I don’t know what kids do at school during break time these days, but my guess is that it involves some form of social media with a dose of online shaming.

Back in the good ‘ol days, of course, break time was the perfect chance to catch someone out with ‘The Circle Game’. Maybe that’s not what you called it, but I think you get the gist from that image up top.

Make a circle with your thumb and forefinger, get someone to look at it, dish out a shoulder punch – the rules are pretty much the same right around the world, but where did the game originate?

VICE pondered the same question last year, which means far less Googling for us. Their account is a lengthy one, but it starts with the wonderfully weird Malcolm in the Middle:

In the fourth episode of the second season, The Circle Game is the subplot to Stevie and Malcolm’s family meeting. Stevie is repeatedly tricked by Reese into looking at the accursed ring, until he manages to outsmart him and brutally beats him on the arm in a restaurant. But is this where it all began? Did the writers of Malcolm in the Middle create this game?

It would seem not. In my search for the true originator of The Circle Game I came across a few forum threads full of people who were on a similar journey. Reddit asked the same question, and some people attributed it to Malcolm in the Middle. However, the episode that featured it aired in November of 2000. The people commenting on the thread claim that they were playing it at school as early as the 1980s.

We were playing this game at junior school well before 2000, so Malcolm can’t take all the credit.

After more digging, during which time many wide-ranging theories of origin were touted, they seemed to strike gold. An obscure site called Wikibin, “a graveyard for old Wikipedia entries deemed too worthless or factually shaky to exist”, had a chap called Matt Nelson, of New Bremen, Ohio, as the founding father.

An interview with Matt shows that he is more than happy to take the credit:

Can you tell me more about it?
It’s just some game we used to play in elementary school, and it just caught on. I don’t know how it all took off.

But you’re pretty sure that you’re the one who created it?
I’ll take credit for it.

So New Bremen is the hometown of The Circle Game?
That’s right.

And this was this in the 1980s?
It was right around 1980… like 81, 82? So right in the 80s, early-80s.

How did you invent it? Was it just a way to punch your friends?
I think so.

Did they deserve it?
Heck yeah! I grew up with two brothers as well, so I mean, it was just something to do.

It seems a little bit unfair to me that it got so much international recognition, yet you remain a secret.
Well, here’s what I think: it’s kind of like flipping someone the bird. Where did that originate? I don’t know, but everybody does it, you know what I’m saying?

Such a humble man.

But before you heap credit on Matt for allowing you to wallop people you didn’t really like that much growing up, know that the plot thickens.

After that VICE story went live, the author was inundated with messages saying that the game had been played earlier than the 1980s:

The heat became too much for Matt Nelson to handle, and he emailed in an apology:

In conclusion, the mystery remains.

I suppose it’s kind of like that ‘S’ everyone drew in high school. No, this isn’t the Stussy logo, or the Superman ‘S’:

It’s just another one of life’s great mysteries, along with ‘The Circle Game’.

[sources:vice&vice]