A group of youths play in the countryside. The gay circle consists mainly of persons dressed as majos and majas, the popular clothing that also became stylish among the aristocracy. There are also two figures wearing elegant velvet dress coats and feathered hats, in the French style.

Originally titled “The ladle game” because of the wooden spoon the blindfolded youth uses to find his “victim,” it later received the more modern denomination of that same game: “Blind Man's Buff (La gallina ciega). This game was common in the eighteenth century and was often used as the subject of rococo paintings, which commonly dealt with gallant themes.

Goya made various changes with regard to the work's original idea. For example, he eliminated a young woman who appeared behind the lady at the center of the background. Nevertheless, one can still barely make out her head and vivid eyes, just as they are painted in the preparatory sketch, which has also survived (P2781).

This painting was a cartoon for one of the tapestries in the Infanta's bedroom at the El Pardo Palace.