1981
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Games
Muffy comes into the children's department and notices that games are blocking her path on the counter. Jodie explains that games are today's special. Muffy wants to borrow a game but Jodie says she needs them all for the display. She realizes Muffy is bored and suggests that she play with Jeff. Muffy explains to Jeff how to play pin the tail on the donkey. Jeff finds it very easy until Muffy tells him he's supposed to be blindfolded. Jeff goes behind the counter to search for something to use as a blindfold.
Meanwhile, Sam comes in on his rounds. Sam admires the donkey ("It needs a tail, though," he notes), and then keeps going. Jeff finds a blindfold and begins to play but he pushes into the board which hits Sam who is on the other side of it. This starts an argument between Sam and Jeff and the noise brings Jodie in. She suggests another game. Jeff says he doesn't know any, so Sam starts to sing, "Name a Game," naming many different games. Muffy and Jodie sing about some games as well. They end by singing Frere Jacques in a round.
Later the gang is skipping rope to a chant called "Time for Breakfast" with Jeff and Sam turning the rope. Jeff tries skipping but doesn't do too well.
Muffy comes in and tells Jodie that there's a delivery and Jodie and Sam go off to answer the door.
Jeff wishes he could try skipping again but there's no one to turn the rope. Suddenly, the rope starts turning all by itself. Now Jeff skips wonderfully!
Back in the computer room, Sam & TXL play X's and O's (tic tac toe). TXL wins. Sam remembers that he used to very good at X's and O's in the past, before computers were invented. He wants to tell us a story, but he's tired from helping Jodie unpack her parcel. He suggests we look at the pictures and tell him a story to him about "Hide and Seek".
After the story, it's time for Sam's rounds again, but he promises another game of X's and O's when he gets back.
In the children's department, Jodie is playing with a baseball bat and explains how to use it. Jeff asks about another piece of equipment, Jodie explains it's a racket. Jeff picks up another racket, a badminton racket. Jodie tells Jeff that sometimes a game can be played just with a ball and she tosses him first a football, then a soccer ball, and then a basketball. She throws it a bit too far, Jeff misses the basketball and it almost hits Sam. Sam asks if Jeff wants to join a team. He doesn't know what a team is, so Jodie tells him that some games need more than one person to play, they need a lot of people, and on a team everyone works hard to help win the game.
Sam has a favorite team, the Toronto Blizzard soccer team. Sam and Jodie shows us what happened when they attended one of the team practices. Sam tells Jodie he used to be a goalie, and Jodie teases him. To prove himself, Sam goes onto the field to try and block a shot. Jodie is worried and sorry she teased him. Fortunately, Sam saves a goal with his head. Jodie hugs him and says, "I'll never doubt you again."
Jeff tries playing soccer in the children's department, and he trips. Jodie encourages him in a song to "Try, Try, Try." So Jeff keeps trying and finally succeeds. They continue singing about trying and playing on a team.
Next, Today's Special Guest Monica Gaylord plays cakewalk music and teaches us to do the cakewalk. When she plays again, Sam and Muffy come out in 20s style clothing and dance.
Next, Jeff is reading his Book of Knowledge about hopscotch, which he tries, shakily at first, but then nimbly makes a dance out of it.
Muffy and Sam are in the computer room playing "I Spy." The game ends abruptly when Sam spies Penelope. Sam invites her to come back for a quiz, but Muffy's gone.
Now Jeff and Jodie are playing Ring the Bottle. Jodie misses and so does Jeff, whose ring lands around Sam's neck! Grumbling, Sam tosses it away, and then it lands on Muffy!
Jodie suggests a quieter game and they play charades.
They end by singing: "Let's play a game, just us and you, hooray!"
Quizzes:
- What are these animals missing? (A tail)
- X O X O X O, what comes next? (An X).
- Which ball is the biggest?
Which ball is the smallest?
- Three lines: Which line is longest? Which line is shortest?
Nursery Rhyme:
Notes:
- Jeff's hopscotch dance was also performed in "Books", the episode where he first got his "Book of Knowledge".
- In the 1981 season, inexplicable things happened all the time. In Snow, gloves clap alone, in Soup the cans fall up, and in Games the skipping rope turns by itself. There was less of this as the years went by.
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