# Simon Says....

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simon-says/148653>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 15, 2003, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simon-says/148653 "2003-01-15T01:39:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![HighSoci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@HighSoci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HighSoci)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simon-says/148653/1 "2003-01-15T01:39:29Z")

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Ok, so who exactly is Simon and why should we do what he says? I asked this question to Cecil and never got an answer (for reasons unknown), but I would really like to know what the origin of this crazy game came from.

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**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simon-says/148653/2 "2003-01-15T04:02:37Z")

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While I can’t answer your question as to “who Simon is”, I can tell you that the phrase “Simon says” can be traced back to at least 1870, thanks to Barry Popik.

There is a reference to a game called “Simon” in 1853(Mathews), but no more info than that.