Horsengoggle

Horsengoggle (also known as horse-and-goggle and horse 'n' goggle) is a method of selecting a random person from a group. Unlike some other methods, such as rock paper scissors, one of the features of horsengoggle is that there is always a winner: it is impossible to tie.

To use the system, all participants stand in a circle. An arbitrary member of the group is selected by the leader as a starting point. All participants simultaneously throw between zero and five fingers.[1][2] The leader counts the total number of fingers thrown, then counts that many people around the circle. The selected person is the winner.[2]

In his memoir of growing up in Missouri in the 1940s, Jim Frank mentions the game as "ein, zwei, drei, horsengoggle", which he describes as "an old German system of selection".[1] Horsengoggle is used by a number of youth camps[3] in the United States, and by some Girl Scout units.[4]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 Frank, Jim (2009). From the Foot of Destrehan Street. Xlibris Corporation. p. 162. ISBN 1462837395.
  2. 1 2 Ford, Phyllis M. (1977). Informal Recreational Activities: A Leader's Guide. American Camping Association. ISBN 0876030266.
  3. ↑ Camp Nebagamon, Camp Horseshoe, and North Star Camp, all located in Wisconsin, have references to this game on their websites. It is widely used at Camp Kamaji in Minnesota. Cottonwood Gulch foundation, an outdoors organization based in New Mexico, also mentions it.
  4. ↑ It has been mentioned in some girl scout documents referring to grouping methods.

External links

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