Clumps

The company, according to the number of persons, divides up into two
or three or even four groups, or clumps, in different parts of the
room, seated closely in circles. As many players as there are clumps
then go out and decide on some extremely out-of-the-way thing which
the clumps have to guess. In one game, for example, the mine was
thought of from which the iron was taken to lay the first railroad
rails in America. That is the kind of far-fetched and ingenious thing.
When it is decided upon, the players return to the room and take their
places, one in the midst of each clump. Questions are then put to them
the answers to which must be either "Yes" or "No," and the clump that
discovers the thing first is the winner.

Other Yes and No Games

The same game can be played without such keen rivalry, one player
sitting in the midst of a great circle and answering questions in
turn. There is also a game called "Man and Object," in which two
players go out and decide upon a man (or woman) and something
inanimate or not human with which he is associated or which he is
known to have used, such as "Washington and his hatchet," "Whittington
and his cat," "A druid and his mistletoe-knife." They then return and
each player asks them each a question in turn until the problem is
solved.

The same game is sometimes turned inside out, the players that remain
in the room deciding upon some one whom the player that has gone out
has to personate and discover. In this case it is he who puts the
questions. As he is supposed for the time being actually to be the
thing thought of, he ought to frame his questions accordingly: "Am I
living?" "Have I been dead long?" "Am I a man?" and so forth.

My Right-Hand Neighbor

This is a catch game and useless except when one of the company knows
nothing about it. That player is sent out of the room, and after a due
interval is called in again and told to guess what the other players
have thought of. He may ask any questions he pleases that can be
answered by "Yes" or "No." The thing thought of is each player's
right-hand neighbor, who is of course so different in every case as
to lead in time to the total bewilderment of the guesser.

How, When, and Where

One player leaves the room, while the others decide on some word, the
name of a thing for choice (such as tale, tail), which has one
pronunciation but two or three different meanings and perhaps
spellings. They then sit