The most beautiful part of all is that we didn’t realise that we were making memories, we were just having fun! Here are some of the games that shaped my childhood that I can never forget about and that still bring a smile to my face up to date.
This was one of the most fun games that we had. We would dig and shape a hole, making sure that it was big enough to fit in between 10 and 20 stones called vana. A larger stone, called mudodo, is tossed in the air high enough to allow the player to scoop a certain number of vana out of the hole, then catch the mudodo before it hits the ground, all with the same hand.
This means hide and seek and it is about one person counting and giving the others an opportunity to hide then going out to find them. First one found has to do the counting while others hide.
In this game, you draw a court on the floor and number the boxes in increasing order. The players go in turns, tossing a piece of rock into the target box. Each player starts off with box one as the target for the first turn. The rock must land in the target box, else the player’s turn ends and they have to wait for their next turn to try again. When the rock correctly lands in the target box, the player hops through the pattern of boxes to the end, skipping the one containing the rock.
- Game Mabasa
In this game, when someone called your name you had to respond with “mabasa” which is Shona for work otherwise the next person could give you work to do. Really great way to hand your chores over to your siblings.
You have 24 holes, either shallowly dug into the ground or crafted. To start, players put two stones into each of the twenty four grooves. The first player picks up stones from any hole then goes clockwise dropping one stone in each one of the following hole. If the last stone is dropped in a hole in the front line, the player collects the stones in the grooves opposite those of the other player. If player A’s stones end in the rear line then it is the other players turn. If the stones end in front line in a groove which is empty, then player B continues.
Three or more players chasing other players in an attempt to “tag” or touch them, once you are caught then you are it and have to try and pass it onto someone else.
- Jim Boss
With the light switched off and one blindfolded, the first player has to use his hearing to find the others, catch them and then its their turn to be blindfolded. The blindfolded one would call out Jim and the others had to respond by saying Boss but remain as still as possible so they were not caught.
- Hello my children
This game is a song that you sing while standing in a circle with one person in the middle and the one that is in the middle leads the group in dance moves that everyone has to imitate. Would it even be a full Zimbabwe game list without dancing?!
We played these games in Zimbabwe, if you are not from Zimbabwe, do you have local versions of the same games? You see the thing is I believe that in as much as people are different, there is more that binds us than that which separates us. As you remember some childhood games that you played, the I hope you dance.