Summary

Game type: 'Blind Tiggy in the Dark' (chasing game)
Alternative types: blindfold games, games played in the dark, hiding games

Handwritten description of the chasing game 'Blind Tiggy in the Dark' compiled by Isobel Abel, a student at Errol Street Primary School, for Dr Dorothy Howard on 25 August 1954. Abel describes 'Blind Tiggy in the Dark' as a game suitable for girls and boys, which is played by a minimum of two players in a darkened room, preferably during the summer months. To play, Abel explains that players select names as portrayed in her handdrawn, annotated illustration. She writes that one child volunteers to be blindfolded and leave the room while the remaining players turn the light off and hide. When the blindfolded child returns, they must locate the hidden players as they move quietly around the dark room. Abel notes that the blindfolded child must successfully identify any captured players. She lists other players of 'Blind Tiggy in the Dark' including her brother John Abel and friends Robert and Lorraine.

One of a collection of letters describing a children's game written to children's Folklorist Dorothy Howard between 1954 and 1955. Dr Howard came to Australia in 1954-55 as an American Fulbright scholar to study Australian children's folklore. She travelled across Australia for 10 months collecting children's playground rhymes, games, play artefacts, etc. This letter, together with the other original fieldwork collected by Dr Howard during this period, is preserved in the Dorothy Howard Collection manuscript files, part of the Australian Children's Folklore Collection (ACFC), Archive Series 3. The ACFC is an extensive collection documenting children's folklore and related research.

Physical Description

Handwritten game description in blue ink on lined paper. Features a hand drawn, annotated illustration in coloured pencil on upper right portion of front page; text written on both sides of paper.

More Information