Games we played

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When the daughter walked in from school a few days ago, I could sense her excitement right from the door. She had been initiated into a new game at school and was eager to introduce me to it, as well. As she enthusiastically explained the rules to me, I couldn’t help but smile. Life has a wonderful way of gently opening the window of memories. For I had been there, done that, and Hops and Bats was an all-time fav. And so, I simply had to think up of all the games that we played in school. Here are my top 10 in no particular order.

1. Hops and Bats

The rules were simple. You could play this one on one, with โ€˜nโ€™ number of people. If you stand, you say โ€˜Hopsโ€™ and if you sit, you say โ€˜Batsโ€™. And if you miss saying the magic words, your opponent can place a whack on your back! Ah, the good olโ€™ days. We played this with the boys. They, of course, had to be gentle with the girls. We were the rowdy hooligans and never spared the poor souls. In fact, a school mate had the reputation of being feisty when it came to this game. I donโ€™t think there was a single boy in school who did not get it from her, in style.

2. Jolly

This, again, was a game that you played with as many people as you liked, however scores were on a duo basis. You simply made a sizable dot with a pen on your palm. If your opponent said โ€˜Jollyโ€™, you had to have your โ€˜dot tattooโ€™, else youโ€™d miss a point. The first one to get to 3 points was the winner and then we started again. The one who lost landed up getting chocolates or the famed โ€˜Vada Pavโ€™ as the peace offering.

3. Name, Place, Animal and Thing

This game was more a group thingy. One free period was enough to get a bunch of us huddled in one end of the classroom with our rough notebooks. One of us would silently say the alphabet, while another would ask us to stop mid-way. We then had to write a name, place, animal and thing with whatever letter was the โ€˜chosen oneโ€™. If any of your entries were similar, you got 5 points. Else a full house was worth 40 whooping points. No prizes for guessing, the one with the maximum score was declared the winner.

4. Fish Pond

As we grew older, we moved on to more interactive games. Fish Pond was the game of choice when a teacher was absent. It involved writing messages to anyone in the class, albeit anonymously. As the class monitor, I would collect all the chits and read them, one by one. The giggles, the glances and the whispers on each and every note were scandalous, and hence adventurous. Love stories, crushes and secrets all came tumbling in that half hour of fun. The trick was to keep our voices down, lest the Principal come by.

5. Why and Because

A variant of the above game, it involved dividing the class into halves. One half wrote questions starting with โ€˜Whyโ€™, while the other half wrote the probable answers starting with โ€˜becauseโ€™. And thus, if you had a question as simple as โ€˜Why is Zn the symbol of Zinc?โ€™ youโ€™d probably get an answer like, โ€˜Because Rahul has a crush on Simranโ€™. The peals of laughter were unavoidable and hence adequate safety measures were taken. The doors were always closed, and our books were always on the table.

6. Uma Joshi

So this one could be played between two or four girls. The boys only wanted to know Uma Joshiโ€™s address. Not that they ever found out. Anyway, so how you played it was by rhythmically clapping your hands to this tune. No, you cannot question the lyrics nor ask for the poet. Just go with the flow. Uma Joshi is Phantom for the girls, the woman who never ages.

Uma Joshi Yeah Yeah Yeah
My mother told me sixty years ago
There came a lady knocking at the door
With a Ooh, Aah, I want some Pah
The Pah is sweet, I want some Meat
The meat is tough, I want to go by bus
The bus is full, I want to go by bull
The bull is fat, I want my money back
The money is green, I want some cherry beans
The cherry beans are red, I want to go to bed
The bed is alright, so time to say goodnight!

7. Fire in the Mountain

A favourite outdoor game, it involved everyone moving clockwise while a person in the centre said โ€œFire in the Mountainโ€. The group responded with โ€œRun, run, run.โ€ And then the person would suddenly say a number aloud, while the people ran helter-skelter to form a group of those many people. The ones who failed to do so were out of the game. I have seen quite a few Birthday hosts use variations of this game in parties. Some things I guess donโ€™t change, they just get repackaged.

ย 8. Tisket and Tasket

This game, I am sure was invented at a picnic. It had the makings of it, I swear. Well, so you had a group of people sitting in a circle. One girl, more often than not, running around with a kerchief in her hand. They all would be singing the famous rhyme and then at the word โ€˜droppedโ€™, sheโ€™d drop the kerchief behind an unsuspecting victim. The person who found it had to chase her, as she rushed to take his seat. And we started all over, till we were bored.

9. Dog and the Bone

For some reason, this one also involved a kerchief too! Two teams, each member had a number. The kerchief was the supposed bone kept in the centre of the play area. When a number was called, both team members would come and try to whisk the kerchief from the circle it was in, without being tagged or caught. Team with most points was the winner, of course.

10. Land, Water, River, Lake, Sea, Wellโ€ฆ

This game is an exclusive to the students of St. Josephโ€™s High School, Juhu, particularly batch of 1992. Why? Because we invented it! Weโ€™d play it almost every recess break that we had. The steps leading into the school were given the above names in ascending order. One girl stood at the bottom and called out the chosen โ€˜elementโ€™. If any girl was tagged while in transit from one place to the other, she would be the one to go to the den. Genius, no?

These games did not come with a price tag. The only versions they ever saw was when they got passed down from one grade to the other. They were the epitome of fun, frolic and a childhood well spent. And I am so glad they are coming back in fashion.

So, what kinda games did you play?

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35 responses to “Games we played”

  1. janu avatar

    This sure is nostalgic. Some of the games are common.

    1. blogwatig avatar

      I guess Janu they would be……that’s all our generation had. And no regrets about that at all!

  2. Snow Leopard avatar

    You played these game….ok
    Anyway, answering the question that you asked –
    The games I liked to play (in descending order) are – Horse riding, dog training/catch, football, trains, lego, monopoly, squash, badminton, volleyball, cricket, swimming.

    1. blogwatig avatar

      Oh, poor you then, Snowy……………you missed out on the best ๐Ÿ˜›

  3. Aditi avatar

    Ha ๐Ÿ™‚ ๐Ÿ™‚ lovely…uma joshi made ne nostalgic. I did a similar post in april this year…imagine the title too being similar! Ha ๐Ÿ˜‰ http://makeitbeayoutiful.blogspot.in/2013/04/the-games-we-used-to-play.html

    1. blogwatig avatar

      Uma Joshi is a legend ๐Ÿ˜€ I am so glad you liked this one, Aditi.

  4. Team BlogAdda avatar
    Team BlogAdda

    This post has been selected for the Spicy Saturday Picks this week. Thank You for an amazing post! Cheers! Keep Blogging ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. blogwatig avatar

      Thank you BlogAdda. A Christmas gift, indeed! ๐Ÿ™‚ Compliments of the season to you.

  5. Afshan avatar

    we had a modified version of Uma joshi some Surangini I guess
    I know almost all this games. Once had an accident and dog and the bone.
    Thanks for taking me down the memory lane <3
    congos on sat pick

    1. Afshan avatar

      accident in dog and the bone ! *

      1. blogwatig avatar

        Ah, Afshan, would love to hear the Surangini lyrics……I know of a folk song by that name though ๐Ÿ™‚

  6. Sulekha (@sulekkha) avatar
    Sulekha (@sulekkha)

    Your post took me back to those wonderful years when all was well with the world ๐Ÿ™‚ I used to play French cricket with my friends- A circle is drawn and it serves as the pitch for playing cricket; one person stands in the circle and bats while the rest of the players do the fielding.Fun post ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. blogwatig avatar

      Sulekha, I never heard of French Cricket. Sounds fun. I was more into gully cricket. Happy that you liked the post. Maybe you can do one too ๐Ÿ™‚

  7. Rachna avatar

    I haven’t played many of these but did enjoy the walk down memory lane with some that I played :). Nostalgia!

    1. blogwatig avatar

      Ah, Rachna, there always is a first time. When I come to Bangalore, we will round up the Blogeshwaris, what say?

  8. Shaivi avatar

    Lovely! Took me back to chldhood!

    1. blogwatig avatar

      I am glad it did, Shaivi. Cheers!

  9. Fab avatar

    I think ‘Name Place Animal Thing’ was the game I played the most in school :-). It invariably ended up in arguments about some place being imaginary or some animal being an insect ๐Ÿ˜€

    1. blogwatig avatar

      I can so imagine that Fab, those were the good ol’ days without Google. An Atlas was all we had ๐Ÿ™‚

  10. ashok avatar

    Nice blog..enjoyed the visit. Have a great New Year!

    1. blogwatig avatar

      Thank you Ashok. Wish you the same.

  11. Rickie Khosla avatar

    Oh how lovely nostalgia is! We played many of the same but called them something else. Do you also remember kho-kho? That was a hot favorite in our school during our ‘free’ periods!

    1. blogwatig avatar

      Oh yes, Kho-kho, I spy, Catch and cook………….I can actually do a Season Two of this post ๐Ÿ˜€

  12. Cynthia Rodrigues Manchekar avatar

    Hi Vinita, we played every one of these games, not only at school, but also with my cousins in Goa. Even Land, water etc. Except for Uma Joshi. That one I never heard of.
    Thank you for reviving all those memories.
    I loved Name, Place, Animal, THing. I used to sit with the dictionary so I could learn of animal names starting with I. I got Iguana.

    1. blogwatig avatar

      Ah, Cynthia, we had a different set of games for home since we had more freedom and space. I think that’s gonna be my next installment. Name, Place, Animal and Thing was my fav too and yes Iguana it was!

      When I meet you, I’ll teach you Uma Joshi, promise. ๐Ÿ™‚

  13. Pratibha avatar

    Pitthu AKA Lagori AKA Seven stones. Most of the summer vacations was spent playing this game, followed by a walk to the chaat wala and stuffing ourselves with panipuri and tikki chaat. Then there was dodge ball. Never heard of the Uma Joshi one though!
    Most of the games are common though!

    1. blogwatig avatar

      Arre, tum bhi! No Uma Joshi? Well, I think I am just going to have to post a you tube tutorial ๐Ÿ˜›

      But yes, most games are a given. ๐Ÿ™‚

  14. Poornima avatar

    Pure Nostalgia and I wish to teach some of these to my daughter. I used to love the dog and the bone, lagori, aba doobi (hitting with the ball), chor police and thikri. I really don’t know the English names for some of these and moreover I am just going on smiling remembering these so I really don’t care too ๐Ÿ™‚ Thanks ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. blogwatig avatar

      Yup, I remember those too. I think passing them on to gen next is the right thing to do.

  15. Alka avatar

    Simple pleasures. This reminds me of Four Corners.

    1. blogwatig avatar

      Oh yes, four corners was an all time fav too. I see a Part two of this post coming up!

  16. Seeta avatar

    This was so nostalgic! Name place animal thing and Jolly were a favorite in school ๐Ÿ™‚ The fish pond is a new one for me but I love the idea of it.. wish I knew it back then ๐Ÿ˜›
    Btw, reading this post made me realize that all those years we had been getting it wrong when we said “Asket and Basket” instead of Tisket and Tasket! Reading this post today was a revelation to the school girl in me ๐Ÿ˜›

    1. blogwatig avatar

      Ha ha ha Seeta, I think a whole lotta names just got ruined with Chinese Whispers. But I am glad this post stirred all the right emotions with so many. I am so coming up with an encore!

  17. asteria avatar

    honestly speaking i opened the link because of the spicy title thinking it to be about some emotional manipulative tactics we use in our daily life, who knew it was actually about the games we played.
    seriously todays generation is missing out a lot not knowing these games, hopefully there are more schools which still incorporate these games.
    Other popular games in my school time were co-operative games straight from SUPW workshop.

    1. blogwatig avatar

      Ha, ha, ha, Asteria, sometimes, I do behave myself ๐Ÿ˜‰

      But you are so right, these games need a comeback so that our kids know what fun really is.

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