In
The Buff
 I
was surprised to discover, while researching
kid's games, that the game is actually called
"Blindman's
buff", not "Blind man's bluff". Here's
more, cobbled from the Encyclopedia Britannica
and
Wikipedia:
Blindman’s buff is a children’s
game played as early as 2,000 years ago in
Greece.
The game is variously known in Europe: Italy,
mosca cieca (“blind fly”); Germany,
Blindekuh (“blind cow”); Sweden,
blindbock (“blind buck”); Spain,
gallina ciega (“blind hen”); and
France, colin-maillard (named for a medieval
fight between a French lord of Louvain [Leuven]
and a man named Colin who fought with a mallet
and was blinded in the battle). The game blindman’s
buff is played in many areas other than Europe,
however. For instance, in Papua New Guinea
the game is known as "kamu namu".
Among the Igbo in Nigeria, a version of the game is called Kola onye tara gi
okpo? (“Can you find the person who knocked you on the head?”). In
this version one child covers another child’s eyes with his hands, then
a third child hits the “blind” child on the head and goes back to
the circle of children. When the child who was struck is allowed to look, he
must guess correctly who hit him. If he guesses correctly, the child who hit
him must take his place as the next to be “blinded.”
To play the standard game of blindman’s buff, one player is blindfolded
and then disoriented by being spun around several times. The other players, who
are not blindfolded, amuse themselves by calling out to the “blind man” and
dodging away from him. In the Middle Ages blindman’s buff was an adult
game, and the blindfolded player was usually struck and buffeted as well, hence “buff.” A
player touched or caught by the blind man takes on the blindfold, although sometimes
the blind man must guess the identity of his captive before the blindfold is
removed (if the guess is wrong, the captive is released and the game continues).
Another children's game similar to blind man's buff is Dead Man. Dead Man is
played in an open place. One Person is "it" and has to close his/her
eyes. Then the other people say "Deadman/Deadgirl, come alive, come alive
at the count of five. One, two, three, four, five." Then the "Deadman/Deadgirl" has
to walk around with their eyes closed trying to tag people.
=Lefty=
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