Huckle buckle beanstalk
Encyclopedia
Huckle Buckle Beanstalk, also called Hide the Object or Hide the Key, is a childhood game which involves the hiding and seeking of an object. It is a variation of a traditional parlour game
which can be played with two or more players, one being the hider, or the person who is "it," and the other person or persons being seekers. The game has also been known as Hot Buttered Beans in the US since at least 1830 and as Hunt the Thimble
, Hide the Thimble or Hide the Handkerchief in both the US and the UK. William Wells Newell
described a version called Thimble in Sight in his 1883 Games and Songs of American Children. The game is known in various European countries.
The seekers must cover their eyes and ears or leave the designated game area while the hider hides a small, pre-selected object. When the hider says to come and find it, or after the seekers have counted to a specific number, usually sixty or one-hundred, the seekers come out and attempt to be the first to find the object. When a seeker has the object in hand, he can alert the other players of his success by yelling "huckle buckle beanstalk!" This game is promoted as a fun, safe rainy-day game for young children.
A variation of the game has the person who finds the object, continue by pretending to look for the object and then call out "Huckle Buckle Bean Stalk" to draw the other seekers attention away from the objects location. As the other seekers find the object, they perform the same deception until all the seekers have found the object. The winners take pride in how quickly they find the object and how much time passes between them and the next player who calls out "Huckle Buckle Bean Stalk".
Brian Sutton-Smith
and other writers put this in a category of "central person" games which give one individual child a central role. The set-up can be reversed with that role given to a single seeker, while all the other players try to keep an object hidden from the odd-one-out, either by sending him out of the room while hiding it, or by passing it round behind their backs. This is a common way of organising 'Hide the Key' or 'Hunt the Slipper'.
Games played like this, sometimes with children forming a circle round the seeker, sometimes with one child blindfolded, pre-date Victorian
parlour games. In 1838 Hunt the Slipper, played as a single-seeker circle game, was said by one writer to be "nearly out of fashion" in Southern England. In 1766 Oliver Goldsmith
described it being played in The Vicar of Wakefield
, calling it a "primaeval pastime".
Both one-seeker and one-hider approaches have been associated with Hot Boiled Beans. A seeker may be called to enter the room and look for something hidden with, "Hot boiled beans and butter; walk in and find your supper!" This can be traced back to at least the mid-19th century. Several similar rhymes from different parts of England were recorded by 19th century folklorist Alice Gomme
. They were sung or recited in games with one or more hiders: for example, "Little pigs come to supper/Hot boiled beans and ready butter." Other names were 'Hot Broad Beans' and 'Hot Beans and Butter'.
A modern and more adult variation of Huckle Buckle Beanstalk is Geocaching
.
Charles Dickens
refers to this in Edwin Drood:
In the season 4 episode of Full House
titled "Ol' Brown Eyes," Michelle plays this game with Joey using Becky's engagement ring.
Parlour game
A parlour game is a group game played indoors. During the Victorian era in Great Britain and in the United States, these games were extremely popular among the upper and middle classes. They were often played in a parlour, hence the name....
which can be played with two or more players, one being the hider, or the person who is "it," and the other person or persons being seekers. The game has also been known as Hot Buttered Beans in the US since at least 1830 and as Hunt the Thimble
Hunt the Thimble
Hunt the Thimble is a party game in which all but one partygoer leaves the room. The person remaining in the room hides a thimble, or other small object, somewhere in the room...
, Hide the Thimble or Hide the Handkerchief in both the US and the UK. William Wells Newell
William Wells Newell
William Wells Newell was an American folklorist, school teacher, minister and philosophy professor.Newell was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After trying his hand at ministry, he was a faculty member at the new philosophy department at Harvard University for a few years. However, the bulk of...
described a version called Thimble in Sight in his 1883 Games and Songs of American Children. The game is known in various European countries.
The seekers must cover their eyes and ears or leave the designated game area while the hider hides a small, pre-selected object. When the hider says to come and find it, or after the seekers have counted to a specific number, usually sixty or one-hundred, the seekers come out and attempt to be the first to find the object. When a seeker has the object in hand, he can alert the other players of his success by yelling "huckle buckle beanstalk!" This game is promoted as a fun, safe rainy-day game for young children.
A variation of the game has the person who finds the object, continue by pretending to look for the object and then call out "Huckle Buckle Bean Stalk" to draw the other seekers attention away from the objects location. As the other seekers find the object, they perform the same deception until all the seekers have found the object. The winners take pride in how quickly they find the object and how much time passes between them and the next player who calls out "Huckle Buckle Bean Stalk".
Brian Sutton-Smith
Brian Sutton-Smith
Brian Sutton-Smith is a play theorist who has spent his lifetime attempting to discover the cultural significance of play in human life, arguing that any useful definition of play must apply to both adults and children. He demonstrates that children are not innocent in their play and that adults...
and other writers put this in a category of "central person" games which give one individual child a central role. The set-up can be reversed with that role given to a single seeker, while all the other players try to keep an object hidden from the odd-one-out, either by sending him out of the room while hiding it, or by passing it round behind their backs. This is a common way of organising 'Hide the Key' or 'Hunt the Slipper'.
Games played like this, sometimes with children forming a circle round the seeker, sometimes with one child blindfolded, pre-date Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
parlour games. In 1838 Hunt the Slipper, played as a single-seeker circle game, was said by one writer to be "nearly out of fashion" in Southern England. In 1766 Oliver Goldsmith
Oliver Goldsmith
Oliver Goldsmith was an Irish writer, poet and physician known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield , his pastoral poem The Deserted Village , and his plays The Good-Natur'd Man and She Stoops to Conquer...
described it being played in The Vicar of Wakefield
The Vicar of Wakefield
The Vicar of Wakefield is a novel by Irish author Oliver Goldsmith. It was written in 1761 and 1762, and published in 1766, and was one of the most popular and widely read 18th-century novels among Victorians...
, calling it a "primaeval pastime".
Both one-seeker and one-hider approaches have been associated with Hot Boiled Beans. A seeker may be called to enter the room and look for something hidden with, "Hot boiled beans and butter; walk in and find your supper!" This can be traced back to at least the mid-19th century. Several similar rhymes from different parts of England were recorded by 19th century folklorist Alice Gomme
Alice Gomme
Alice Bertha Gomme, Lady Gomme, born Merck was a leading British folklorist, and a pioneer in the study of children's games.-Life:...
. They were sung or recited in games with one or more hiders: for example, "Little pigs come to supper/Hot boiled beans and ready butter." Other names were 'Hot Broad Beans' and 'Hot Beans and Butter'.
A modern and more adult variation of Huckle Buckle Beanstalk is Geocaching
Geocaching
Geocaching is an outdoor sporting activity in which the participants use a Global Positioning System receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", anywhere in the world....
.
Playing with Hot or Cold
Often, especially when there is only one seeker, the game is played using "hot or cold," where the hider informs the seeker how near he is to the object, telling him he is cold when he is far from the object (or freezing or if he is extremely far off), and hot when he is extremely close to the object. If the seeker is moving farther from the object, he is told he is getting colder, and if the seeker is moving closer to the object, he is told he is getting warmer.Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
refers to this in Edwin Drood:
" . . . like the children in the game of hot boiled beans and very good butter, he was warm in his search when he saw the Tower, and cold when he didn't see it. "
In the season 4 episode of Full House
Full House
Full House is an American sitcom television series. Set in San Francisco, the show chronicles widowed father Danny Tanner, who, after the death of his wife, enlists his best friend Joey Gladstone and his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis to help raise his three daughters, D.J., Stephanie, and...
titled "Ol' Brown Eyes," Michelle plays this game with Joey using Becky's engagement ring.