SPORTS AND GAMES.

Patea Mail, 31 August 1881, Page 2 (Supplement)

SPORTS AND GAMES.

CROSS QUESTIONS AND CROOKED ANSWERS. This is another game of a simple but amusing character. The players form a circle, and the garne begins. Oae player goes round the circle, and whispers to the others the answers that are to be given to questions which will be asked by the player who is ooming.altcr him. For instance, he will give to lone players, whom we will call numbers 1, 2, 3,» and 4, such answers as these:—“ Hot, please—and rather sweet,” “With my kin lest regards.” “At St. Lawrence oh Sea.” “ With sage and onions.” The first player will then give to the whole circle a general answer of some kind. After this, thq second player goes round to ask questions, and on the want of connection between, question, and answer the fun of the game rests. Fair instance, he will say to No. 1, “How did you enjoy your holiday?” The answer will be, “ Hot, please, ond rather sweet.” To No. 2, ho may say, “Shall we have dinner ?”—Answer, “ With my kindest regards;” and so. on, Tfie, game, will bo made more amusing by (he introduction of mild personalities. Of course, good temper is most essential to the. general enjoyment. No one must take, offence, when bis little weaknesses are exposed, blit, carefully waiting bis. time, he may retaliate, and so (urn the laugh against his opponent. There can be no doubt that when the questions and the answers refer to the company more fun is afforded than when reference is only made to general subjects. The good taste of ordinary yoong people will, as a rale, be a sufficient guard against the use of any offensive remarks. When good hnmour is forgotten, and the players seek to gratify personal spite, the sooner the game is abandoned the better. Flayed in its integrity, it is both harmless and entertaining. As a variety, it may be so arranged that questions and answers shall have only reference to animals and birds. In this ease, when questions and answers are told to the company, the players may attempt to imitate the animals to which the questions had reference.

THE CAPTAIN AND HI3 CREW AND PASSENGERS. {From the Queen.) A puzzle was lately proposed or inquired after in connection with the two lines:— From numbers aid and art Never will fame depart. The following explanation will perhaps be intelligible :—A captain is supposed to have on board his ship 30 men, of whom 15 are crew and 13 pasSen£enn —fa cgggcqaouc-a-of-provisions failing, it is resolved to throw half the whole number overboard. How can (bis be done to save all the crew and let the passengers go ? After mature, deliberation, the men are brought and placed in a certain order, acoordiug to the numbers presented by the vowels in the foregoing distioh, o—4, so let four of the crew stand in aline ; U=s, £o let five of the passengers taka their places in continuation ; E—2, so send in two of the crew; A=l, so add one passenger ; I=3, s) add three men ; A=l, so add another passenger; A=l, so send np another of the men; E=2, so send np two passengers ; E=2, so send up two men; A=l, send up another passenger; E 2, send up two more men ; E=2, send up two more passengers ; A=l, send in the last of your men. Passengers and crew are now arranged thus:— I | 1 1 +++++ l |+ | | |+| +f | | +++ I++ | |+. Here the upright strokes wpresent the men you wish to save, and the crosses are the followers of Jonah. Bogin and count one, two, three, &e., on to nine, and you will find it is a cross, which is cancelled. Continue the same process, and the second number will be a cross; cancel this, and go on the third, time, and, yo.n will find your ninth man boars his cross, and must be cancelled. Yon have now come to ths -end of the row within throe, so begin where you left off “one, two three”—then back to the beginning of your line, and count on “ four, five,” &l, to nine, which is a cross, and goes overboard. In this way you are to proceed until every cross is cancelled, which will , happen, if you go cm correctly, without touching one of those whom you may mean to heap. Instead of marks, cards or counters may bo need. The experiment may be tried in a company where as many as thirty persons, are present, and some oae to conduct the process. Allowing each fifteen to boar a distinctive badge, and calling them respectively Turks and Christians, or Jews and Turks, or passengers and orew, or whatever you will, you may throw overboard— i.e., send out of the line or circle—everyone whom it is your intention to send out.. If the general company are not let into the secret of the solu-' tion before tho game begins, the effect wiL be that of mystery ; and certainly it is one of the cleverest, as it is one of (ho most celebrated, puzzles over invented. The Jews use a Hebrew sentence, the initial letters in which give precisely the same results as the vowels in the English distich. It is neoessary in all oases to begin with four of those who are to be preserved. THE SECRET THAT TRAVELS. I This is a game of the simplest character, but which among young people will often be found to afford genuine amusement. It has this advantage—that any child can join in ! without having previously possessed a knowledge of the pastime. The players sit round a table, or, at least, dispose themselves in a circle. One player starts the game by whispering a sentence in the ear of a player on his right hand.. This sentence is the secret. The player to whom the secret has been confided tells it to his right hand neighbour, and so on, all round the table or circle. The last player repeats aloud the sentence as he understood it, and then the first player gives out the sentence in its original form. As a general rule, it will be fonnd that in passing from one to another the words have been so altered as to be almost nnreoognisable. The game, of coarse, is not likely to be indulged in by any bat the young members of a party.