Retro: Find the Thimble

Find the Thimble is one of my favorite games. It evolved in the cabins and parlors of the nineteenth century.

One player takes a thimble or other small item and hides it in a room while the other players wait outside.  The hider can put the thimble anywhere in the room that can be seen without moving anything.  Players may have to contort themselves to see the thimble when they begin their search, but they won't have to open or move anything.

Players sit down after finding the thimble.  They don't have to sit down immediately after they spot it, however, which adds an odd element of strategy to the hunt.  They can misdirect other hunters by moving to another part of the room to sit down, even plopping down far from other players to create conflicting clues regarding the thimble's location.

The last person to spot the thimble becomes the hider in the next round.

The first time I played Find the Thimble was during a holiday event at a nineteenth-century house museum.  We played in a large empty bedroom, and I imagined that we would play a round or two before moving to other historic games and holiday activities.  

I was delightfully wrong.  The kids loved the game, and spent more than an hour playing.  They tucked the thimble on the wainscotting right next to the door, letting players pass by without a thought.  They twisted themselves to perch the thimble inside the chimney, taking full advantage of a location you could see without moving anything if you were determined and imaginative.  The next afternoon two of the families came back with friends, asking if they could play again.

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