AdMINISTERING the Cat...

I like word games. Usually. The kind played, say, on a road trip. My family devised one we affectionately call Mind Bender. I’m not about to explain the rules to you. They can be rather cumbersome, as a friend of my brother’s challenged them. It caused us to draw up official documentation. But don’t worry about that.

Way back in college, Sunshine shared with us a game her mother and she would play: The Minister’s Cat. I guess I always thought they made it up. It’s a simple enough (and fun enough) game. When I asked her about it recently, she enlightened me that they learned of the game from a black and white movie. The characters played it. She felt pretty sure that Scrooge played, which meant it had to be in Dicken’s A Christmas Carol. So….to the Internet! (a la “To the Batcave!”on the 60s TV show)

We were both surprised to learn that it’s not just ‘us’ and that black and white film. It’s an established game! There are even variations. You can learn about it here on Wikipedia. For the record, Wikipedia does not list the movie wherein Sunshine and her mom encountered it. But I found that, too: Scrooge (1951) Apparently it's in numerous adaptations of A Christmas Carol.

It just goes to show that things are often bigger than originally realized.

Let’s play…
The Minister’s Cat is an Auspicious Cat…

UPDATE:  On an episode of Frasier, he fancies that they might play a spirited round of... yes.