Kim's Game

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"Kim's Game" is an exercise used to develop a person's capacity to observe and remember specific details. The name is derived from Rudyard Kipling's novel Kim. In that novel, the exercise was used to train Kim and other students in the art of clandestine operations in Central Asia and Northern India.

In his book Scouting Games Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting, describes the playing of Kim's Game as follows:

The Scoutmaster should collect on a tray a number of articles knives, spoons, pencil, pen, stones, book and so on not more than about fifteen for the first few games, and cover the whole over with a cloth. He then makes the others sit round, where they can see the tray, and uncovers it for one minute. Then each of them must make a list on a piece of paper of all the articles he can remember or the Scoutmaster can make a list of the things, with a column of names opposite the list, and let the boys come in turn and whisper to him, and he must mark off each of the things they remember. The one who remembers most wins the game.

This game is commonly played with young pre-school aged children, as it is great for developing memory, observation skills and can be used for learning new groups of objects, such as shapes or fruits.