Pin the tail on the donkey

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Child playing a version of pin the tail on the donkey where the tail is attached to a dart, to be pushed into a dart board. Ezeltje-prik (september 2012).jpg
Child playing a version of pin the tail on the donkey where the tail is attached to a dart, to be pushed into a dart board.

Pin the tail on the donkey is a game played by groups of children. The earliest version listed in a catalog of American games compiled by the American Game Collectors Association in 1998, is dated 1899, and attributed to Charles Zimmerling. [1]

It is common at birthday parties and other gatherings. A picture of a donkey with a missing tail is tacked to a wall within easy reach of children. [2] One at a time, each child is blindfolded and handed a paper "tail" with a push pin or thumbtack poked through it. The blindfolded child is then spun around until disoriented. [2] The child gropes around and tries to pin the tail on the donkey. The player who pins their tail closest to the target, the donkey's rear, wins. [2] The game, a group activity, is generally not competitive; "winning" is only of marginal importance. It is often seen as more entertaining, seeing the children stumble around and try to put their tail at the right place. [3]

The game is also used in child development research. [4]

The game can also be played by teenagers and adults, especially if the "donkey" is replaced with depictions of something or someone else. As a drinking game, the person with the worst tail pinning is awarded one shot of a selected alcohol, to be determined by house rules or the loser in a friendly environment. [3]

Idiomatically, the term can be used derisively for any assigned activity which is pointless or for which a person has been handicapped (blindfolded)[ citation needed ].

See also

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References

  1. http://gamecatalog.org/gc/printed/gc8.pdf Archived 2014-06-11 at the Wayback Machine The Game Catalog, 8th Edition, October 1998 - Page 89
  2. 1 2 3 Joanna Cole; Stephanie Calmenson; Alan Tiegreen (2004). Pin the Tail on the Donkey. Chronicle Books. pp. 8–9. ISBN   1-58717-230-5.
  3. 1 2 Rodney P. Carlisle: Encyclopedia of Play in Today’s Society, Band 2, SAGE, 2009, P. 483
  4. Kagan, Jerome; J. Steven Reznick; Nancy Snidman; Jane Gibbons; Maureen O. Johnson (December 1988). "Childhood Derivatives of Inhibition and Lack of Inhibition to the Unfamiliar". Child Development. Blackwell Publishing. 59 (6): 1580–1589. doi:10.2307/1130672. JSTOR   1130672. PMID   3208569.