Blind man's bluff is a parlor game created during the Victorian era by upper class people looking for something to do while they were at their social gatherings. It is actually a fairly dangerous game that can result in someone getting hurt if everyone is not careful. Blind man's bluff for adults is played kind of like a combination of pin the tail on the donkey and hide and go seek for children. First you have to choose a room that is fairly open and make sure there are no table or anything that is in the middle of the room that someone may trip over and hurt themselves or knock over and break. Once you have a sufficiently safe room you choose one person from the group and then put a blindfold on them. Then you spin them three times, usually saying the words blind man’s bluff individually at each turn, and then you release the player on the rest of the room. Once the blindfolded player is released from being spun around three times the rest of the people in the room scatter to avoid the player from touching them.

There are a couple of variations to blind man's bluff that are played regularly. The first is where the other people in the room scatter and continually move around trying to avoid the player that is blindfolded. The other people can taunt and tease the blindfolded player and cause him or her to change direction. When the blindfolded person is able to grab a hold of one of the other people then the person that was captured becomes the blindfolded person. The game will go on like that indefinitely. Another variation of blind man’s bluff is that the blindfolded person not only grabs another person but he must use his hands to touch the person’s face and try to identify them. Only if the blindfolded person correctly guesses who he has caught does that person become the blindfolded one. These are the adult variations of blind man's bluff.

Sending a group of children running around an open room with one of them blind folded seems a bit dangerous to some people so a couple of alternatives to the adult blind man’s bluff have been created for children. One of the variations has the blindfolded child having to stand for a count of 10 while the other children look for a place to hide. Since the room should be fairly open the children usually wind up hiding in plain sight. The blindfolded child then tries to locate the other children while the other children remain still without moving. There is no running but there is also not a sound made by anyone. The children that are not blindfolded can bend their knees and try to avoid the blindfolded child but they cannot move their feet. This helps to reduce the injuries that can come from a group of children running around the room playing blind man’s bluff.

Another children’s alternative to blind man’s bluff is called marco polo. It is a game played in a pool. One child must close their eyes and when the child with their eyes closed yells out “Marco” then everyone else must yell out “Polo.” This helps the child with their eyes closed get a better idea of where everyone is. Plus children make all kinds of noise when they move around in a pool so it is hard to run away. Running in water in general is difficult so marco polo seems like an even safer version of blind man’s bluff for children.