THE LATEST METHOD OF PASSING WINTER EVENINGS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 600, 3 August 1933, Page 2

THE LATEST METHOD OF PASSING WINTER EVENINGS

BRID'GE UNCH ALLEN GED Huitnan fancies, for amiisemehts, fashions, and so on, run in cycles. This observations is prompted by the. sudden return to favour of the. jigsaw puzzle, a form of recreation wellknown to our ancestors. Although these puzzles have never quite disappeared from sight they ' have been by no means at the top of a wave of popularity for a long time. 'Now it is different. There is a definite demand for them, and this winter they have been amazingly popular as a means of passing away the time ,by the fifeside on a cold evening. Impetus has been added to the demand for them by the practice of some manufacturers of other articles in giving away small puzzles with them as an incentive to people to buy the object of greater value. Most of the puzzles sold are made in either England or New Zealand. Some contairi hundreds of pieces and are most complieated, sometimes taking from" four to six hours to put together. What will be the next game in demand is impossible to say. Mah •Jangg, over which a treinendous craze arose four or five. years ago, seems to be almost worked out. One of the chief reasons for this no doiibt is the price of the sets, which made the game decidedly expensive. Nothing has appeared to threaten the supremacy of bridge among card games. There is an increasing acceptance of Contract in favour of ! Auction, but probably most people still play the latter although a con•vert to Contract declares it to be twice the game that the older version js. Contract, however, because it is study in itself and requires a good deal ,of attehtion, will probably never be universally taken up. For children the old favourites 'of ludo, snakes and ladders and other games still retain their popularity, but of cours'e the children of that , age have generally to take what they i. are given.