Lonely Ghosts
originally from the book A World of Things To Do

How sly a ghost are you? This game will challenge your ghostly powers of winking. Four to 53 people can play. All you need is a pack of playing cards.

TO START: The players form a circle. One player serves as the dealer. The dealer takes enough cards from the deck to equal the number of players. One of the cards must be a joker. The dealer shuffles the cards taken from the deck and gives every player one, face down. Each player looks at the card without letting anyone else see it. Whoever gets the joker is the lonely ghost.

OBJECT: The lonely ghost tries to make ghosts of other players by winking at them without being seen by anyone except the person being winked at. If the lonely ghost makes ghosts of all the other players, the lonely ghost wins the game. But if a player catches the lonely ghost winking at someone else, that player wins the game.

TO PLAY: Only the lonely ghost is allowed to wink. A player who gets a ghostly wink must count to five silently, then say, "You got me." That player becomes a ghost and is out of the game. Anyone who thinks he or she sees the lonely ghost wink, can ask, "Are you the lonely ghost?" If the answer is "yes," the lonely ghost must say so. If the answer is "no, "the person who asked the question becomes a ghost and is out of the game. The game goes on until the lonely ghost is found, or until all the players become ghosts.

HINT: Fast winkers are hard to catch. To keep from being caught, practice winking at yourself in a mirror.