Eleanor Roosevelt with student service group, Seattle, May 5, 1941

Everyone wants to play Eleanor’s game. This group of students were probably trying to figure out the first lady’s snaps.

Since we know how fun innocently tormenting others can be, let’s play a game that will drive everyone nuts.  The key is that at least one person other than yourself has to know how the game works and one person has to be clueless to it all.  Then hype up how fun it is so that everyone who doesn’t know the trick wants to play.

Here’s how you play:

  1. Think of a word or a name.
  2. Mark the start by saying “Snaps is the name of the game. The name of the game is Snaps.”
  3. Spell the word out by using snaps for vowels and beginning letters of phrases for consonants.
  4. Distinguish which vowel you are using by how many times you snap. A=1 E=2 I=3 O=4 U=5.
  5. Phrases can be anything as long as you’re thoughtful of first letters.
  6. The game ends when someone guesses your word or name.

Here’s an example:

  1. Our name will be “Matt Damon.”
  2. We start the game, “Snaps is the name of the game. The name of the game is Snaps.”
  3. Then we start spelling: “Make sure you’re ready” + one snap + “Try to solve it” “Take your time” “Do you understand?”+ one snap + “Make a guess”+ 4 snaps + “Now it’s over”
  4. Someone will guess Matt Damon as you’re spelling it, and everyone else won’t know what just happened.

Have fun!