Team 2 keeps acting until the players guess the right word. Then it is Team 1's turn to leave the room while Team 2 picks a new word.

I Have A Basket

To Play this game, the players form a circle. The first player begins the game by saying "I have a basket." The person beside him or her asks "Whay'sa inside?" The first person has to name something that starts with the letter A. The second person has to name an object that begins with the letter B, and so on. The game gets interesting when the players reach the letters Q and X. What Q word would you put into your basket?

Taboo

Taboo players decide on a letter of the alphabet that will be forbidden in the game. One person is chosen to be It. The other players ask questions that might force him or her to use the forbidden letter. For example, if the letter D were chosen, one player might ask, "What animal has hoofs?" It would answer a "lamb". If It answered "deer," he or she would have used the forbidden letter. The questioning continues until It is forced to use the taboo letter. In a more difficult version of the game, the person who is It must answer in sentence form without using the taboo letter anywhere in the sentence: "The little lamb follows Mary to shcool on it's four little hoofs."

Gossip

The game of Gossip shows how the details of a news story change when the story passes from person to person to person. One player whispers a sentence in another player's ear. The sentence might be "Susan gave her itchy cat a bath. The bubbles made her father sneeze." The person who receives the message whispers it to the next person; however, the message is now "Susan gave her filthy cat to Ralph. The puddles gave her darker knees." As the message is passed along, more mistakes are made. The final message might be, "Susan had a silky rat. She laughed because its riddles gave her fleas!"

 
 
Thank you to Godeys Lady for providing this information!