Games People Play
There was a time when video games didn't exist. No guns on screens, no motion-sensors, no PS2, in fact, no computer or TV. For a lot of boys (and some girls) of the 21st century, this probably sounds like the end of the world. It is the picture of bleakness and monotony, a glimpse of a life meant to breeze past without the joys of pixelized images. Nobody can be happy in a world like this, right?
Wrong.
For someone who really wants to play, the world is a playground. Even today, in villages, and smaller towns, kids play games which they sometimes invent by themselves. Just think about it- cricket, football, hockey, volleyball, they must all have been started by a very small group of people and today, these games mean the world to a lot of people. Over the years, they have developed and are now considered sophisticated games which require skill and dedication.
On careful thought, you will see that a lot of games children play require skills. You need to be smart for some, fast for others. Besides, they're fun. Following are a few games I remember playing in my childhood:
1. Steppu
This game is called by different names in different places. You first make two boxes on a pavement an then, one. Continue doing this until you have six sets which look like this:
We would throw a piece of stone on I and the game begins. We had to stand on one leg and try to jump to (2,3) with our right foot landing on two and our left foot on 3. Then, we would proceed to the following boxes , landing on one foot or two, depending on the requirement. At (5,6), we would turn around in one jump and come back to (2,3). Finally, we would pick up the stone from 1 and skipping the first box, get back to your original position. The same process was repeated with all the boxes.
2. Chocolate
This was a game me and my friends supposedly invented. It was a variation of Steppu, but still a little different because it's setup looked like this.
We would throw the stone at 1, and then jump on one leg to 1, lightly kick the stone so that it got into the empty square in the centre. We would consider ourselves disqualified if the stone went to some other box or stopped at on of the square boundaries. Then, we would hop on one leg and cross the set-up in a anti-clockwise manner. Finally, we would hop onto the empty square and try to kick the stone out of the set-up and once again, we would consider ourselves disqualified if the stone stopped somewhere inside the set-up or on the square boundary. After we all got a chance, we would do the same thing again, every time aiming our stone at the next box. This game wasn't as easy as it looked because in squares 3,4 and 5, it was hard to aim the stone because of their increased distance from us. I remember kicking too hard or too lightly and me stone would land at the wrong place.
3. Oonch-Neech Ka Papda
I, who grew up in Delhi, call it Oonch-Neech Ka Papda and my parents, who are from West Bengal (dad) and Assam (mom), call it Kumeer-Danga. All pavements and porches were the oonch (upper surface) and surfaces at a lower level were called neech (lower surface). One of us would choose ooch or neech and the rest of us would try to stay on the surface not chosen. We couldn't stay on one level of surface for more than ten seconds and had to change our position for time to time at the risk of getting caught.
4. Colour Touch
One of us girls would call out a color and we would all run to touch any object (including all articles of clothing) which had this color while the girl would try to catch us.
5. Advertisement
One of us girls would choose a letter from the English alphabet and we would have to name a product whose name starts with that letter and has its advertisement on TV. If we could come up with a name, we would have to try and sneak past an imaginary no-man's land and get to the other side at the risk of getting caught.
6. Marbles
Even though this game is not played much these days, I am pretty sure everyone knows what it's about. it's requires aim and concentration and even though it may be called 'juvenile', it is a hard game which not everyone can play.
7. Wall Touch
We would play this game in school when we couldn't go outdoors. We had to have at least part of our body touching one of two Walls facing each other and while we tried to change our wall, somebody would try to catch us. I was never too good at this game. Once I got caught and it was my turn to start catching, I would always make an excuse to get outw
8. Chicklet
It was a lot like chase. The 'denner' would give us a theme, like flowers or colours, and we would all choose a particular color or flower. Then we would tell the denner what we had chosen but we wouldn't tell her who had chosen what. She would say any one of the names (eg, 'Rose' or 'Red) and whoever's choice it corresponded to had to run away from a denner. If things got too close, she could just scream out some other player's choice and the denner would then have to chase that girl. it wasn't really a fair game, because every time the denner got too close to us, we forced her to chase some other player. But it was while playing this game that one of my Physical Training teachers saw how fast I was and chose me to be in the 4/100m relay at the Junior Zonal level Championships, in which my team scored a silver. I am no longer a good runner, but I remember that once not even the boys could chase me down. My only disadvantage was that I had this knack of always choosing unconventional names (I chose 'Tulip' when others chose rose, lily or marigold. I chose 'Mauve' when pink, blue and red were the more common options) and so, the denner always knew what my choice was.
What would you call the above mentioned games? Juvenile, silly, girlie, odd? But think about the kind of creativity that has gone into inventing them, the genius which only children possess. There must have been something about them that made us play them again and again and within a few weeks of getting tired of them, we would start playing them again. I later realized that none of the games had been too simple, with some of us always being better players than others. I wonder where these games went? Did they get taken over by video games or was it just that children don't have much space to play these days (blame real estate developers)? Whatever it was, I can see a shift in the games people play and boy, do I miss those old games.
Wrong.
For someone who really wants to play, the world is a playground. Even today, in villages, and smaller towns, kids play games which they sometimes invent by themselves. Just think about it- cricket, football, hockey, volleyball, they must all have been started by a very small group of people and today, these games mean the world to a lot of people. Over the years, they have developed and are now considered sophisticated games which require skill and dedication.
On careful thought, you will see that a lot of games children play require skills. You need to be smart for some, fast for others. Besides, they're fun. Following are a few games I remember playing in my childhood:
1. Steppu
This game is called by different names in different places. You first make two boxes on a pavement an then, one. Continue doing this until you have six sets which look like this:
2. Chocolate
This was a game me and my friends supposedly invented. It was a variation of Steppu, but still a little different because it's setup looked like this.
3. Oonch-Neech Ka Papda
I, who grew up in Delhi, call it Oonch-Neech Ka Papda and my parents, who are from West Bengal (dad) and Assam (mom), call it Kumeer-Danga. All pavements and porches were the oonch (upper surface) and surfaces at a lower level were called neech (lower surface). One of us would choose ooch or neech and the rest of us would try to stay on the surface not chosen. We couldn't stay on one level of surface for more than ten seconds and had to change our position for time to time at the risk of getting caught.
4. Colour Touch
One of us girls would call out a color and we would all run to touch any object (including all articles of clothing) which had this color while the girl would try to catch us.
5. Advertisement
One of us girls would choose a letter from the English alphabet and we would have to name a product whose name starts with that letter and has its advertisement on TV. If we could come up with a name, we would have to try and sneak past an imaginary no-man's land and get to the other side at the risk of getting caught.
6. Marbles
Even though this game is not played much these days, I am pretty sure everyone knows what it's about. it's requires aim and concentration and even though it may be called 'juvenile', it is a hard game which not everyone can play.
7. Wall Touch
We would play this game in school when we couldn't go outdoors. We had to have at least part of our body touching one of two Walls facing each other and while we tried to change our wall, somebody would try to catch us. I was never too good at this game. Once I got caught and it was my turn to start catching, I would always make an excuse to get outw
8. Chicklet
It was a lot like chase. The 'denner' would give us a theme, like flowers or colours, and we would all choose a particular color or flower. Then we would tell the denner what we had chosen but we wouldn't tell her who had chosen what. She would say any one of the names (eg, 'Rose' or 'Red) and whoever's choice it corresponded to had to run away from a denner. If things got too close, she could just scream out some other player's choice and the denner would then have to chase that girl. it wasn't really a fair game, because every time the denner got too close to us, we forced her to chase some other player. But it was while playing this game that one of my Physical Training teachers saw how fast I was and chose me to be in the 4/100m relay at the Junior Zonal level Championships, in which my team scored a silver. I am no longer a good runner, but I remember that once not even the boys could chase me down. My only disadvantage was that I had this knack of always choosing unconventional names (I chose 'Tulip' when others chose rose, lily or marigold. I chose 'Mauve' when pink, blue and red were the more common options) and so, the denner always knew what my choice was.
What would you call the above mentioned games? Juvenile, silly, girlie, odd? But think about the kind of creativity that has gone into inventing them, the genius which only children possess. There must have been something about them that made us play them again and again and within a few weeks of getting tired of them, we would start playing them again. I later realized that none of the games had been too simple, with some of us always being better players than others. I wonder where these games went? Did they get taken over by video games or was it just that children don't have much space to play these days (blame real estate developers)? Whatever it was, I can see a shift in the games people play and boy, do I miss those old games.
hey i think ur doin a gr8 job...keep it up!BTW i remember playing most of these games when i was small,my fav one was what u call 'steppu'though i dont remember what we called it..i always won!!!!!
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