The Forgotten Games

The Forgotten Games

When we were kids we had a live game application it was called “Playing Outdoors” that even included some sit down games. There were no cell phones imprisoning us and no tabs (Tablets) keeping a taboo on our Play time.

We earned the Privilege points of breathing fresh air and indulging in some much needed mental and physical exercises, learning social skills, meeting other kids and just having plain unadulterated fun.

Today I’m nostalgic about the lovely childhood games we played that are either forgotten or not known to our Generation Z and maybe some millennials too. In a lot of the games that I will discuss further, the den or person’s chance to lead would be decided by doing “eenie, meenie , myna mo” or by show of hands saying majority wins and minority loses or vice versa. So let’s relive some if those cherished memories and walk down memory lane.

1. Sankli (Chain Reaction Catching)- In this the person whose turn or den it is, catches the others one by one and they form a chain and slowly catch all the others forming a Sankli that literally means chain.

2. Lagori (Seven Tiles) – This game has many names like Pitto, Dabba Kali, Pittu, Lingorcha etc. We arrange 7 tiles or stones one on top of each other and then make two teams where one would take a ball and aim at the small lagori and one team protects the fallen 7 tiles while the other tries to keep the other team away.

3. Pakda Pakdi(Catch- Catch) – The cheapest and easiest play of all just take den and the others.

4. Land and water- very simple and sweet game the higher ground like the foot patio steps would be water and the ground land and there would be a person giving instructions about where to stand one who missed it is out.

5. Marbles/kanche- a very popular game where you hit marbles and try to win the other persons marbles and increase your collection. The one who won the most would show off their colourful marbles collection.

6. Hopscotch- Is where there are number squares traced by chalk on the ground and we jump and finish it if one misses then is out.

7. Langdi (One legged catch)- In this the one person hops on one leg called langdi and tries to catch as many people as possible.

8. Simon Says- In this one person would be Simon and would give any command starting with the phrase “Simon says…” If the command is given without the use of this phrase, which we would often forget in the heat of the moment, the ones who still carry out the task are out.

9. Dog and the bone- In this there are two teams and there is a circle in between with a cloth or any object so at one time two people from the opposite teams come and try to catch the bone and run towards their team without getting caught by the opponent team member.

10. Name, place, animal, thing- Turn by turn each person would say the alphabets in their mind and the others would randomly ask the one thinking to stop and whatever alphabet they stopped at the entire group would have to say a name ( of a person like S for Shane) and also mention a country or city and an animal and any object ( example S for sword) name with the letter.

11. The Memory game- In this one person would start with a country or a city name and the others would continue to add on to the list. However, he/she would repeat the entire list of all the names the previous players have given then add his/her name. This goes on till any one missed out any was declared “out”.

12. Kho- kho- In this the kids would sit alternatively in a line on one knee and one person would run around and the other would catch, the runner could go zigzag in between but not the catcher. The person catching could tap the one sitting nearest to help catch the runner. Once the runner is caught then a new person gets a chance and so on.

There were so many others like gilli danda, statue, house- house and doctor-doctor, gulley cricket and ring football, Skipping ropes, Chinese whispers, Hide and seek, Carom, Spinning Tops and so many more that I could go on. Such lovely times and memories!
Nowadays kids so not have the luxury or the inclination to play such games because they are too caught up with gadgets or studies. It would be so awesome if our kids had the liberty to play such physically and mentally challenging games that would make them inner happiness, because we know it made us happy!

So let us know which was your favourite childhood game and which ones are you willing to teach your little one?

Image Courtesy – http://redtri.com (main image), Pinterest