Item HT 29657 Game - 'Wise Sayings', Guessing Competition for Parties, New Sunny South Series no.1, circa 1940s

Summary

Slim cardboard box containing 'Wise Sayings' - a guessing competition for parties. It is number 1 of the New Sunny South Series. The box contains 19 identical sets of 14 questions and an answer card.

The rules indicate that players should each receive the card face-down, should turn the card over at a signal, and should complete it in 10-15 minutes. Cards are then handed to the next player for checking. If the competition results in a draw, the winner will be decided by drawing lots.

The questions include no. 1: 'Returning good for evil' (answer: 'A soft answer turneth away wrath'); and no. 2: 'Do not make too sure' (answer: ' There's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip').

The game has been in the donor's family in Melbourne for about 60 years - since perhaps the 1940s. No further information is available on its use. Although the game is unmarked - yet was intended to be written on - the condition of the box suggests that it has been repeatedly opened over the course of many years.

The donor recalls playing card games - rather than guessing games - including Happy Families, Snap and Old Maid. Her swap cards were very precious and 'beautiful'. They are now lost. She recalls an incident at the age of five when she and her friend were playing with their swap cards during rest time at school. A teacher confiscated their cards. The donor didn't trust her to return them, and surreptitiously removed her cards from the teacher's desk. Her instinct was right: her friend never got her cards back.

Physical Description

Slim cardboard box, printed in purple on front and off-white on back, with hinged ends. Front features image of judge wearing wig and glasses, dropping sheets of paper and frowning in annoyance. Inscriptions above and below, and on one side. Inside box is a set of 19 identical cards, printed in black on off-white, each with 14 questions, dotted lines for answers and room for the competitor's name. A 20th card printed on orange card provides the answers to the questions, and explains the rules of the game.