Games
Discover facts about games. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Games
One person owns 30,000 board games
If you thought your backlog of unplayed Steam games was bad, meet the guy whose basement is a structural hazard. A man in Germany has officially gathered the…
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Victorian partygoers were blindfolded and spun around before pinning a donkey’s tail
Spinning someone around until they lose all spatial awareness is a party staple from the 1800s. Victorians loved nothing more than watching disoriented adults…
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Rugby may have begun with one rebellious student
Refusing to follow the established rules of soccer led to a globally revered contact sport. Legend states a boy named Webb Ellis simply got tired of kicking,…
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Kick the can thrived because sports equipment cost money
Booting a piece of rusted tin across an alleyway was the height of Great Depression recreation. Lacking actual leather spheres, children made do with garbage…
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The offensive origins of the telephone game
Whispering a phrase around a circle until it becomes utter nonsense has dark geopolitical roots. Initially called 'Chinese Whispers,' it was a deeply cynical…
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Spin the bottle began as a rebellious teenage kissing ring
Relying on empty glass bottles to find romance peaked in the 1920s. Flappers popularized the activity as a direct insult to the strict chaperoning of the…
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Red Rover began as a game about naval warfare
Forcing children to clothesline each other was once an allegory for war. English children designed this to mimic breaking through the impenetrable lines of…
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One lawn has been tended for 700 years
Rolling biased spheres across manicured grass requires terrifying levels of commitment. A club in Southampton has continuously maintained their turf for over…
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The game where your number makes you a target
Assigning everyone a number and waiting to hear your name yelled is purely an exercise in anxiety. Once your digit is called, you must frantically grab the…
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Baseball began as a muddy English pastime
America's beloved pastime owes its existence to Tudor-era dairy workers swinging sticks at cloth bundles. Known as stoolball, it was a casual way to pass the…
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How the egg-and-spoon race became royal entertainment
Balancing fragile poultry products on cutlery was considered high-class entertainment in 1897. The village sports days honoring Queen Victoria featured locals…
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Why Henry VIII banned commoners from shuffleboard
Sliding discs down a long table was considered far too distracting for the working class. The infamous monarch outlawed the pastime for commoners because he…
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Pickleball began with bored children
The most popular recreational obsession was born out of desperate suburban parenting. Lacking the proper equipment for a full court, a father handed his bored…
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Why ancient soldiers trained with polo
Chasing a wooden ball on horseback was never meant to be a leisurely afternoon for the rich. Ancient empires utilized the chaotic swarming to ensure their…
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Kickball began as baseball without the bats
When hitting a pitch with a wooden bat proved too difficult, someone realized you could just roll a massive rubber sphere instead. Created in 1917, it…
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When hide-and-seek was a dating ritual
Nothing says romance quite like crouching in a dirty bush. Historically, European adults played this in the woods to celebrate spring and secretly pair off…
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Badminton was named after a duke's estate
Swatting a feathered cone over a net sounds ridiculous, and its history matches. British military officers brought the concept back from India and played it…
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The fiery origin of hot potato
Frantically passing an object around a circle taps into a very real fear of suffering third-degree burns. The origins stem from the desperate tossing of hot…
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How city kids turned walls into tennis opponents
Slapping a tennis ball against a brick façade is the quintessential pastime of cramped city living. Lacking wide-open green spaces, kids adapted by using the…
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Keepy uppy is a desperate battle against gravity
Preventing a balloon from touching the carpet requires the agility of a professional athlete and the panic of a trapped animal. This chaotic activity…
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Tetherball has surprisingly pagan roots
Slapping a ball tied to a metal pipe until your knuckles bleed has surprisingly pagan roots. Originally linked to ancient Maypole traditions, the activity…
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Racquetball was invented to escape the rain
Refusing to let rain interrupt your athletic schedule leads to inventing entirely new indoor activities. A frustrated tennis enthusiast literally retreated…
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Bowling began as a ritual for smashing sins
Rolling a heavy wooden ball at pins was originally a deeply religious metaphor. German clerics set up wooden clubs representing pagan temptations and…
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Squash began with schoolboys hitting balls at walls
Waiting for an open tennis court can drive impatient students to sheer madness. At Harrow School, pupils started smashing punctured, squishy spheres against…
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