Pin the tail on the donkey
Template:Short description Template:Refimprove
.jpg){kind=link}
Pin the tail on the donkey is a game played by groups of children. The earliest version listed in a catalog of American games compiled by the American Game Collectors Association in 1998, is dated 1899, and attributed to Kate Hunt.<ref>http://gamecatalog.org/gc/printed/gc8.pdf Template:Webarchive The Game Catalog, 8th Edition, October 1998 - Page 89</ref>
It is common at birthday parties and other gatherings. A picture of a donkey with a missing tail is tacked to a wall within easy reach of children.<ref name="CCT">Template:Cite book</ref> One at a time, each child is blindfolded and handed a paper "tail" with a push pin or thumbtack poked through it. The blindfolded child is then spun around until disoriented.<ref name="CCT"/> The child gropes around and tries to pin the tail on the donkey. The player who pins their tail closest to the target, the donkey's rear, wins.<ref name="CCT"/> The game, a group activity, is generally not competitive; "winning" is only of marginal importance. It is often seen as more entertaining, seeing the children stumble around and try to put their tail at the right place.<ref name="EoPiTS483">Rodney P. Carlisle: Encyclopedia of Play in Today’s Society, Band 2, SAGE, 2009, P. 483</ref>
The game is also used in child development research.<ref> Template:Cite journal</ref>
The game can also be played by teenagers and adults, especially if the "donkey" is replaced with depictions of something or someone else. As a drinking game, the person with the worst tail pinning is awarded one shot of a selected alcohol, to be determined by house rules or the loser in a friendly environment.<ref name="EoPiTS483" />
Idiomatically, the term can be used derisively for any assigned activity which is pointless or for which a person has been handicapped (blindfolded)Template:Citation needed.
See alsoEdit
- Eeyore, a character who loses his tail and has to have it pinned back on.
- Fukuwarai, a similar Japanese game
- Piñata