How did our ancestors pass the time during long winter evenings? Through parlor games—simple group games that require little equipment and can be played in a living room or parlor. These games produced all sorts of antics that kept the heart and home warm and the mind engaged.
Due to material constraints and a less commercialized culture, the men and women of the past had to find joy and entertainment in each other, rather than in a mountain of possessions, and many of them realized that even a simple game provided a framework for sharing time and sharing joy. These often humorous games brought smiles and laughter to their lips and rosiness to their cheeks. From frontier cabins to Victorian drawing rooms, fun was something crafted by the community, not merely consumed as a packaged product.
