Games we played in the 60's -70's

Recently, I joined the Seremban FB group. Thanks to their endless streams of pictures on things we used to play, I am able to write this. I did pen two articles previously when I initially started blogging. 

The rubberband games 

Tin cans 

In retrospect, it will pale miserably to the one I am about to write because back then I had no pictures to show, hence difficult for readers to imagine. Here we go :

Firstly, this is what we locals call Gasing while the westerners call it a top. There is an art in tying the string, hence before one can play, one must learn the art of tying. Not too tight nor too lose. then, there is the art of twisting one's wrist & positioning of the fingers to ensure you get a good firm grip for a good spin. 

Next, is to strategise how to 'kick' your opponents out of the ring where most of the gasings are. By the way, at the start of the game, a gasing has to be sacrificed as 'pawn'. The one that successfully 'kicks out' the pawn wins the game. I love this game but always loose to the boys. Apart from that, we also try spinning the gasing in our palm, on the table, and anything that we can think of. At times, the spin is so hard and accurate, it can even crack the wooden gasing. Alas, when that happens...game over for the poor chap unless he has another gasing.

This is 5 stones or batu lima in bahasa Malaysia. Where I come from (my kampong life), we played with 7 stones. Rules of the game is simple. 'splash' or spread all 5 stones. Pick one up as your 'cue stone'. Toss the cue stone into the air, while the cue stone is in the air, you must quickly pick up the stones on the ground. Then you will have to 'save' the falling cue stone from reaching the ground. Once you have collected all the stones, you need to 'weigh' the stones. In short, collecting points. Place all the stones at the back of your palm, toss them in the air and try to catch as many as you can in your palm. That is your so called points. The one to reach the pre-set agreed points is the winner. The prize? Nothing...just pure fun, good challenge and most important, sealing the friendship. Language was never a barrier, everyone knows the game. Such fun times I had. This game is mostly played by girls but there are boys who also play them.

This is one of my favourite games. Simply place the roll of paper bullets into the slot, shut the lever and Viola..."piak piak piak"...you can be trigger happy. FYI, inside each roll of bullet, there is a small dot (see picture below).

The gun also has a lock mechanic...awesome, right?

Notice the small dots? That, when comes into contact with the metal (with force) a 'piak piak' sound is heard. The burnt paper bullet emits a smell. Boy, I sure love that smell. Even as I write this, I can literally smell the burnt paper.

I can play with this for hours. It was so much fun. Laughter ricocheting in the playground as we play cops and robbers or simply just scare the heck out of someone...and the smelll....awww....

 How can I forget this!!! Fighting spiders!!! We would go into the woods to catch and collect spiders. Place them in a matchbox and then find suitable opponents to fight with.

Yes, I admit (girl-guide honour) I am a tomboy. I will join the boys in Pedas to catch my spider to fight theirs.

We often spend hours finding for the alpha spider. Ewwww....gross! (the female readers are saying)...well, ladies, they are harmless and so gentle when you place them on your palm to play...serious! (psst...by the way, I ain't no girl-guide - just so you know)

This was the tin can game I wrote about earlier. A tad different from my description I wrote previously. For this one...we stack them as shown in picture. Then, we draw a line some distance away. Everyone goes behind the line to try to topple the pyramid. The one with the highest score i.e. most cans toppled is the winner. 

Alternatively, we place the pyramid of cans in a circle, then try to topple it from outside the huge circle. The loser will then have to catch the players and place them in the 'safe house' i.e inside the circle. Prior to that, a pre-set perimeter would be established, else anyone can run straight home to avoid being caught!

Fighting fish, anyone? This is more of a guy's game but sometimes the lasses do participate...I won't say who but there are. Serious, no kidding!

Ladies, 
do you remember this? Such fun time isn't it? Dressing up your paper dolls with endless selection of clothes.

The more artistic friends of mine will draw & color their own designs and we used to trade the clothes if we happen to have the same doll.

 

This set is incomplete. Sometimes, we have hats, shoes, handbags and even accessories for our dolls.

Simple yet so engaging for the girls. We can play for hours exchanging clothes, hairstyle, etc. 

Pick up sticks, remember this? 

For instructions : refer to 
pressmantoy

That is the modern version. Those days we didn't have colored sticks so basically, just make sure when you collect your stick, do not move or touch the rest of the sticks or your turn will be forfeited. For a whackier version, check out this :

U-tube

Well, you get the drift.

Next...

This was my all time favourite board game apart from Monopoly...the aeroplane (British English) game. Well, I don't know how you call them but that was what my buddies and I called them back then :)

Objective is to roll a '6' on a dice so that your "player" can exit the big square to start the journey. Eg : if I were to choose the yellow color (which incidentally was my favourite color for this game in particular) - After rolling a '6', I will have to 'park' the player at the white space just outside the yellow square indicating I have 'passport' to exit. A six on the dice means one can go again, similar to getting a joker in cards game. Then, I will move my player accordingly to the number rolled. Count the number and stop. Passing the dice to the next person. 

You would be deemed as safely "home" once your player has reached the tip of the big arrow in the middle of the boardgame. (the color of your choice earlier on). Simply means, one has to make a full circle to reach the objective. Once each player is 'home', you can either turn the player upside down in the yellow square or take it out and place it elsewhere or leave it at 'home' i.e. where the arrow ends and stack them up. The player that has all four players "sent" home is the winner.

Another favourite outdoor game I like is what we call Champion. Why named it Champion? Good question but I don't have the answer. Perhaps, its because we often shout "CHAMPION" once we cross the finishing line???NO??? Or well...

Broken into two teams, the catchers and the runners. Mostly played on badminton courts. Why? Lines already drawn!! Duh! Hehehe...but occasionally, we do play on sandy grounds and mark the lines. Catchers will toe the lines to ensure none of the runners get to cross the line. The runners will have to outsmart their opponents to run to the finishing line without being touched or caught. 

Once a runner is touched or caught, the runner is deemed as 'dead' and needs to be rescued. The runner that successful runs to the finishing line gets to save a life. Those that safely crosses the finishing line will have to do it all over again to save each and every member of the team to win the game. Note - one reason why obese kids are often last to be selected in the group because more often then not, they get caught easily. No offense but that was what went through the kids mind back then. So, the leader will often choose fast runners or smart alecks that can outsmart their opponents.  

Apart from the above, we also play with lastik! Picture below.

 
Marbles, anyone? And also plastic soldiers, horses, red indians, etc.

There are more to this but I'm out of time to share it. Care to share some of the games you used to play when you were younger? Feel free to drop your feedbacks in the comments made specially for you.

Until the next blog....Stay happy, life is short. Live life full!

By the way, thank you to all the Serembanites for the pictures you uploaded. Also, credits to the photograpers who took these pictures. You have brought back sweet memories from my carefree days way back then....Aaahhhhh!!!!

Ciao!!!