Party games popular in the late 19th Century, generally played in the ballroom. Originally a quick, turning dance, which tended to show a spicy flash of petticoat under the gown, German cotillions (called by some, simply "the Germans") were highly figured dancelike games whereby men would become the (witting or un-) dupes of women, "unlikely" couples got together, and all kinds of chaos would break up the pristine equipoise of the evening: one, called Mother Goose, had a live goose choose partners!