Pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey
From Plastic Tub
Pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey ary. 1. A Ritual Game wherein a Blind Man tries to connect that which was lost with its rightful place. 2.
Extrapolation
Pin the Tail on the Donkey is a game played by groups of children. A picture of a donkey (or possibly another animal) is tacked to a wall within easy reach of the children (usually to a large cork bulletin board). Then each child in turn, one at a time, is blindfolded and handed a paper "tail" with a push pin or thumbtack poked through it. (The picture of the donkey is missing its tail). The blindfolded child is then spun around and around until he or she is probably disoriented (and possibly pleasantly dizzy). Then the child gropes around and tries to pin the tail on the donkey.
The player who managed to get their tail pinned closest to the right spot on the rear end of the donkey (the target) wins.
In general this game is suitable for children who are old enough to walk and to know better than to eat the small sharp tacks (say: 5 years old minimum) and yet young enough to enjoy the amusement of it. It can be played by teenagers and adults, especially if the "donkey" is replaced with depictions of something or someone that is of more interest to the players.
Generally it is a group activity played at parties, especially popular when a birthday party happens to fall on a rainy day or whenever inclement weather prevents outdoor activities like tag, kick the can, hide and seek, etc. It has been a staple of AA parties for years.
The game is generally not competitive, and "winning" is only of marginal importance.
Because almost all children raised in the U.S. (and most of western Europe?) have played this game for the last several generations, it is considered common culture. Thus references to the term will generally go unexplained. Idiomatically the term can be used derisively for any activity to which one is assigned which is pointless and/or for which they have been handicapped (blindfolded).
