Puzzles, Tricks, and Games

"Pocket Chess and Checkers. Always handy and a boon when traveling. Made in Hong Kong."

"Checkers with board. Contents, 24 pieces." This is the top of a box containing a pocket-size checkerboard.

Don't forget to make time for stunts during your Halloween party! This handy dandy Whirl-O spinner makes it easy. Who wouldn't want to "Whistle ' Yankee Doodle ' with a saucepan on your noodle" or "Throw ten feet, never fail, three potatoes in a pail"? You'll find out who can "Squirm and wiggle, then laugh and giggle" or who's more likely to "Keep a straight face for a while, let nobody make you smile." Of course, you'll have to prepare ahead of time. In addition to a saucepan, potatoes, and a pail, you'll need some string, a broom, a blindfold, an apple, some balloons, needle and thread, and a bunch of other stuff. Check out the full list of stunts below. You may want to practice each one before the party so that you can demonstrate for your guests. -------- Whirl-O Halloween Fortune and Stunt Game Take a string and where you stand, tie a knot with just one hand. Ride a broom around the floor, come back where you were before. Leap like a frog and give a croak. Walk a strait line to the end, never slip or descend. Turn blindfolded ten times round point to your love. On your tip-toes nice and fine, cross the room in one strait line. Push an apple, nothing more, with your nose across the floor. Stand up and bow, and moo like a cow. Squirm and wiggle, then laugh and giggle. Try your wind and see how soon you can burst a toy balloon. Take a needle, shove thread in it, all in less than half a minute. Throw ten feet, never fail, three potatoes in a pail. Swing an apple on a string, bite it on the second swing. See if you can show this knack, tie a bow behind your back. Whistle Yankee Doodle with a saucepan on your noodle, Bite and chew as fast as able five marshmallows from the table. Keep a straight face for a while, let nobody make you smile. Stand on your toes and wiggle your nose. Spin like a top until you have to stop. Make a spoon linger on your little finger.

Part of a game that encouraged schoolchildren to eat a healthy breakfast that included Kellogg's cereals. Late 1960s or perhaps early 1970s. Excerpts from the text of the leaflet: Kellogg's "Astronaut'" Breakfast Game (Will your team be first to reach the moon?) . . . You are now a member of one of the Moon Ship Crews that is racing to have breakfast on the moon. . . . When you have a healthful breakfast like the one pictured on the inside of this score card, you are helping your team win the race to the moon. . . .

A Japanese baseball menko card, which is a collectible sports trading card that was originally used in a children's card game . For additional illustrations of baseball menko, see John Gall's delightful book, Sayonara Home Run!: The Art of the Japanese Baseball Card . For another example, see Giants Menko Card .

A Japanese baseball menko card. As Wikipedia explains, " Baseball menko are an early type of Japanese baseball card, originally designed for use in the children's game of menko , but now avidly collected by baseball fans and card collectors. ('Menko' is both the singular and the plural form.)" For more information on baseball menko, see John Gall's fascinating book, Sayonara Home Run!: The Art of the Japanese Baseball Card . For another example, see Flyers Menko Card .

A Farmer's Love Letter Do you care at ( carrot ) all for me, for my heart beats ( beets ) for you and my love is as soft as a squash but as strong as an onion . For you are a peach with your reddish ( radish ) hair and turned-up ( turnip ) nose. You are the apple of my eye, so if we can't elope ( cantaloupe ) then let us ( lettuce ) marry anyhow, for I know we could make a happy pair ( pear )." For a fill-in-the-blanks version , see below:

A Famer's Love Letter My darling sweet ________, do you ________ all for me? My heart ________ for you and my love is soft as a ________. I am for you as strong as an ________. You are a ________ with your ________ hair and ________ nose. You are the ________ of my eye, so if we ________ then ________ be married for I know we will make a happy ________. For a postcard version , see below:

"You know how much I love you, but I just cantaloupe [can't elope] with you." See also You Had Better Ask Papa :

"You know I love you, but you had better ask papa, as I just cantaloupe [can't elope] with you." See also I Just Can't Elope! :

Or to put it more straightforwardly, this acquaintance card asks, "May I see you home?" The Encyclopedia of Ephemera (New York: Routledge, 2000), p 4, provides additional information: "A novelty variant of the American calling card of the 1870s and 1880s, the acquaintance card was used by the less formal male in approaches to the less formal female. Given also as an 'escort card' or 'invitation card,' the device commonly carried a brief message and a simple illustration.... Flirtatious and fun, the acquaintance card brought levity to what otherwise might have seemed a more formal proposal. A common means of introduction, it was never taken too seriously."

"May I see you home?"

Rebus: "Eye AM Uriah E. Heckert. W-Hoe T-He Devil R Yew?" Translation: "I am Uriah E. Heckert. Who the devil are you?" Acquaintance cards--like this rebus version--continue to attract some media attention. The latest is a Daily Mail posting by Annabel Fenwick Elliott on April 24. See her discussion of these "cheeky cards": " May I Have the Pleasure of Seeing You Home?' The 'Flirtation Cards' 19th-Century Men Used to Woo Ladies (But They Had to Be Returned If She Wasn't Interested) ."

Rebus: "May Eye C U Home My Deer." Translation: "May I see you home, my dear?" An acquaintance card that uses a rebus to ask its question. For a similar card, see I Am Uriah E. Heckert (below). For additional examples, see my Acquaintance Cards album.

Despite its discoloration, this small novelty ticket for the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad (1861-1907) is notable for its use of rebuses (see my translations of the pictures, numbers, and letters below) to indicate the children's fares and to request that passengers keep their feet off the seats. The back of the ticket (see below) indicates that this was a "Through Check." On railways where they're still used today, through checks are more commonly called seat checks. As I understand it, a conductor typically first inspects a passenger's train ticket, marks the destination on a seat check, and then places the check on or above the passenger's seat. This allows the conductor to keep track of passengers and which stops they need to get off at. Apparently, T. E. Metzgar was the only conductor who used a seat check like this, since it specifies on the back, "Good for this day and train only. With any other conductor it is useless." My best guess, then, is that Metzgar had these printed himself and may have used them on special occasions or perhaps just for children. Has anyone else seen anything similar? Philadelphia & Erie R.R. Rebus: "Key-P UR Boots & Shoes off the Seats." Translation: "Keep your boots and shoes off the seats." T. E. Metzgar, conductor. Rebus: "5 Children Free." Translation: "Children under 5, free." Rebus: "12 Children 5 Half Fare" Translation: "Children over 5 and under 12, half fare."

"I am C. Y. Young, who the devil are you?" These two "devil cards" date to 1877.

"I am (Devil Cards), who the devil are you?" A selection of devilish acquaintance and calling cards from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (see above and below).