# Did I not Invent this Game? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 3, 2015, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-not-invent-this-game/719130 "2015-05-03T01:48:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2015, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-not-invent-this-game/719130/1 "2015-05-03T01:48:37Z")
I’ve been playing a game with my son where I make a buzzing sound and then start poking him in his belly and sides on the premise that he’s being stung by a bee. When I broke this game out over Easter, I was surprised at how quickly his cousin of the same age caught on the first time she saw me playing this game with my own child. I assumed it was her own perspicacity. Just this week, I was in the park with my own boy in a kind of boat ride where you shake a fake raft, and there were these younger girls in the boat while I was shaking it. I don’t poke other people’s children if I can help it. That’s just the way things are these days. I wouldn’t have even started the game with my own kid if I’d realized that as soon as I started making the noise, these girls would start poking people with abandon. Is this bee game widespread? Because I’d never heard of it before I started doing it. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2015, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-not-invent-this-game/719130/2 "2015-05-03T01:52:39Z")
I certainly did it with my son 30+ years ago. I can’t recall if it was ever done to me as a child or where I might have learned it. It seems like a kind of natural game. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2015, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-not-invent-this-game/719130/3 "2015-05-03T13:28:57Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > Is this bee game widespread? Because I’d never heard of it before I started doing it. Pretend action and child reaction is very common game. Pretend train bringing food to eat… Into the tunnel\> action is open the mouth ! Mine was: Press pretend button, being a specific tile on the wall of the bathroom: Action: both pretend to react (whatever you think about)…Different tile, different pretend action. Its like “concentration” or “memory” , as with remembering where pictures are, but in this case, remembering what action each tile is. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2015, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-not-invent-this-game/719130/4 "2015-05-03T20:25:01Z")
My grandpa did it with me 50 years ago give or take. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2015, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-not-invent-this-game/719130/5 "2015-05-03T20:33:03Z")
Before your sun burned hot, I was playing that game with my offspring. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2015, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-not-invent-this-game/719130/6 "2015-05-03T21:15:03Z")
An uncle did it to me when I was a wee one, back in the late 40s. I imagine the game is many thousands of years old. My guess is that someone played it with you, and you’ve simply forgotten. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2015, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-not-invent-this-game/719130/7 "2015-05-03T21:36:38Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > An uncle did it to me when I was a wee one, back in the late 40s. I imagine the game is many thousands of years old. My guess is that someone played it with you, and you’ve simply forgotten. I imagine it’s something easily reinvented again and again.