Kim's Game

"Kim's Game" is a game or exercise played by Boy Scouts and other children's groups."Scouting Games" by Sir Robert S. S. Baden-Powell, 1921. Chapter IV. [http://www.macscouter.com/Games/BPGames.asp Online version at US Scouting Service] accessed July, 2008.] The game develops a person's capacity to observe and remember details. The name is derived from Rudyard Kipling's 1901 novel "Kim", in which the hero, Kim, plays the game during his training as a spy."Kim" by Rudyard Kipling, 1901. Chapter 9. [http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext00/kimrk12.txt Gutenberg text] ]

In "Kim"

In "Kim", the game is called both the Play of the Jewels and the Jewel Game. Kim, a teenager being trained in secret as a spy, spends a month in Simla, India at the home of Mr. Lurgan, who ostensibly runs a jewel shop but in truth is engaged in espionage for the British against the Russians. Lurgan brings out a copper tray and tosses a handful of jewels onto it; his boy servant explains to Kim:

They contest the game many times, sometimes with jewels, sometimes with odd objects, and sometimes with photographs of people. It is considered a vital part of training in observation; Lurgan says:

In Scouting

In his book "Scouting Games" Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting, names the exercise Kim's Game and describes it as follows:

In military

The use of Kim's games in training military personnel is probably widespread but not well documented in open sources. It is mentioned in a military glossary "Military glossary" [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/23-10/Gloss.htm] accessed August, 2008.] with the backronym "Keep In Memory".

In General

This game is commonly played with preschool-aged children, as it is great for developing memory and observation skills and can be used for learning new groups of objects, such as shapes or fruits.Fact|date=July 2008

References