Old Fashioned Party Games for Adults

Parlor games as they were played before boxed games, each with its steps: press Pick 3 new games.

Old Fashioned Party Games for Adults

  1. Think of a Number and Halve It1. Ask a neighbor to think of any number and keep it secret. 2. Tell them to double it, then to add an even number that you name aloud. 3. Tell them to halve the total, then to take away the number they first thought of. 4. Announce what is left. It is always half of the even number you gave. Players: 2 to 12. Time: 4 min. Props: none.
  2. Dumb Crambo1. Half the company leaves the room. Those who stay choose a verb, such as tell. 2. The others are called back and told only a word it rhymes with, such as sell. 3. They talk it over, then silently act a word they think it might be, such as felling a tree. 4. The watchers clap if the word is right and hiss if it is wrong. Nobody on either side may speak until the word is found. Players: 6 to 20. Time: 15 min. Props: none.
  3. The Adventurers: A Journey, a Purchase and a Gift1. The company imagines itself a party of travelers and agrees on a starting place. 2. The first player says where they will go and by what conveyance, what they will buy there, and which friend at home will be given it. 3. The purchase has to be something that country really makes or grows, and the gift has to suit the friend. A mistake of either kind, such as going to a hot country for furs, costs a forfeit. 4. The next player sets out from the spot where the last one stopped. The old book allows a map on the table. Players: 3 to 14. Time: 10 min. Props: none.

Next step Deal charades, the other acting gameMore games for a tea table

How it works

These old fashioned party games for adults come from one London games book of Queen Victoria's reign. Each is retold as numbered steps with players, minutes and props, and the rough ones are left out.

Read the full guide

Victorian tea party games, played from a chair

For a tea table, choose Spoken word and rhyme games or Guessing and thinking games in the All games menu. Nearly all are played from a chair, apart from the players sent out of the room.

What a forfeit was

A player who slipped handed over a glove or a pen, and won it back at the end by a trick task. Crying the Forfeits, in Circle games and forfeits, gives three, each with its harmless answer.

Tips
  • Crambo is old: Wikipedia, citing Joseph Strutt, says it was played as early as the 14th century under another name.
  • More filters, the last entry of the All games menu, keeps the games with No props.

Questions and answers

What games did people play at parties before board games came in boxes?

Parlor games: acting, rhyming, guessing and circle games that needed a hat, a handkerchief or nothing at all. Dumb Crambo, How, When and Where and The Elements, With a Ball on a String are three from the old book.

Which old fashioned birthday party games are quick to learn?

The circle games. In Flying: Flutter a Hand for Every Bird, every hand flutters when a flying creature is named. The Feather Kept in the Air and The Bird-Catcher are as quick to learn.

Were Victorian parlor games rough?

Some were. The old book has games with slaps, candle flames, courting and tricks played on one guest. None of those is on this list, and the one blindfold game is played seated.

How do you play crambo?

Each player draws a question from one hat and a noun from another, then writes a rhyme that answers the question and uses the noun. In Dumb Crambo, a team acts out words that rhyme with a clue instead.

More tools

Browse Acting and Drawing

All 40 games

Acting and copying games 8

  • Acting Proverbs in Dumb Show 1. Each actor chooses a proverb and tells nobody. 2. One at a time they act it without a word. A player who keeps letting a cup slip before it reaches the mouth is showing "there's many a slip between the cup and the lip." 3. The spectators guess the proverb. 4. The actors need no connection with one another: each proverb stands alone. Players: 4 to 16. Time: 15 min. Props: a few things from the room.
  • Acting Rhymes, One Actor at a Time 1. The company chooses a word with plenty of rhymes, such as flow. 2. The first player silently acts a word that rhymes with it: drawing a bow, mowing grass or rowing a boat. 3. The others guess that word before anyone acts the next. 4. Go around the room until nobody can think of another rhyme. Players: 4 to 16. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • The Comic Concert 1. The leader gives every player an imaginary instrument: a violin, a harp, a flute, a piano. 2. All play at once, in action and in voice, with the leader on an instrument too. 3. Without warning, the leader drops that instrument and takes up somebody else's. 4. That player must switch at once to the leader's old instrument. Everyone watches the leader, ready to change. Players: 5 to 20. Time: 8 min. Props: none.
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Acting and copying games, continued

  • Dumb Crambo 1. Half the company leaves the room. Those who stay choose a verb, such as tell. 2. The others are called back and told only a word it rhymes with, such as sell. 3. They talk it over, then silently act a word they think it might be, such as felling a tree. 4. The watchers clap if the word is right and hiss if it is wrong. Nobody on either side may speak until the word is found. Players: 6 to 20. Time: 15 min. Props: none.
  • My Master Has Sent Me Unto You 1. Sitting in a circle, the first player says to a neighbor, "My master has sent me unto you," while hammering one hand on a knee. 2. The neighbor asks, "What to do?" The answer is, "To work with one as I do." 3. The neighbor starts hammering and passes the same words on, until the whole room is working with one hand. 4. The next rounds add the second hand, then one foot, then both feet, then the head. Anyone caught resting pays a forfeit. Players: 5 to 20. Time: 8 min. Props: none.
  • The Rule of Contrary With a Tablecloth 1. Everyone stands around a small tablecloth and takes hold of the edge with one hand. 2. The leader says, "Here we go round by the rule of contrary. When I say Hold fast, you must let go. When I say Let go, you must hold fast." 3. The leader then calls one or the other, and everyone has to do the contrary. 4. A player who obeys the words pays a forfeit. Players: 4 to 14. Time: 6 min. Props: a small tablecloth.
  • The Two Hats: Do the Opposite 1. One player holds two hats, puts one on and hands the other to a friend. 2. From that moment the friend must do the exact opposite of the first player. 3. If the first sits, the second stands. If the first puts the hat on, the second takes it off. 4. Carry the rule of contrary as far as it will go, then pass both hats on. Players: 3 to 12. Time: 6 min. Props: two hats.
  • What Am I Doing? The Leader Behind the Chairs 1. Six or more players sit in a straight row, and the leader stands behind the first chair. 2. The leader pulls a face, shakes a fist or does some other antic, then asks the seated player, "What am I doing?" 3. A player who cannot say stands up and silently copies the antic until told to stop. 4. The leader moves along the row. Soon most of the row is on its feet. Players: 7 to 16. Time: 8 min. Props: a row of chairs.

Spoken word and rhyme games 8

  • The Adventurers: A Journey, a Purchase and a Gift 1. The company imagines itself a party of travelers and agrees on a starting place. 2. The first player says where they will go and by what conveyance, what they will buy there, and which friend at home will be given it. 3. The purchase has to be something that country really makes or grows, and the gift has to suit the friend. A mistake of either kind, such as going to a hot country for furs, costs a forfeit. 4. The next player sets out from the spot where the last one stopped. The old book allows a map on the table. Players: 3 to 14. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Cross Questions and Crooked Answers 1. Sitting in a circle, the first player whispers a question to the next and remembers the answer whispered back. 2. That player then whispers a question of their own to the next player, and so on around the circle. The last asks the first. 3. Everyone then says aloud the question they were asked and the answer they were given to their own question. 4. Put together, the two make nonsense. Players: 5 to 14. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • I Apprenticed My Son 1. A player says, "I apprenticed my son to a grocer, and the first thing he sold was half a pound of C." 2. The others guess in turn, one guess each: coffee, cocoa, chicory. 3. Whoever names the right goods apprentices a son next, to any trade they like. 4. Only the first letter is ever given. Players: 3 to 14. Time: 8 min. Props: none.
  • The Schoolmaster: A Bird Beginning With C 1. The players sit in a row as a class, with one player in front as schoolmaster. 2. The schoolmaster points at the top of the class and asks for something by its first letter, such as a bird beginning with C, and counts to ten. 3. If no answer comes in time, the question passes down the row. A pupil who answers moves up above those who failed. 4. Questions must follow fast. A spelling bee is run the same way. Players: 5 to 16. Time: 10 min. Props: a row of chairs.
  • Shouting Proverbs 1. One player leaves the room. The others choose a proverb and take one word of it each. 2. The guesser comes back, stands close and says, "Charge! Present! Fire!" 3. On "Fire!" every player shouts their own word at the same moment. 4. The guesser has to pick the proverb out of the noise, and usually needs several volleys. Players: 5 to 14. Time: 8 min. Props: none.
  • The Spanish Merchant 1. The first player says to a neighbor, "I'm a Spanish merchant." 2. The neighbor asks, "What do you sell?" 3. The merchant names any goods, such as gold, silk or glass, and while saying it has to be quietly touching something made of it. 4. The neighbor becomes the merchant. A merchant who sells what they are not touching pays a forfeit. Players: 3 to 14. Time: 6 min. Props: none.
  • The Traveler's Alphabet 1. The first player says, "I am going on a journey to Amsterdam," or any place beginning with A. 2. The next asks, "What will you do there?" The answer uses only words beginning with A: "I shall articulate ancient anthems." 3. The second player takes B, the third C, and so on. 4. Go through the alphabet, or stop when another game is called for. Players: 3 to 14. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Who Was He? Four Traits, One Guess 1. One player thinks of a well-known figure from history and names four things that mark that person out. 2. With only those four facts, the company has to name the person at once. 3. Each player gets a single guess, and a wrong guess costs a forfeit. 4. Whoever is right describes the next figure. Players: 3 to 14. Time: 10 min. Props: none.

Guessing and thinking games 8

  • Finding the Ring by Arithmetic 1. Number the players. While you look away, they put a ring on one finger of one of them. 2. Ask someone to work a sum: double the number of the person and add 3, multiply by 5, add 8 for the right hand or 9 for the left, multiply by 10, add the number of the finger, counting the thumb as 1, and add 2. 3. Ask for the result and take away 222 in your head. 4. The digits that remain give the person, the hand (1 for right, 2 for left) and the finger. Players: 4 to 12. Time: 6 min. Props: a ring.
  • How, When and Where 1. One player leaves the room. The others choose a word with several meanings, such as cord and chord. 2. The guesser returns and asks each player in turn, "How do you like it?" Answers might be strong, or sweet. 3. A second round asks, "When do you like it?" and a third, "Where do you like it?" 4. Each answer must be true of one meaning of the word. The player whose answer gives it away goes out next. Players: 4 to 14. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • The Object Game: Two Circles Race 1. The party splits into two circles sitting well apart. One player from each goes out, and the two agree on any object at all. 2. They come back, and each sits in one of the circles. 3. Each circle questions its visitor, by custom with no more than twenty questions. 4. The first circle to name the object wins. Players: 8 to 20. Time: 12 min. Props: none.
  • Person and Object 1. Two players leave the room and agree on a famous person and one thing that belongs to that person. 2. They come back, one as the person and the other as the object. 3. The company questions each of them in turn. The person answers only for the person, and the object only for the object. 4. The round ends when someone names both. Players: 4 to 14. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Proverbs Hidden a Word at a Time 1. One player leaves the room, and the others choose a short proverb. 2. The guesser returns and asks each player a question, in order around the room. 3. The first answer has to contain the first word of the proverb, the second answer the second word, and so on. 4. When the proverb is guessed, the player whose answer gave it away is the next to go out. Players: 5 to 14. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Think of a Number and Halve It 1. Ask a neighbor to think of any number and keep it secret. 2. Tell them to double it, then to add an even number that you name aloud. 3. Tell them to halve the total, then to take away the number they first thought of. 4. Announce what is left. It is always half of the even number you gave. Players: 2 to 12. Time: 4 min. Props: none.
  • Throwing Light 1. Two players privately agree on a word that sounds like another, such as hare and hair. 2. They talk about it in front of everyone, slipping between its meanings: "I saw one in the country," "Mine is dark brown." 3. A listener who thinks they know the word joins the talk with a remark of their own. 4. A listener who joins in with the wrong word has a handkerchief laid over their head until the word is found. Players: 4 to 12. Time: 10 min. Props: a handkerchief.
  • What Is My Thought Like? 1. One player thinks of a thing and tells nobody. 2. Each of the others says what the thought is like: a rainbow, a monkey, an umbrella. 3. The thinker then says what the thought was. 4. Each player in turn has to explain why it is like the thing they named. The best answers come from the worst matches. Players: 3 to 12. Time: 10 min. Props: none.

Circle games and forfeits 8

  • The Bird-Catcher 1. Every player but one chooses a bird whose cry they can imitate. Nobody may choose the owl. 2. They sit with hands on knees while the bird-catcher tells a story full of birds. 3. A player whose bird is named gives its cry. At "all the birds in the air," everyone cries at once. 4. When the owl is named, all hands go behind backs until the next bird. A player whose hand the bird-catcher catches on the way pays a forfeit and tells the story next. Players: 5 to 14. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Buff With the Wand, Seated 1. One player is blindfolded and holds a stick. Here that player sits on a chair in the middle, which the old book does not ask for. 2. The others join hands and walk around to music. 3. When the music stops, the seated player lowers the stick toward the ring, and whoever it points at takes hold of the end. 4. The seated player makes any odd noise, and the holder copies it in a disguised voice. A right guess at who it is changes places. Players: 6 to 16. Time: 10 min. Props: a blindfold, a stick, a chair and music.
  • Crying the Forfeits 1. During the evening, each mistake costs a forfeit: a glove, a pen or a ring, left in a basket. 2. At the end, one player holds up each thing unseen behind the judge and asks what its owner must do to win it back. 3. The judge names a task from the old trick list: put yourself through the keyhole, leave the room with two legs and come back with six, or put one hand where the other cannot touch it. 4. Each has a harmless answer: push a paper marked "yourself" through the keyhole, carry in a chair, and hold your right elbow in your left hand. Players: 4 to 20. Time: 15 min. Props: a basket for the forfeits, paper and a pen.
  • The Elements, With a Ball on a String 1. The players sit around the room. One holds a soft ball on a string, so that it can be pulled back. 2. That player throws the ball to someone and names an element: earth, air or water. 3. Before ten can be counted, the player it touches has to name a creature that lives in that element. 4. If the thrower says "fire," the catcher must stay silent. Anyone who speaks at fire pays a forfeit. Players: 5 to 16. Time: 8 min. Props: a soft ball on a string.
  • The Feather Kept in the Air 1. Draw the chairs into a close circle. 2. One player throws a small downy feather high above the middle of the ring. 3. Everyone blows to keep it from landing on them. 4. The player it touches pays a forfeit and throws it up again. Players: 4 to 12. Time: 6 min. Props: a small downy feather.
  • Flying: Flutter a Hand for Every Bird 1. Each player rests the right hand on the left arm. 2. The leader tells a story. At the name of any creature that can fly, every right hand has to rise and flutter. 3. At the name of a creature that cannot fly, hands stay still. 4. The leader mixes cuckoos and larks with cats and cows to catch people out. Each mistake is a forfeit. Players: 4 to 20. Time: 8 min. Props: none.
  • Hunt the Ring on a String 1. Thread a ring or a small key onto a long string and knot the ends to make a loop. 2. The players stand in a circle, each holding the string in both hands, with one player in the middle. 3. They slide the ring from hand to hand along the string, hiding it under their fingers. 4. The hunter in the middle tries to stop it by touching the hand that holds it. Whoever is caught with it hunts next. Players: 6 to 16. Time: 8 min. Props: a ring or small key and a long string.
  • Spin the Trencher 1. Each player takes the name of something a lady needs when dressing for a ball: a fan, a slipper, a brush. 2. The leader spins a wooden plate on its edge in the middle of the floor and calls for one of those things. 3. Its owner has to catch the plate before it stops spinning, then spins it and makes the next call. 4. When the word "toilet" is called, everyone changes seats. Missing the plate or the change costs a forfeit. Players: 6 to 16. Time: 10 min. Props: a wooden plate.

Pen and paper games 8

  • Bouts-Rimés: Verses to Given Rhymes 1. Every player writes two rhyming words in the corner of a slip. 2. Collect the slips and read all the pairs aloud. 3. Everyone then writes a short stanza that uses every one of those rhymes. 4. Read the poems aloud and hear how far apart the same rhymes can land. Players: 3 to 12. Time: 15 min. Props: paper and pens.
  • Capping Verses Under the Fold 1. Everyone writes one line of verse at the top of a sheet, their own or from memory. 2. Fold the line out of sight and pass the sheet to the right, telling that neighbor only its last word. 3. Each player adds a line that rhymes with the hidden one, folds and passes again. 4. After once or twice around the table, open the sheets and read them out. Players: 4 to 12. Time: 12 min. Props: paper and pens.
  • Crambo With Two Hats 1. Each player gets two slips of different colors and writes a noun on one and a question on the other. 2. Nouns go into one hat and questions into another. Shake them, and everyone draws one of each. 3. Each player writes a rhyme that answers the question and brings in the noun. 4. Read them aloud. The less the noun suits the question, the better the verse. Players: 3 to 12. Time: 15 min. Props: paper slips in two colors, pens and two hats.
  • Definitions, Every Subject by Everyone 1. Each player writes a subject for definition on a slip, such as friendship or Monday. 2. The leader reads all the subjects aloud while everyone copies the list. 3. Each player writes a definition of every subject on the list, not only their own. 4. Read them out subject by subject. The old book calls this one unfit for very young children and good for a quiet hour. Players: 3 to 10. Time: 15 min. Props: paper and pens.
  • Original Sketches, Guessed in Writing 1. Everyone draws a small sketch of a scene at the top of a sheet. Agree on a subject first, such as scenes from history, or leave it open. 2. Pass the sheets to the left. Each player writes at the bottom what they think the sketch shows, and folds that guess under. 3. Keep passing until every player has guessed at every sketch, without reading earlier guesses. 4. Collect the sheets and read the guesses for each one. Players: 4 to 10. Time: 15 min. Props: paper and pencils.
  • The Reviewers 1. Each player writes a book title at the top of a sheet, real or invented, folds it under and passes to the left. 2. Below the fold, each adds a second title, beginning "or," then folds and passes. 3. Next comes a motto or a line of poetry, and last, two or three opinions of the press. 4. Nobody looks under a fold. Collect the sheets and read each finished book aloud. Players: 4 to 12. Time: 15 min. Props: paper and pens.
  • The Sentence From Given Letters 1. This was one of the old forfeit tasks and stands well as a game. The leader calls out six or seven letters. 2. Every player writes them down in that order. 3. Each player then writes a sentence in which the first word begins with the first letter, the second word with the second letter, and so on. 4. Read the sentences aloud. The same letters never give the same sentence twice. Players: 3 to 14. Time: 8 min. Props: paper and pens.
  • Transposed Names 1. Each player takes a well-known name or a long word and rearranges all its letters into other words or a short phrase. 2. Write the phrase on a slip and hand it to a neighbor. 3. The neighbor has to work back to the name. 4. Loose letters on card do as well as pencil and paper. The more complete the disguise, the better. Players: 2 to 10. Time: 12 min. Props: paper and pens, or a box of letters.

How this list was compiled: Written by the Game Night Generator editors on 2026-10-03 for adults who want the games people played before boxed games. Every entry is our own wording of a game in one old printed book, and player ranges and times are our estimates. Courting games and games with a flame, a blow or a trick on one guest were left out, and a forfeit here is a glove or a pen won back by a harmless task. The book was read on 2026-10-03 as Project Gutenberg eBook 49137 (public domain in the USA) at https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/49137: Cassell's Book of In-door Amusements, Card Games, and Fireside Fun, third edition, Cassell, Petter, Galpin and Co., London, whose own text mentions the general election of 1880. What is said about the age of crambo and of bouts-rimés was checked the same day at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crambo and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouts-Rim%C3%A9s. Licence: own work