A few students visited the Farm House Museum for Victorian style parlor games but said they still enjoyed the fun.

The museum taught the games to show the audience how past generations socialized and occupied their time.  

“Last year the Farm House’s Victorian Parlor Games had around 25 people and it was a diverse group composed of Iowa State students, community adults and their children,” said Megan Ball, Farm House assistant.

The turnout for this year was not as significant. Two ISU students attended the event.

“I heard about the event through the Iowa State University homepage and I wanted to do something social since Veishea was canceled. I brought my friend Rachel as well,” said Becca Harmon, freshman in chemical engineering.

The Farm House was built in 1860 and the Victorian era took place between 1837 and 1901. The games are particularly special to the Victorian time period.

“A lot of the games are elementary and middle school appropriate, but many Iowa State students like to learn a bit about the history behind the games as well as touring the museum,” Ball said.

The Farm House assistant started the event by giving the students a tour of the museum and answering any questions they might have had. After the tour, the list of games was presented.

The students chose to play Look-about and Charades.

Look-about is very similar to the modern game I Spy. The purpose was to find a hidden object in the room before the rest of the group. The second game, Charades, is still a very common game in today’s society.

The games were played in the parlor which is where the children in the Victorian era would have played games as well.

“The Victorian Parlor games event was introduced to educate the public about games that were played in past years when there was not television,” Ball said.

The weather was very dreary and rainy during the event and the canceling of Veishea might have affected the turnout of students and community members attending as well said Ball.  

“I really like the Farm House Museum and I plan to come back again, but I think spreading the word and advertising might help with the amount of people that attend,” Harmon said.

The students said they had fun learning about the history of the museum and believe that they would come again.

“I think it is very cool and I knew it was old, but I did not really know the historic stories behind the house,” said Rachel Pick, freshman in aerospace engineering.