almost any environment, indoors or outdoors, including indoors on a rainy day. History The game I Spy originated in the early 20th century. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines it, under Spy giving the earliest citation as a mention in Rosamond Lehmann's 1946 work The Gipsy's Baby. A Brief Manual of Games for Organized Play lists a game named "I See" which is similar to "I Spy". One etymological website though reports an earlier mention in a 1937 Canadian publication. The concept likely originated from the spy-mania that occurred during and after World War II. In a 1985 The Free Lance-Star article Games to play on the road, I Spy is described as a variant of The Detective Game, and has the player say "I spy something, the color _. Can you guess what I spy"? Detective involves the player telling one of their children they are looking for a certain object and giving them clues until they get it right. After succeeding, the child becomes the clue giver. This version can only be played with two people. Phrase Finder notes "The guessing game was preceded by another children's game called I Spy (or Hy Spy), a variant of what is now called Hide and Seek and was known in the UK from the 18th century." A 1931 edition of The Age describes I Spy (literally "Eye Spy") as a dynamic variant of Hide and Seek. Another variant was played at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1972 where children heard a tape and watched slides that gave them hints to certain art pieces. One 19th century children's book is titled "I Spy With My Little Eye". Popular culture There are many games that are based on this concept, examples being the I-Spy series of gamebooks that ask players to find objects in a Where's Wally?-esque setting, and an I Spy computer game. The game and its wording are well known in western popular culture, for example the title of the 2002 horror film My Little Eye uses part of the wording from the game. A US short film directed by Alexander Nebel titled I Spy has the following synopsis: "Full of imagination, Mia convinces bored Ingo to play the game of ‘I Spy’. More and more the game dissolves the ordinary kitchen into a wildly animated sea-adventure dream reality." In 2007, The Wiggles: a popular children's music brand included