Hot Potato (game)
Hot potato is a party game that involves players gathering in a circle and tossing a small object such as a beanbag or tennis ball to each other while music plays. The player who is holding the "hot potato" when the music stops is out. Play continues until only one player is left. The game is designed to be fast-paced and high-pressure and is often played by children. The game can also be played without music where there is a designated leader who shouts out "hot!" and the player holding the object is eliminated.[1]
Hot potato remains a popular children's party game, as well as an activity for practicing motor skills such as eye–hand coordination and catching.
[edit] Origins
The origins of the hot potato game are not clear. However, it may go back as far as 1888 when Sidney Addy's Glossary of Sheffield Words describes[2] a game in which a number of people sit in a row, or in chairs round a parlor. In this game, a lighted candle is handed to the first person, who says:
- Jack's alive, and likely to live
- If he dies in your hand, you've a forfeit to give.
The one in whose hand the light expires has to pay the forfeit.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Maguire, Jack. Hopscotch, Hangman, Hot Potato & Ha Ha Ha: A Rulebook of Children's Games. Simon and Schuster, 1990.
- ^ "Addy, Sidney Oldall (1888). "The Geographical or Ethnological Position of Sheffield", A Glossary of Words Used in the Neighbourhood of Sheffield." London: Trubner & Co. for the English Dialect Society.
