simon says

 

  • One player takes the role of “Simon” and issues instructions (usually physical actions such as “jump in the air” or “stick out your tongue”) to the other players, which should
    be followed only when succeeding the phrase “Simon says”.

  • Following John [edit] Further information on this specific game, see: Follow the leader (game) A similar Swedish child’s game is “Följa John” meaning “following John”, where
    physical actions are conducted by “John” (usually involving movement in a line), and where remaining participants are replicating the activities shown by John.

  • Players are eliminated from the game by either following instructions that are not immediately preceded by the phrase, or by failing to follow an instruction which does include
    the phrase “Simon says”.

  • Especially when performed in a line, this can become a physical action equivalent of the game Telephone.

  • Instead of only actions beginning with “Simon says” having to be obeyed, an action along with the phrase “do this” must be obeyed while an action with the phrase “do that”
    must not be obeyed.

  • However, at least in some versions, it is allowed for Simon to eliminate players by asking them to do something seemingly unrelated to the game (example: “Anyone remaining
    join me up here.”).

  • The object for the player acting as Simon is to get all the other players out as quickly as possible; the winner of the game is usually the last player who has successfully
    followed all of the given commands.

  • A command without the beginning “Simon says” means do not do this action.

  • Other languages This game has translated across multiple cultures from seemingly common routes and some international versions also use the name Simon such as: • Afrikaans:
    “Kolonel Bevel” (“Colonel commands”) • Arabic: for example : (Algeria) Nabila said like so or (“The teacher says”, Lebanon) and (“Salman says”, Iraq) • Basque: “Buruak dio” or “Buruzagiak dio” (The leader says), or “Unaik dio” (Unai says)
    • Bengali: (“The leader says”) • Cantonese Chinese: (“The teacher says”) • Czech: “Simon říká” (or with similar rules) • Danish: “Simon siger”, “Kongen befaler” • Dutch: “Simon zegt”, “Commando” (the Dutch noun for “command”), or “Jantje zegt”
    (“Johnny says”) in Flemish parts of Belgium • Esperanto: “Zamenhof diris” (Zamenhof said) • Finnish: “Kapteeni käskee” (“The captain commands”) • French: “Jacques a dit” (“Jack said”) in France, or “Jean dit” (“John says”) in Quebec • Filipino:
    “Sabi ni Simon” • German: “Kommando Pimperle” (or with similar rules) • Greek: (‘O Simón léi’) • Hausa: “Malam Kiri” • Hebrew: (“Herzl said”) or (“The King said”) • Hungarian: “Simon mondja” • Icelandic: “Símon segir” • Indonesian: “Simon
    Bilang” • Irish: “Deir Síomón” • Italian: “Simone Dice” • Japanese: (‘Senchō-san no meirei’, “Ship Captain’s orders”) • Korean: (“Simon says”) • Kurdish: (“Uncle Solomon(Sulayman) says”) • Marathi: (“Shivaji Maharaj says”) • Mandarin Chinese:
    (Lǎoshīshuō, “The teacher says”) • Norwegian: “Kongen befaler” (“The king commands”) • Polish: “Szymon mówi” (the native counterpart is “Ojciec Wirgiliusz”, Father Virgil) • Portuguese: “O rei manda” (“the king orders”), or “O mestre mandou”
    (“The master ordered”) in Brazilian Portuguese • Spanish: “Mando, mando” (“I command, I command”), or “Simon dice” (“Simon says”) • Swedish: “Simon säger” • Turkish: “Yakup der ki” (“Jacob says”) • Vietnam: “Tôi bảo” (“I say”) Gameplay and
    variants A command starting with “Simon says” means that the players must obey that command.

  • Anyone ending with their arms up is eliminated, because a command that doesn’t begin with “Simon says” cannot be obeyed.

  • Anyone who breaks one of these two rules is eliminated from the remainder of the game.

  • It is considered cheating to give impossible commands (“Simon says, lift both of your legs up and keep them there!”)

 

Works Cited

[‘1. “Do This. Do That. | Elementary PE Games”. www.pegames.org.
2. Arnold, Arnold, The World Book of Children’s Games, World Publishing Co., 1972, ISBN 0-529-00778-9.
3. Bancroft, Jessie H., Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium,
The Macmillan Co., 1914.
4. Forster, Sally, Simon Says… Let’s Play, Dutton Children’s Books, 1990, ISBN 0-525-65019-9.
5. Grunfeld, Frederic V., Games of the World: How to Make Them, How to Play Them, How They Came to Be, Holt, Rinehart and
Winston, 1975, ISBN 0-03-015261-5.
Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/d3bz/5073473370/’]