Ciaran's Blindman's Bluff childhood game

Blind Man’s Buff

How to PlayBlindfold one player.

Spin the player around.

Tease the ‘Blind Man’ while he or she tries to catch you or the other players.

When a player is caught by the ‘Blind Man’ they swap places.

Popular parlour game in Victorian era, played as early as Tudor period (1485-1558)

Of course there are some places you should not play this game...

Game Structure• It’s a cyclical game, which only ends when the players

get bored/start playing something else/get called for dinner...

• Each cycle has a beginning, middle & end:

• Spinning the Blind Man around

• Taunting & Avoiding the Blind Man

• Somebody is caught by the Blind Man

Stable Rules?• Rules are quite open

• Blind Man must be blindfolded, eyes closed isn’t enough, and it’s not considered good form to tilt your head back to see under the blindfold

• Often the play area is limited, usually to a single room or a part of the garden

• Part of the thrill is seeing how close you can get when taunting the Blind Man - encourages a smaller playing space

• Few rules - leaves room for adaptation

Observations?• In many ways similar to ‘Mirror’

• Some people like being the ‘Blind Man’

• More fun being the ‘Blind Man’ than a regular player

• Some people don’t like being the ‘Blind Man’

• Some people don’t like not being in control, and without a primary sense