abstract:The repeating circle is an instrument for geodetic surveying, invented by Etienne Lenoir in 1784,Daumas, Maurice, Scientific Instruments of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries and Their Makers, Portman Books, London 1989 ISBN 978-0-7134-0727-3 while an assistant of Jean-Charles de Borda, who later improved the instrument. It was notable as being the equal of the great theodolite created by the renowned instrument maker, Jesse Ramsden.
You might have all sat in a circle and added adjectives to your name and went around the circlerepeating the names of others while adding more adjectives to make the game more complicated.