Hunt the slipper was a childrens game that was played at least as early as the 17th century.
The point of the game is for one player to find a missing footwear item, which is being hidden by the others. Some people might mistake this for fun, especially children.
To play, a group of people, sit in a circle, with one player in the middle, singling him or her out like the evil bourgeouisie he or she is (my, aren't class based childrens games fun?). At any rate, the players in the circle are the lowly cobblers, while the player in the middle of the circle is, presumably, some upper class person wanting his or her shoe repaired. The shoe-repair-requester gives a slipper to one of the cobblers in the outer ring, covers his or her eyes, and recites:
"Cobbler, cobbler, mend my shoe. Get it done by half-past-two."
The cobblers, understandably upset by the high-faluting pretense of the uppity lord or lady endeavour to piss him or her off by hiding said shoe. Even though it's a slipper (the sacrifices one must make for the sake of rhyme). After finishing the trite little verse, the center player uncovers her or his eyes and tries to find their footwear. Unlike most pass-thing-behind-your-back-and-then-have-someone-find-them childrens games, in this version the cobblers are allowed to pass the slipper between them while the lord is still guessing, thus making it more difficult to find. Should the lord correctly determine which cobbler has the slipper, they paradoxically change places. That repair must have been expensive or something. After they switch places, play begins again. Rinse and repeat until satisfied.
Variations on this game involve passing other items, and generally have the players in the circle stop passing the object once the guessing has started. This is countered by having a limited number of guesses for the player in the center, after which she or he must restart the game, allowing the circle players another chance to pass the object.