Old Hat

While this is not a mediaeval game as such it makes for a fun meeting, and can easily be made relevant to the times we are recreating.

Equipment Required

Meeting Outline

Three (or more) people come out the front. Each is given a hat with a name on it so that they are unaware of what name is on their own hat. The person on the far right is then allowed to ask a question about the person whose name is on their hat. The rest of the room then responds with either a "yes" or a "no". If the answer is a "yes" the person then gets another chance to ask a question, but if the answer is "no" then the turn is passed on to the next person to the left.

A possible game would run like this: Player A is Richard the Lion Heart, Player B is Thomas A'Beckett and Player C is Genghis Kahn. Player A is first and asks "Am I Male?", the rest of the room says "yes". Player A gets another go and so asks "Am I a warrior", and gets another yes. Player A's next question is "Did I speak English?" to which he finally receives an answer of "no". Player B's turn is next, so she asks "Am I male?", to which she receives a "yes". Her next question is "Am I a religious figure?", to which the answer is "yes", she then asks "Was I murdered by two drunken French knights?", to which she also gets a "yes". At this stage she decides to guess "Am I Martin Luther", which receives a "no". The third player asks "Am I female", which receives a "no", so the turn rotates back to the first player, and the game continues as before.

Possible Problems

Make sure that you choose a well known person. While you may know who Jean Froissart or Catherine of Aragon is, the random newcomer up the front may never have been exposed to them. Most people who are likely to join the SCA will know a little bit about everyone mentioned in this list.

Although the example of gameplay I gave was rather silly it did highlight one possible difficulty. Richard the Lionheart never learnt to speak English, but this is not necessarily a well known fact. In an ensuing argument about wether or not Richard spoke English all sorts of clues could be given away (he was king of England, he only spent five months in England, he spent most of his time on Crusade), making it very easy for the person with Richard on his head to guess who he was next time.

One way to overcome this difficulty is to appoint an arbiter (preferably well versed in these sorts of things) to make a quick decision whenever there is contention. Another is just to make sure whoever writes the names knows enough about them to give an answer that has a high probability of being right.

Another problem that can occur is when a question is asked as a negative, for example "Am I not English?" will probably be answered as "yes" even if the person in question is English. This may be viewed as a result of people not being logical enough in their comprehension of language, but it does occur a lot, and so it is best to mention before the game starts that in the above example the correct response would be "No, you are English".

Other Options

It may be easier to write the names on a blackboard behind the players, or on a piece of paper attached to a table in front of the players.

You may wish to take the winners from each game and play them off in a "final".

Resources and References

I have a list of well known historical figures that should be useful.
Webbed by Conrad Leviston. Please mail any suggestions/corrections/comments