Literally playing with fire

December 18, 2020 9:26 AM

How to play Snapdragon, a Victorian Christmas party game!
posted by Stark (27 comments total)

OK, the low-alcohol booze is probably key. I imagine playing this with something a little more high-octane would be problematic.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 10:03 AM on December 18, 2020

OK, the low-alcohol booze is probably key.

50% ABV is not low-alcohol booze. But yeah sure don't use 141 or everclear for this.
posted by aubilenon at 10:17 AM on December 18, 2020 [5 favorites]

I remember being suitably impressed by the game when watching Poirot, I think s12e2, that has a pretty cool rendition of the game on film. I never thought to play it myself but seems quite achievable.
posted by Carillon at 10:21 AM on December 18, 2020 [2 favorites]

I just learned about this game while watching Edwardian Farm Christmas, but fire and solo drinking don't mix super well so i'll have to wait for next year.
posted by th3ph17 at 10:28 AM on December 18, 2020 [2 favorites]

We play this every Christmas that we're with my in-laws (1/2 saffer, 1/2 English), I'd be genuinely surprised if it's as much of a lost tradition as the article is making out.
posted by Dim Siawns at 10:44 AM on December 18, 2020

Thank you Stark! I now have something fun and new to try with my partner in the otherwise distanced holiday season. Also cinnamon in a fire has a neat effect, which we can alternate with the salt mentioned in the article.

For Toronto MeFites, the LCBO has a Toronto distilled product called "Reunion 100 Proof Moonshine" (LCBO#: 520692), which at 50% ABV, sounds just about right. I have no idea how it tastes though.
posted by ecco at 10:47 AM on December 18, 2020 [1 favorite]

Rule #1: Lock the cat out of the room.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:09 AM on December 18, 2020 [19 favorites]

Burning is unlikely unless you set your garments aflame. Alcohol can be ignited at as low a temperature as 22 C in the right conditions. On slow nights behind the bar I might light a jigger of some high proof libation, pour it into my palm and let the blue flaming rivulets fall between my fingers into the sink. Then we would steel ourselves for the inevitable rush on firy concoctions. Worked every time...
posted by jim in austin at 11:20 AM on December 18, 2020 [6 favorites]

Burning is unlikely unless you set your garments aflame.

Are we talking sitcom-clothes-on-fire or medical-drama-clothes-on-fire?
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 12:03 PM on December 18, 2020 [1 favorite]

Are we talking sitcom-clothes-on-fire or medical-drama-clothes-on-fire?

We're talking holding your hand too high and having flaming alcohol run down your arm and ignite your shirt...
posted by jim in austin at 12:07 PM on December 18, 2020 [2 favorites]

I dunno - with the price of booze these days, burning it seems like a waste.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:17 PM on December 18, 2020 [1 favorite]

Especially for just some cruddy old half-warm raisins and almonds.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:18 PM on December 18, 2020 [3 favorites]

“Listen, Georgie, do you want to bob for flaming raisins, or do you want to sit through Uncle Herbert singing another verse of ‘A More Humane Mikado?’ I thought so. Now blow on your fingers and chuck another handful of salt on the fire.”
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:28 PM on December 18, 2020 [10 favorites]

I think the death of Snapdragon the article referred to is overblown, as my mom described the game to me when I was a kid. I of course cajoled my parents into letting us play a few years, and it wasn’t too crazy even for the young teen I probably was. It was fun, and nobody ever got burned, though you you never really felt like you had time to dilly dally grabbing the raisins and getting them to your mouth. I look forward to bringing this game out again when my very young daughters are a bit older.
posted by HighTechUnderpants at 1:36 PM on December 18, 2020

I can't be the only one who read The Underpants Monster's comment in Ze Frank's voice.
posted by zengargoyle at 2:45 PM on December 18, 2020 [5 favorites]

That is a pisspoor version of Snapdragon. The version as played at the upper-middle-class Christmas parties I attended in the 1980s, and probably for many decades before that, included small coins among the raisins--sixpences or even silver threepenny bits, both about the size of a dime (and neither of which were actually legal tender at the time.)

Of course, when you put a small metal object in flames for about a minute, it gets hot enough to leave a scar if you're unwise enough to grip it for more than a fraction of a second. And now the game is interesting.
posted by Hogshead at 4:00 PM on December 18, 2020 [5 favorites]

Christmas-related flaming alcohol is fun! I have played Snapdragon, which was quite fun, and not as burny as you might think (as jim in austin points out, alcohol fires are not especially hot), I've mostly seen it when the Christmas pudding is lit before serving. This always looks spectacular if you dim the lights first and is usually pretty safe as the alcohol (rum or brandy) goes out before too long. Mind you, I do know a man who served himself some pudding before the flames were fully out, tipped the plate a bit and found himself with a lapful of burning brandy. He laughed about it later, and wasn't burned but there was a lot of screaming at the time.
posted by Fuchsoid at 4:10 PM on December 18, 2020 [2 favorites]

Metafilter: there was a lot of screaming at the time.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 4:32 PM on December 18, 2020 [4 favorites]

I'm very skeptical of this. We tried to light up a pudding with brandy last weekend and didn't get anywhere-- even heating up the liquor on the stove didn't get us more than a few seconds of flames.
posted by blnkfrnk at 6:01 PM on December 18, 2020

Through various connections (or connexions, to use a more appropriate spelling) -- mother, friends, ex -- I am peripherally connected to several nearby Regency/Georgian/Victorian museums. About once every two or three years I learn about Snapdragon all over again, and am flabbergasted every time.

Having been through this cycle before, I reckon I will forget all about this by summer, and will be delighted to hear about it for the first time again just before Christmas 2022.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:22 PM on December 18, 2020 [3 favorites]

My first university job involved being in charge of 60 1st year genetics students. One experiment required spreading 1/10 ml suspensions of bacteria on petri dishes. They were shown how to sterilize the glass "hockey-stick" spreader [pic] by dipping it in 95% alcohol and 'flaming it off'. Over in the far corner, the class cut-up was impressing the ladies by running a streak of alcohol along the lab bench and watching the blue flame travel. First I knew about this was a lot of screaming at the time and a wukka-wukka sound as he waved his arm vigorously in the air to put out his flaming sleeve. As others have pointed out: cold flame, no harm. I was relieved because he was a lovely boy . . . and it was my watch.
posted by BobTheScientist at 8:11 AM on December 19, 2020

I love this game, but it's so hard to get other people to join in.
posted by Akhu at 8:38 AM on December 19, 2020

Over in the far corner, the class cut-up was impressing the ladies by running a streak of alcohol along the lab bench and watching the blue flame travel.

Reminds me of a kid I worked with in a restaurant kitchen. He was a bit of a firebug. One of his specialties was spraying aerosols through a lighter flame held on the far side of his head so that from the other side it looked like he was breathing fire. But his favorite was writing or drawing with oven cleaner on the metal doors of the walk-in cooler, turning the lights off, and setting the writing on fire. It did look pretty cool.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:07 AM on December 19, 2020

A much younger, and more reckless, tresbizzare played this on New Years Eve 1999 with Bacardi 151.
We only set the table on fire a few times
posted by tresbizzare at 10:13 AM on December 19, 2020

Look, Victorians, I know about raisins already. No matter what you try to do to make them sound fun, whether it's putting them in like 50% of your cake recipes, and/or lighting them on fire, you can't fool me. Raisins are Fool's Chocolate.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 12:55 PM on December 19, 2020 [4 favorites]

Fake candy-news!
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:34 PM on December 19, 2020

“Mama, how long before television is invented?”

“Hush, child, and eat your mummified grapes.”
posted by The Underpants Monster at 1:57 PM on December 19, 2020 [2 favorites]