Wink is a game generally played by high-school and college aged people.

History

Wink was originally played by groups of Young Quakers in the 1800's. In the original version, a group of women would sit in chairs, arranged in a circle, with a young man standing behind each one. In this version of the game, which was something like musical chairs, a man without a partner (the "wink") would get one of the women's attention by winking at her, whereupon she would stand up and walk over to his chair. If the man behind her succeeded in putting his hands upon her shoulders before she stood up, she had to remain where she was.

Modern Wink

Today, the game has been modified substantially from is early origins.

An odd number of players of any gender (though preferably all acquainted with one another) arranges themselves in almost the same fashion as in the original game. Each pair of players sits one behind the other on the floor in a semicircle, with the Wink cross-legged in the center. The Wink makes some sort of "call", announcing a characteristic that some number of players might have, for example "anyone wearing red" or "anyone who prefers chocolate to vanilla ice cream". Then, anyone in the front row to whom that applies attempts to be the first to make their way to the middle of the circle and kiss the Wink on the cheek. While they are doing this, their partner attempts to restrain them.

There are a few rules.

• Everyone must begin each round with their buttocks on the floor.
• No pulling of hair or clothing.
• If someone says "ouch," keep playing. If someone says "stop," everyone stops!
• When the Wink shouts "over!" it means someone has won.

When someone finally manages to kiss the Wink, his or her partner becomes the new Wink, and the Wink becomes the winner's partner for the next round. After each round in which one partner goes forward, the partners switch places.

Wink is played primarily by Young Quakers, Unitarian Universalists, Talent Identification Program campers, Swarthmore_College students, and other similar groups. A slightly older version of Wink, retaining the original winking signal but the modern physical mode of play, may be found in the New Games Book.