Hot potato (game)

Hot potato is a party game that involves players gathering in a circle and tossing a small object such as a beanbag or tennis ball to each other while music plays. The player who is holding the "hot potato" when the music stops is out. Play continues until only one player is left. The game is designed to be fast-paced and high-pressure and is often played by children. The game can also be played without music where there is a designated leader who shouts out "hot!" and the player holding the object is eliminated.

Hot potato can be used as an activity for practising motor skills such as eye–hand coordination and catching.

Origins

The origins of the hot potato game are not clear. However, it may go back as far as 1888 when Sidney Addy's Glossary of Sheffield Words describes a game in which a number of people sit in a row, or in chairs round a parlor. In this game, a lighted candle is handed to the first person, who says:

The one in whose hand the light expires has to pay the forfeit.

Hot Potato

Hot Potato may refer to:

  • Hot potato (game), a party game involving tossing a small object
  • Hot Potato!, a video game
  • Computing

  • Hot potato routing, a networking strategy
  • Hot Potatoes, a software suite
  • Film and television

  • Hot Potato (film), a 1976 action movie
  • Hot Potato (game show), a 1984 TV show
  • The Hot Potato, a 2011 crime thriller movie
  • Music

  • Live: Hot Potatoes, by The Wiggles
  • Hot Potatoes: The Best of Devo, by Devo
  • "Hot Potato" (song), by La Toya Jackson
  • "Hot Potato", by The Wiggles
  • See also

  • Baked potato
  • Hot Potato (song)

    "Hot Potato" is a single by American singer La Toya Jackson, the third single from her successful 1984 album Heart Don't Lie. It peaked at #43 on the Billboard Black Singles chart and at #38 on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. It also enjoyed time on the Billboard Heatseekers chart. It also peaked at #92 in the United Kingdom. The single was released on 7" and 12" formats with the album track "Think Twice" as the B-side. Some singles also include a dub version.

    Performances

    Jackson performed the song on "Solid Gold" broadcast Saturday September 8, 1984. She also performed it on the U.S. TV show "The Fall Guy" broadcast on February 13, 1984, in the episode "Rock-A-Bye Baby".

    Versions

  • Album version 4:40
  • 7" version 3:39
  • Extended version 6:29
  • Dub version 5:56
  • Vocal version 6:29
  • References

    Hot Potato (game show)

    Hot Potato is a television game show that was broadcast on NBC in the United States from January 23 to June 29, 1984. From April 23 until its conclusion, the show was known as Celebrity Hot Potato.

    Bill Cullen was the show's host, his final hosting job for a network series, and Charlie O'Donnell was the announcer.

    The series was produced by Barry & Enright Productions, the company's first for NBC since the company was a central figure in the 1950s quiz show scandals. Hot Potato was the first game mounted for a network by Barry & Enright since 1976's Break the Bank aired on ABC, the last one the company did not produce exclusively for syndication, and the last original production Jack Barry was a part of; he died on May 2, 1984, a little more than a week after Hot Potato made the switch to the celebrity format.

    Gameplay

    Two teams of three players, each sharing a common bond (e.g., occupation, mothers-to-be, etc.) and one of which was a returning champion team, competed. Cullen read a question and provided the number of answers to the question, which was always at least seven. Questions included both trivia questions with a number of factual answers (for example, naming the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World), and survey questions in which a chosen number of the most common responses formed the pool of acceptable answers.

    Podcasts:

    PLAYLIST TIME:

    Latest News for: hot potato (game)

    Edit

    A guide to the 4 minerals shaping the world’s energy future

    Grist 26 Mar 2025
    And there are now more than 40 million electric vehicles on roads worldwide ... Li ... These refining and manufacturing processes almost never happen where miners pull the minerals out of the ground, which creates something like a global game of hot potato ... .
    Edit

    Postal Service-run Census Would be a Costly Mistake

    The American Spectator 22 Mar 2025
    The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is uniquely adept at losing money ... Census ... The Census needs a makeover, not a game of hot potato to an agency that is burning money. When the Founding Fathers first enshrined the “actual enumeration” of U.S ... .
    • 1
    ×