Each player must choose a trade and pretend to be working at it. For instance, if he is a tailor he must pretend to sew or iron; if a blacksmith, to hammer, and so on. One is the king, and he too, chooses a trade. Everyone works away as hard as he can until the king suddenly gives up his trade, and takes up that of some one else. Then all must stop, except the one whose business the king has taken, and he must start with the king’s work. The two go on until the king chooses to go back to his own trade, when all begin working again. Any one who fails either to cease working or to begin again at the right time, must pay a forfeit.
A somewhat more elaborate and livelier game of Trades is played by each boy in the party choosing a trade which he is supposed to be carrying on. The leader must invent a story, and standing in the middle, must tell it to the company. He must manage to bring in a number of names of trades or businesses; and whenever a trade is mentioned, the person who represents it must instantly name some article sold in the shop.
Image © cyancey @ Flickr, Attribution
Games for All Occasions by Mary E. Blain