Games We Played
as Children
Playing with Tops
In just about every country,
children, especially boys, have played with tops.
Usually, the object is to
knock over the other players' tops with your top or to knock them out of
a circle.
In Venezuela the traditional
top is made of wood. In Indonesia a bamboo top whistles as it spins, and
the object is to make your top spin the longest.
Trompo
Jennifer Risso from Venezuela
I remember when I was a child
and used to play this game. I enjoyed it a lot.
Trompo is a game for boys
and I'm a girl, but this little thing didn't matter to me because I loved
to play this game with all my brothers' friends. Trompo is a traditional
game in my country; almost everybody in Venezuela know this game.
To play it, you need a special
toy--a top (el trompo)-- and at least two players.
The object of the game is
to knock over the other players' tops with your top. The person whose top
is spinning in the end is the winner. The boys always put things on the
points of their tops to make them spin faster so they can win the game.
The traditional top in Venezuela
is made of wood, but it can also be made of plastic or other materials
that make the top move more easily, or the point can be made of metal.
The top has a string that you have to roll up around the top before you
throw it to the floor.
Sometimes the kids who have
good tops make bets. They say, "If my top wins, I will get yours." Then
you see that kid with two or three tops. I sometimes lost mine because
I wasn't a very good player, but I enjoyed playing with it all the time!
Gasing
Hasanuddin Rachman from
Indonesia
Gasing is a traditional children's
game from Indonesia. It uses a piece of bamboo about 5 inches long with
a stick that pierces through the center of the tube-shaped bamboo, or the
body. Part of the stick above the body is longer than below it. A piece
of rope about 3 to 4 feet long is coiled around the upper stick. Another
piece of equipment is a small rod with a small hole. The player pulls the
rope using his left hand, while his right hand is holding the rod against
the gasing body in an upright position, causing the gasing to rotate and
make a wailing sound. You can imagine the different sounds caused by two
or more players who pull their gasings together. The player with the gasing
that rotates the longest is the winner. The length of the rotation is quality
of the gasing, and of course the strength of the pull by the player. Sometimes
people make bets using small pictures. When adults play, they often use
money.
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