Hot potato

This article is about the party game. For other uses, see Hot Potato.

Hot potato is a party game that involves players gathering in a circle and tossing a small object such as a beanbag or even a real potato to each other while music plays.^[1] The player who is holding the object when the music stops is eliminated.^[2]

Origins

The origins of the hot potato game are not clear. However, it may go back as far as 1888 when Sidney Oldall Addy's Glossary of Sheffield Words describes a game in which a number of people sit in a row, or in chairs round a parlor.^[3] In this game, a lit candle is handed to the first person, who says:

Jack's alive, and likely to live
If he dies in your hand, you've a forfeit to give.

The one in whose hand the light expires has to pay the forfeit.

See also

• Bagholder – Slang for shareholder left holding worthless stocks
• Musical chairs – Elimination genre party game
• Pass the parcel – British party game
• Passing the buck – English-language idiom meaning "to shift blame onto another"Pages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• Snap-dragon (game) – Game involving grabbing fruit out of burning brandy