Ring On A String

By: Steve Ashe

Chairs were placed in a circle, most times in a large eat-in kitchen. As many folks that were home and could fit into the circle sat in the chairs and a length of string was made into a loop, big enough so that everyone could take hold of it with both hands and have some slack.

A ring was put on the string, so that it could slide around the circle. Someone was designated "it". They had to cover their eyes and count to 10, while the circle players passed the ring from player to player. When "it" reached the count of 10, he had to guess who was holding the ring. The person indicated, had to let go of the string to show that he either had the ring or not. If "it" guessed wrong, the whole thing began again.

The more false passing that could be done, the better. As "it" looked around the circle, someone behind him might whisper, "get it! get it!" in order to make "it" think the ring was where it was not. A simple game and quaint by today's standards, but in a big family with some friends thrown in, we had some fun with "Ring on a String"!