Card game:Buster Brown at the Circus

One of the most popular children's games of the late 19th century was called "Peter Coddles and his trip to New York," or some variation of that title. The game consists of cards, usually small printed strips, with word groups printed, usually nouns. A leader reads the 'story' supplied with the game and when he/she encounters a blank, the first player to the left supplies the words from the card drawn. The play advances around the table, with nonsensical humor increasing with each blank in the story. Versions range from simple to deluxe--with quite complicated printed stories supplied. This version uses the characters of Buster Brown and his dog Tige, used with permission of the N.Y. Herald, where they were initially published. The Browns visit a circus and the word phrases all relate to circus performers. They are printed on full color cards instead of the usual card stips. This Buster Brown game relates to other word games of its time such as Peter Coddles and Anagrams and to contemporary word games such as Boggle.