Keep those games alive!

Children are inventive, original and very messy. As they get older they start losing these nice qualities. Some manage to hold on. This is what I am trying to do with this blog. My brother - a great inventor of games - kept most of my childhood happily occupied with his original games. This blog started out as a way to keep those games alive. Do read the first few posts to enter his wonderful world. Reader contributions welcome :)

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Dark Room and Dabba Eyes Spice

These are variations of Hide and Seek, and a lot more interesting!

Dark room, if you haven't guessed already, is Hide and Seek played in a dark room. The kid who is out (henceforth referred to as the out-kid) stays outside the room, and counts to a certain number before announcing that she will enter. The other kids meanwhile hide in various dark corners. The out-kid has to find every single kid without having an "accident", and the first kid found is the next out-kid.

Now, why does this out-kid have to find every other kid, when the rule states that the first kid found is out? Just for fun.

Here are some of the ways in which we caused "accidents": (Works better if the room is in TOTAL DARKNESS)
  • Balance a pillow on the door (kept ajar) so that it falls on the out-kid as he opens the door
  • Hide near a cassette player and switch it on full blast as the out-kid enters. If this kid is prone to nervousness, the merrier
  • Place a skateboard at the door, and wait for the unsuspecting out-kid to put her foot on it and have a nasty one
  • Hide just behind the door with a bedsheet and throw it on the out-kid as soon as he enters
  • Throw pillows on the unfortunate out-kid as she enters... and so on...

Grown ups viewed this game with great suspicion and almost always interrupted the screams!

On to another interesting way of playing Hide and Seek - Dabba Eyes Spice. This is expertly shown with a diagram at bombaylives and I will not take the liberty of re-writing it. I played it too, but without a dabba, and called it Ice Pies. Read all about it here.