Parents in the UK have voiced their concern over the safety of the pins that children use to affix the tail (helicopter parents, it seemed, aren’t limited to this side of the pond). The game has come under fire in recent years, though it’s not in defense of the abuse of donkeys. Parents in the UK have voiced their concern over the safety of the pins that children use to affix the tail. (Why the donkey was chosen for this particular game is more unclear there could be political origins with the donkey’s association with the Democratic Party, but that tie hasn’t been established.) It infiltrated New York that same year, and Jefferson, Missouri, where a newspaper report called the game “latest social wrinkle that is convulsing capitol society.” To be clear, these were adults and they seemed to be having a hell of a lot of fun.

In 1887, the newspaper The Washington Critic called Pin the Tail on the Donkey parties “the latest thing in the way of a social gathering in Milwaukee,” in a story about how the game was spreading throughout the country. The Early Sports and Pop Culture Blog has dug up what may be some of the earliest print references to the game, which credits its origins to Milwaukee. Need more amazing interactive games to go with your Pin The Tail on the Donkey we have all kinds, then how about our Giant games like the Giant Jenga, Connect 4, Giant Chess or Checkers.

Versions of the game, also called “Donkey Party,” started being copyrighted and printed as early as around 1875. Also, Pin the Tail on the Donkey can go out by itself or as an add-on item with our carnival game package of 6 games. Pin the Tail on the Donkey was basically the Cards Against Humanity of its time: a party game that went viral. We remember playing pin the tail on Eeyore, pin the baseball in the mitt and pin the nose on the clown, and so on ad infinitum.) Hijinks ensue when participants actually pin the tail on the shoulder, or the front hoof, or the sky, or wander off altogether. Most kids spent at least one birthday party playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey, the popular game where a blindfolded child is handed a donkey tail with a pin at the end and instructed to try and place it on just the right spot on a picture of a tail-less donkey taped on the wall.

Pin the tail on the donkey