Nineteenth- Century Canadian Children's Games | Tivy. In the Western world, up until the nineteenth century, the range of children's games and game materials were largely made. Many of these games had been played for centuries and knowledge of them was passed. ![]() Forms of most of these traditional games can be found within. During the 1. 80. These items were produced in Europe and the United States and imported. Canada in increasing numbers over the century. To what degree they altered the play of traditional games remains to be. Games Defined. 2 A game is usually defined as a contest, in which all players initially have the same capability to win. Games end when play determines a winner or loser. Game play may appear spontaneous and unsupervised, but is in fact guided. We say "play by the rules or you're out" and use symbols like "times out" to temporarily release us from the. Sociologists view games as "structured systems of behaviour," separate from the "real world."2 Games can be played without objects, although we often associate the term game with a visible item. Games differ from pastimes and toys because these activities do not contain the element of competition nor organized rules of play. Some items that are used. Games can be played by one player alone, as in card games such as solitaire, where the opposition lies in the difficulty. Game behaviour is culturally based and tends to be conservative, that is, it changes much slower than the rate of change of. Design of game items, especially design elements necessary for proper functioning of the game (as in the cubic. For instance, chess is an ancient East Indian war game that was adopted by the Persians and subsequently. Europe at the time of the Crusades. The European form of chess has not changed substantially in the last. The manufacture of these game materials certainly. Nevertheless, we are still playing the same eight hundred- year- old game, following. Research on Children's Games. Games and game playing are the subject of study of several disciplines, but most research on traditional children's games. This is due largely to the oral nature of children's game play and the method of game transmission. Hide and seek is an example of this type of game. Nineteenth- century folklorists such as Gomme (Traditional Games of England, Scotland and Ireland)5 and Newell (Games and Songs of American Children)6 focussed not only on the words, tune, materials and method of play of children's games, but also on their symbolic roots. Games like London Bridge is Falling Down were thought to reflect ancient beliefs about spirits of a river sabotaging manmade. These extrapolations were sometimes highly speculative and have become traditional beliefs on their own. Today, researchers. Little study of children's games and game play in Canada during the nineteenth century has been conducted. Canada did not. have folklore scholars during this period like Newell (United States) and Gomme (Britain) conducting systematic collecting. Primary and secondary sources that mention or describe games are generally limited. Canada. Occasionally, items like children's diaries containing. Comparative analysis of game materials from the 1. Traditional children's games do not include commercial products such as board games, but do include games which require props such as hopscotch or marbles. ![]() This is attributable in part to the. Like toys, favourite game materials were often played with until. Unlike toys, sentimental care rarely extended to preserving game materials in the home. Game objects have. In addition, our own cultural traditions and beliefs about pioneer life in Canada as. Recent interest. by history museums in games and pastimes has been fostered not so much by a perceived need to understand games and their place. Canadian culture, but by a need to produce a variety of dynamic programmes for school groups, including playing traditional. Current collecting of nineteenth- century handmade games and game boards has been precipitated by the folk art movement. Little attention is paid to the function of the. Because research materials are limited, children's games and game materials in Canada during the nineteenth. Traditional Children's Games. Traditional, or "folk,"8 games played in Canada during the nineteenth century encompass games without objects, including rhyming and chasing games. Like children's games during the 19th century, most adult games in Canada were traditional and required few purchased materials.
Many of these games were culturally widespread and their long and poorly documented. As with other aspects of folk culture, basic play. Although there is little documentation of nineteenth- century Canadian children playing these games, we can deduce that their. British, American. European antecedents that have been illustrated and described (see figs. Outdoor activities during the nineteenth. Church picnics and civic celebrations advertised a number of organized events for children, including. Singing games show a strong adherence to structure and cadence with variation in verse. Edith Fowke's collection of Canadian. Newell and Gomme. Counting out rhymes like. Onery, twoery, ickery Ann. Fillisy, Follisy, Nicholas, John. Beaver, weaver, stingelum, steever,O- U- T- spells, "out"1. Peterborough in 1. Fowke's collection as. Onery, twoery, ickery Ann. Fillicy, fallacy my son John. Quebum quavum English knavum. Stringle- um, strangle- um, BUCK! Her source dated its use to 1. Tintern, Ontario. Newell includes the following version used in New England about 1. Onery uery, hickory, Ann. Filisy, folasy, Nicholas John. Queevy, quavy, Irish Mary. Stingalum, stangalum, buck. Figs. 1, 2. Details of a painting Children's Games (1. Flemish painter, Pieter Brueghel. The painting illustrates scores of children's games, many of which, like leap. The hoops are barrel hoops from large barrels like. Display large image of Figure 1. Other singing games, such as London Bridge, I Sent A Letter to My Love, A Tisket A Tasket, In and Out the Windows, etc., which. Newell and Gomme. Forms of these games and skipping rhymes were probably. English- speaking Canadian children. Observation of recent changes in these. A skipping rhyme that I knew as a child had a very old cadence but a contemporary popular. Hopalong Cassidy How About a Date?" Today children sing "Hey Fonzy!, How About A Date?"1. Many of the words of the original have been maintained, and the skipping game is still the same. The best sources on singing. Fowke, Gomme, Newell and Brewster. Traditional children's games often use found, handmade, or locally made objects in the play, although a handmade game item. The corollary of this is also true: commercially, mass- produced game items. These game materials include tops, and during the nineteenth century tops were sometimes handmade by children using an old. A boy's diary dated 1. Wellington County in Ontario notes the purchase of two tops from a. Judging by the number of illustrations of children with hoops, hoop rolling appears to have been a popular activity. Hoops. were made of metal or wood. Barrels were the source of free hoops, but were difficult to roll because one edge of the hoop. Blacksmiths produced fine metal hoops with accompanying rods called "girs." Hoops. The demise of the hoop seems to correlate with the introduction of the bicycle. The bilboque, also known as ring and pin, or cup and ball, is an old gaming device that was present in Canada during the nineteenth. This manipulative device requires the child to hold onto the handle, swing the. Traditional puzzles seem to have been favourite game items throughout the nineteenth century. Children's books and journals. Traditional puzzle materials included topological puzzles, in which one tried to separate intertwined parts. Instructions. for the handwrought metal reproduction puzzle (fig. Games and Diversions of Argyleshire, published in 1. However, the reproduction is of an eighteenth- century piece in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution, while the heart. Waterloo County Old Order Mennonite craftsman in the traditional style he. Identical forms of these traditional puzzles were created in ivory by Chinese artisans in the mid- nineteenth century. Western market. The knowledge of these puzzle forms seems to have been widespread, and they have been documented. Orient and Europe. Shuttle puzzles, in which the numbered or lettered squares must be aligned chronologically. Plastic versions are popular today. Other traditional game items would have included skipping ropes, strings for. Clay marbles were available early in the nineteenth century and were by far the cheapest marble type. Children often made. Gomme's publication. Hand- blown glass marbles were exported from Germany by the 1. This. is probably an indication of contemporary collecting preferences as much as use and distribution of glass marbles during the. The 1. 86. 6 boy's diary from Wellington County mentioned previously has the entry "Washy Shepherd gave me. Glass marbles were handmade throughout the century and it was not until the 1. Porcelain marbles were also available. These appear in lesser quantities in contemporary collections. Although these latter. Ring- Taw and Nine- holes. With the exception of biloque, most of these games are recognized by twentieth- century school- aged children who visit the. Museum and Archive of Games, University of Waterloo, because the games formed part of the traditions carried by most eighteenth- . Canada. 1. 8 Traditional board games were carved and painted by hand throughout the 1. While. these games were likely fashioned by adults and may have been intended for adult play, we know that children also played them. Handmade boards not only expressed individual craftsmanship, but often reflected cultural tradition in manufacture, design. A special form of checkers was, and still is, played in Quebec. Jeu de dames uses a checkerboard of twelve by twelve squares rather than the standard chess/checker board of eight by eight squares. Other. boards were designed for games of backgammon, Parcheesi, Fox and Geese, and Mill, also called Nine- Men's Morris. Fox and Geese. is a game in which one player has one piece, the fox, which has great mobility to "capture" the many geese trying to surround. Games - The Canadian Encyclopedia. Games are distinguishable from other forms of play in that they are contests in which all players start out with equal chances of winning; they end when a winner or loser is determined; and although the play may appear spontaneous or unsupervised, it is in fact guided by rigid rules and procedures. Games. Games are distinguishable from other forms of play in that they are contests in which all players start out with equal chances of winning; they end when a winner or loser is determined; and although the play may appear spontaneous or unsupervised, it is in fact guided by rigid rules and procedures. Although many games are played without objects, the term & QUOT; game& QUOT; is often associated with a visible item. History of Games in Canada Many games have their roots in Europe and the US. Games have been played for centuries with little change as they came down through the years, passed from one child to another. The development of public education systems in Canada, featuring schools with playgrounds, fostered the spread of traditional group games and also served as a setting for the creation of new games. Forms of most of these traditional games, such as hopscotch and tag, are still popular with children today. In the 1. 9th century, boys and girls everywhere played games such as hide- and- go- seek, tag, blindman's buff, skipping, leap frog, hopscotch, red rover and puss- in- the- corner (the latter, known today as four square, is a game in which 5 children compete to occupy 4 places on the corners of a square). Even games such as & QUOT; I Spy& QUOT; and the sidewalk game of & QUOT; Step on a crack, you'll break your mother's back, step on a nail, you'll put your father in jail& QUOT; (inspired by the introduction of wooden sidewalks) are known to have been played by Canadian children a century ago. Like children everywhere, Canadian children played games with an assortment of ephemeral objects such as sticks, stones and & QUOT; junk.& QUOT; Since many families did not have money to spend on children's playthings, most game objects were made of & QUOT; found& QUOT; or inexpensive materials. These included knucklebones (small bones in the hind legs of a sheep) used as dice or in games like jacks. Hoops from discarded barrels or rims of wheels were trundled with sticks in races along roads and pathways. Marbles, which were played mainly by boys, were generally made of clay and could be homemade. Manufactured clay, glass, ceramic and agate marbles were imported from Germany until the early 2. US began mass manufacturing glass marbles. Marbles were used in games such as ring taw and conkers. Boys also played with tops. Again, these could be homemade, using a spool and dowel, or could be purchased from local stores. They came in many forms, including whipping tops, peg tops and hand spinners. Also popular was bilboquet, a game in which a ball is attached by a string to a handle with a cup- shaped end. The object of the game is to hold onto the handle, swing the ball up and try to catch it in the cup. Children played with balls and kites, and these too could be homemade. Commercially Manufactured Board and Table Games for Children. The second half of the 1. This industry not only produced copies of traditional and classic games but developed new games and game materials for a growing child market. Eventually, these materials filtered into children's game playing, but, although they were heavily advertised by the 1. During the first half of the 1. Britain, Germany, France and the US started producing game boards for children, but most were expensive since they were handpainted on linen. By the time of Confederation cheaper wood or cardboard games were available in most Canadian urban centres. Some were traditional games that had been played for hundreds of years in Europe, the US and Canada, eg, CHESS, chequers, backgammon, fox and geese, and 9- men's morris. Other games were newly designed for children's use and featured moral or educational themes to make them more attractive to parents. By the 1. 88. 0s, the children's game industry was actively producing and selling a number of board games which were for children's amusement only and which dealt with popular themes (such as & QUOT; The Little Shoppers Game& QUOT; ) rather than moral concerns. These games were mainly produced by American and some British companies, and it was not until 1. Canada Games Co was formed. This firm was a branch of the British Copp Clark Co and never fared very well; most of its games were cheaply made and less attractive than the American or European products. Nevertheless, it did produce some & QUOT; Canadianized& QUOT; versions of standard games, such as Toboggans and Stairs, which was based on the traditional Snakes and Ladders. Children's games were frequently manufactured by book publishers and were sold through mail order catalogues such as Eaton's (beginning in the 1. In addition to the games mentioned, late- 1. Fort and bagatelle were wooden table games with marbles as projectiles to hit targets. Fort stopped being manufactured in the 1. Because these 2 games were constructed of wood, they were also made locally by furniture and barrel manufacturers. Although the Canadian industry and market for children's games became stronger after WWI, Canadian game producers faced heavy competition from their American counterparts, who continued to develop blockbusters such as Monopoly, Clue and Scrabble. Throughout Canada's history, popular culture and technology have affected game playing. Group games such as tag were often renamed according to popular themes, for example, as & QUOT; Cowboys and Indians& QUOT; during the 1. Lately, these games are more likely to have & QUOT; space invader& QUOT; themes. With the advent of movies, radio and television, many children's board games took on popular personalities such as the 1. Leave It To Beaver Game, and this continues up to the present. J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and his The Lord of the Rings trilogy influenced the development during the late 1. Dungeons and Dragons. Combining the elements of chance and strategy within player- designed fantasy plots, these games usually feature exaggerated bravado and sex stereotyping in comic book fashion. Because of these elements their appeal is generally limited to adolescent males, and the engrossing nature of play has worried some parents. The recent popularity of fantasy role- playing games is evident in the growth of players' organizations and stores selling gaming equipment. The introduction of computer technology into the sphere of game playing witnessed a temporary boom of television and hand- held electronic games for children in the late 1. Some of these games were designed as educational materials; others were based on traditional sports. A corresponding development has been the gradual replacement of traditional pinball machines with video games, whose popularity has led to the development of video arcades. Games Played by Adults. Like children's games during the 1. Canada were traditional and required few purchased materials. Comparative lack of leisure time was probably the significant factor limiting game playing for most adults. Traditional European board games such as chequers, chess, backgammon and 9- men's morris were often handmade (9- men's morris is a strategy game based on a 3- in- a- row design and is little known to contemporary Canadians). In Qu. Г©bec, chequers, which was known as jeu de dames, was often played on a board of 1. Today all such handmade boards are considered & QUOT; folk art& QUOT; collectibles. Game producers manufacturing materials for children in the second half of the 1. Parlour games such as & QUOT; Authors& QUOT; (a card game in which you had to match an author with a quotation) and & QUOT; Lost Heir& QUOT; (a matching card game) were extremely popular. QUOT; Conversation Cards& QUOT; were question- and- answer card games designed to break the ice in mixed company in Victorian parlours. They were advertised as a blessing to bashful people and sometimes as & QUOT; leading to the gates of matrimony.& QUOT; Cards continued to be probably the most popular game items for adults. Playing at cards tended to be an urban adult activity, euchre and whist being the most popular in English- speaking Canada. Whist is an old European card game for 4 people involving a trump suit and the taking of tricks, and was the precursor of BRIDGE, which became popular in the 1. In the 1. 93. 0s and 1. Monopoly and Scrabble were released for adults, and as major sellers they were only recently outsold by the popular Canadian- produced game, Trivial Pursuit. В Marketed first in the early 1. Trivial Pursuit is a board game that involves answering questions provided on cards. Its success has been phenomenal, and in a complete role reversal, Canadian game inventors have provided a prototype that has been copied by American and European companies. An offshoot of the demand for this game has been the unprecedented flourishing of game invention in Canada by others hoping to achieve similar success. This interest has also sparked the revival of existing game firms in Canada, including the Canada Games Co. Their successful adult & QUOT; word and idea& QUOT; games such as Balderdash, QWR (Quick Wit and Repartee) and Waddington and Sander's Whatzit and Slang Teasers address a growing urban literate adult market first successfully identified in the 1. Trivial Pursuit. Other popular contemporary Canadian- made games for adults include Scruples (High Game Enterprises). The popularity of murder- mystery dramas involving audience participation has fostered the production of An Evening of Murder (Waddington- Sanders) games.
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