Game of Farmer Trott

Each player takes a Character card.

The 48 cards that have items written on them are placed face down in the center of players. An example of items on the cards are, A piece of beef, Two little pigs, A pound of candles, A bottle of hair oil, Two spools of cotton and other similar needs of the time to go shopping for.

Three questions are asked to player on his turn.

The first is ‘Where did you go shopping?’ The player answers with any place he wants. He could say ‘I want gone shopping at the Grocer, Butcher, Hardware Store, the Mill, or wherever’. After he answers, he is asked the second question, ‘What did you buy?’

This question prompts him to choose one center card. He reads it, and if he couldn’t have purchased the item at the store previously named, he is punished; unless, he can justify it. For example, if he says he went shopping at the Butcher Shop, surely he did not purchase Two pounds of Yarn there. However, he may come up with an explanation of how the Butcher’s Wife changed her mind on the color of yarn she had purchased earlier, and sold it to them instead of returning it to the store.

If all players agree with the explanation, he is not punished. The third question is now asked, ‘What do you intend to do with it?’ If the player cannot come up with a wise answer, then the player is punished for ‘extravagance’.

The winner is the first player who succeeds in plausibly answering all three questions. He now becomes Farmer Trott, and the game begins again.