Snapdragons - strange games with fire #1

As Christmas Eve approaches the nation tries to decide which family game to play. Should it be a classic board game, a cosy parlour game or maybe even a DVD quiz game. No, please don't make those mistakes...there is only one game for Christmas Eve: Snapdragons.
Very popular from the 16th to the 19th centuries, Snapdragons (or Flapdragons) has explicably declined in popularity.
Gather everyone around the dining room table, place a large flat dish in the centre. In the dish scatter a good handful of raisins then pour on top a layer of brandy or cognac. Set fire to the brandy and dim the lights. Players take it in turns to pluck a raisin out of the burning liquid and eat it quickly down. For a more competitive edge to the game use larger dried fruit such as apricots, one of which has a lucky sixpence stuffed inside.
Equipment needed: plate, matches, raisins, brandy, address of nearest accident and emergency department

Snapdragons, famously, makes an appearance in Lewis Carroll's Through The Looking Glass:

"Look on the branch above your head", said the Gnat, "and there you will find a Snap-dragon-fly. Its body is made of plum pudding, its wings of holly leaves, and its head is a raisin burning in brandy."

...

Alice thought to herself, "I wonder if that's the reason insects are so fond of flying into candles - because they want to turn into Snap-dragon-flies."

strange games no:88..category: Christmas games
Strange Games the Videos: Snapdragons