Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?
Button, Button, Who's Got the Button is a traditional children's game that is normally played indoors on rainy days and can be played by a large number of children .
Basic concept
The children all stand (or sit) in a circle with their hands out, palms together. One child, called the leader or 'it', takes a button (usually provided by an adult) and goes around the circle, putting their hands in everybody else's hands one by one. In one person's hands they drop the button, though they continue to put their hands in the others' so that no one knows where the button is except for the giver and receiver.
The leader (or alternatively all the children in the circle depending on your preference) starts the other children guessing by saying, "Button, button, who's got the button?" before each child's guess. The child guessing replies with their choice, e.g. "Billy has the button!"
If you have the button, haven't been guessed yet, and it's your turn to guess, you choose someone else so that no one knows it's you.
Once the child with the button is finally guessed, that child is the one to distribute the button and start a new round.
Alternate Versions
Version 2
A second similar version has the child who is 'it' stand in the center of the circle, the button is then passed behind the backs of the children in the circle, stopping at random. 'It' tries to guess where the button is and once the button is found takes his or her place in the circle. Whoever had the button then becomes the new "it" and play begins again.
Version 3
A slight variation on the first two versions has 'it' ask questions (like in the game Twenty Questions) to determine who has the button.
Version 4
A game usually played by several children and one adult. The game's origin is unknown, but it has been around before the year 1900. The children start by sitting on the bottom stair of a staircase. The adult holds out in front of them two closed hands, with one holding a "special" button hidden inside of it. The adult asks, "Button, Button, who's got the button?". Whoever guesses correctly advances one step. The first one to reach the top step wins the game. If the staircase is not wide enough, the children can be divided up into teams.
Popular culture
- In Go Ask Alice, the kids at the party play Button, Button, Who's Got the Button, where the "button" is an LSD spiked can of soda. The diarist gets the spiked can of soda, which leads to her subsequent drug binge.
- The game is referenced by the title character in the movie Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
- In the Walt Disney version of Alice in Wonderland, during their first meeting Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum ask Alice if they should play this game
- In the Robert Frost poem, "The Witch of Coos," the game is referenced in lines 7-8: "Summoning spirits isn't 'Button, button,/Who's got the button,' I would have them know."
- In season 7 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, an insane Spike says "Button, Button, who's got the button? My money's on the witch" when he is rambling.
- In Sid & Marty Kroft's popular childrens show H.R. Puff 'N' Stuff (1969) The game is mentioned by the mayor when looking for buttons as a form of payment.
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