Social Games

History

Social games, such as "tag," "charades," and "trivia," are popular around the world. Many social games began as children's games, but have since been altered for the enjoyment of adults and families.

The origins of most social games remain unknown, though similar games seem to have developed independently on different continents. Chasing games, mind games, and theatrical games are all known to have existed in ancient societies. Tracing the exact origins of games is difficult, because in most cases, historians did not consider it worthwhile to record the development of games.

Historians have found references to social games in prehistoric paintings and pictograms. Chasing games, like "tag," appear in hieroglyphics from ancient Egypt. Mosaics from Greece and paintings from Europe and Asia depict similar types of children's games. Historians believe that adults in ancient Greece also played some forms of social games, which involved dancing and singing competitively.

Historical records from the Middle Ages note that children in Europe played a variety of games involving songs and rhymes about current events. Many of these games remained popular in later centuries, though the songs and rhymes lost some of their original meaning. In other cases, children maintained the same melody and cadence of the original song but modernized the lyrics.

Many games that are now internationally popular were invented in European parlors and social clubs during the 1500s. Charades is believed to have originated as a parlor game in sixteenth-century France. At that time, social games were especially popular among the upper classes. Most early parlor games were not physically strenuous, but instead involved demonstrations of wit and knowledge.

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, parlor games reached the zenith of their popularity in Europe and America. Sexually suggestive and adult-themed parlor games became popular in middle-class social circles. Children's games such as "spin the bottle" or "blind man's bluff" became popular among adults, and were modified by the addition of more mature content.

During the 1930s, social games experienced a second renaissance, partially due to their increasing popularity among the social elite. Socialite, author, and professional hostess Elsa Maxwell was famous for her parties, which regularly involved playing social games. Her parties were attended by many of the era's most famous celebrities and were widely covered in the popular media. Maxwell introduced a party game version of the "scavenger hunt" as well as a host of other games.

Interest in social games declined with the advent of television and other forms of electronic entertainment. Some toy companies began to market new versions of popular party games. These "board games" allowed social gaming to remain popular, and have helped to preserve games that originated in ancient cultures.

Types of Social Games

Chasing/searching games are among the oldest and simplest social games. One player is chosen as the chaser and the other players try to evade the chaser without being "captured." Anyone who is captured becomes the chaser in the next round of the game. There are hundreds of variations on this basic theme, including "hide and seek," "tag," "freeze tag," and "flashlight tag." Another type of searching game is the scavenger hunt, in which an object is hidden and players are asked to follow clues in order to find the hidden item. Scavenger hunts have existed since antiquity, but became popular as a party game during the 1930s. Today, a variety of online scavenger hunts have been created, wherein players search the internet for information that leads to the next clue.

Knowledge games are competitive social contests based on the players' knowledge of certain kinds of information. Trivia games are popular among children and adults, and have evolved into hundreds of varieties. Many trivia games are specialized into different genres, including entertainment, sports, pop culture, and science. Some bars and restaurants feature a trivia night, where customers organize into groups and compete in answering trivia questions for prizes. These events have increasingly been organized according to themes, particularly focusing on popular television series or films.

There are a variety of social games that involve imitation or performance. One of the most popular imitation games is "charades," in which players take turns performing a scene or making a series of meaningful gestures while other players try to guess what the performer is attempting to imitate. There are hundreds of varieties of charades based on genre, category, or specific rules.

Educators and social scientists believe that imitation is important for learning, especially in children. By imitating the behaviors of animals and other people, children may learn to develop critical thinking skills, as well as increased coordination and communication abilities.

There are a variety of games that are focused on kissing or other types of physical contact that may be more appropriate for teenagers or adults. There are dozens of kissing games in which a player uses a random pattern generator (dice, a spinning bottle, drawing cards from a deck) to determine which pairs of individuals should engage in a kiss.

"Truth or dare" is another popular game in which players, moving around a circle, are given a choice of answering a question (usually a personal one) or performing some sort of activity.

Trends

Some consider online gaming to be the modern result of the evolution of social gaming. Online games come in a variety of forms, from basic card games to advanced military simulations. Players from around the world meet at virtual gaming sites to play competitive and/or cooperative games and to socialize with fellow gamers. Some online games may be played by thousands of players simultaneously, while others allow two players to engage in a private game. Online social gaming has further increased in popularity as games have become accessible on an even wider variety of platforms, including mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. Additionally, many games have been available through social media networks.

Social scientists believe that involvement in social games is an important component in children's education and social development. By playing social games, children can enhance physical fitness while exercising their imaginative and creative thinking. In addition, many children learn basic social skills by playing different types of social games.

Learning More

Books

Callery, Sean. Party Games. Collins Press, 2006.

Conundrum Publishing. Looky, Touchy, Feely Party Games. Conundrum Publishing, 2002.

Dawson, Melanie. Laboring to Play: Home Entertainment and the Spectacle of Middle-Class Cultural Life, 1850–1920. U of Alabama P, 2005.

Mason, Bernard. Social Games for Recreation. A.S. Barnes and Company, 1938.

White, Chris. The Social Play Record: A Toolkit for Assessing and Developing Social Play from Infancy to Adolescence. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2006.

Wise, Derba. Great Big Book of Children's Games. McGraw-Hill, 2003.