BOOK OF NATIVE GAMES

ABOUT THE BOOK

Gaming and sport is a part of many culture especially among youths and
children. Games are becoming easier, modernized and gadgets based, most
native games around the world have been featured in a particular competition
or tournament which many people including those who participated in it does
not know its origin or how it was played before the era of civilization. Native
games is centered around oneself and family which is usually extended, so most
cases, every family have enough people to participate in a game within
themselves and this stretch towards community and society bonding. It just
looked like the civilization of native games put an end to most traditional games,
or to be fair to technology, we say, people became too lazy to practice the games
the way it was natively practiced. But on special occasions, these games used to
be practiced in most part of the world and are interestingly feasible in picnics or
in an outing of friends and among students or during camping in the woods or
on the hills.
DIKETO or PUCA: Diketo also known as Magave, Upuca,
or Puca, is one of ten recognized indigenous games of South
Africa and Lesotho. It is similar to the game Jacks, and usually
played by two players and can be played with pebbles or marbles.
The player throws a stone called "mokinto" into the air and then
tries to take out as many stones as possible from the circle before
they catch it again with the same hand. Then they put the stones
back into the hole one stone at a time, until all ten stones are back

in the hole The player can only move a stone while the "mokinto"
is in the air and before catching it again with the same hand. The
player then takes out all the stones again and puts them back in the
hole now two at a time and so on. If the player fails to catch the
mokinto, it is the next player's turn. The player who has manages
to do ten rounds of taking the stones out and systematically placing
them back in first, wins the game.
LANGA GAME: Langa is one of the most popular traditional
sports commonly found among the Hausa/Fulani ethnic group of
the northern parts of Nigeria. It is also played among Yoruba youths
as lakanlaka without serious organized competition. The game is a
team event played by 12 players, each team has 6 players and 6

substitutes. There is a destination which the target should touch or

reach in order to win. The game shall be played in an area covering
30m by 50m. There shall be a Centre line to demarcate the two
sides. All players would try to bring his opponent down by pulling
out their fingers out of their toes, if a player falls but still have his
hands stuck in his toes, he could still stand up to continue. Any team
whose player get to the end of the opposing teams half first wins
the game.
DINIFRI: Dinifri is a Berber game from Morocco, of outdoor
team play, bravery and physical dexterity amidst a continuous flow
of a strangely ordered chaos.
A 1-meter square court is scratched into the ground. In each corner
of the square a smaller square is drawn and one drawn in the

middle. 5 pieces of stone or other object are placed on top of each

other in a pillar in the central square. A soft but rigid material such
as cardboard is rolled into a tight baton shape and tied with a piece
of strong grass or string.
2 teams of 5 stand at opposing ends of the square diagram. The
teams take turns to throw the baton at the 5 pieces of stone in the
center of the square. When a team hits the pieces and knocks them

all down the game suddenly jumps to a manically paced attack and
defense scenario. The team who hit the pieces becomes the
attacking force whilst the other team becomes the defensive force.
At this moment the attacking team's objective is to reach the
square court and place all 5 pieces of stone into each of the smaller
squares without being hit by the baton. The defensive team's
objective is to stop the attacking team from placing the pieces by
hitting the attacking team members with the baton thus
eliminating each member from the game. The game is won either
by the attacking team placing all the 5 stone pieces or by the
defensive team hitting all the attackers with the baton.

GORI: Also called OKOSO is a native hausa children’s games

played by two or more players. Its only instrument is a ball Pen
cover and a Radio sized battery lid attached to it which is then rolled
by a player with his finger tips and try to capsize it with both hands.

Any player who successfully capsize the gori is allowed to hit the
gori hard on the next player’s palm and if the gori keeps rolling after
the hit, he could try to capsize it again and again until he fails
In some deadly instance, some children do put a pointed ballpoint
pen tip at the bottom of the pen cover to make it hurt more when
it is used to hit the loosing player’s hands.

GORODKI: It is an ancient Russian folk sport in which the aim

of the game is to knock out groups of skittles arranged in various
patterns by throwing a bat at them. The skittles, or pins, are
called gorodki and the square zone in which they are arranged is

called the gorod. The goal is to completely knock the gorodki out of
a marked square using the fewest possible number of throws.

TIÀO PÍ JĪN: The Chinese jump rope resembles more of a giant

stretched out rubber band. It is a thin piece of elastic rope that is
loops around two pairs of legs.
Unlike the Western jump rope, the object of this game is to hook
your legs into the rope to form loops and patterns in a certain
sequence. This is often accompanied by a rhyme or song. As each

level is completed, the rope is moved higher, making the patterns

more difficult to complete.

KABADDI: Played between two teams of seven players, the

objective of the game is for a single player on offence, referred to
as a "raider", to run into the opposing team's half of a court, touch
out as many of their defenders as possible, and return to their own
half of the court, all without being tackled by the defenders, and in
a single breath. Points are scored for each player tagged by the
raider, while the opposing team earns a point for stopping the
raider. Players are taken out of the game if they are touched or
tackled, but are brought back in for each point scored by their team
from a tag or tackle.
GHOMMEMAH: An arab game of tag made more
challenging because the tagger is blindfolded! The players run
around while the blindfolded tagger chases them. When he catches

someone, he must guess who it is. If he guesses correctly, that

player becomes the tagger. If he is incorrect, then the game
continues.

PETECA: a traditional sport in Brazil, played with a

"hand shuttlecock. The objective of the game is to hit the
shuttlecock-like object (the peteca) with your hand over a high net,
similar to a volleyball net, causing the object to land inbounded on
the opposite court. The peteca can only be hit once while on each

side of the net. The first player (or the first pair) who scores twelve
points wins the set. One game can last only a maximum of twenty
minutes. If neither of the two sides have reached the required
score, then the win is given to the team with the most points.
LAGORI: Lagori is a team sport that originated in Southern part
of India. It is played between two teams, with a minimum of 3
players and a maximum of nine on each team, using seven stones
and a rubber ball. Each team gets nine chances, 3 players taking 3
chances each, to knock down the stones that are stacked vertically,
from a distance of about 20ft. If one team is unable to knock down
the stones the next team gets the chance to throw. If the throwing
team knocks down the stones, the objective of the team is to stack

all the seven stones back. The objective of the defensive team is to
strike any player of the throwing team with the ball, below knee
level. Players on the defensive team are not allowed to run with the
ball and have to pass between players to move the ball. If the
offensive team successfully stacks the stones first, the team
receives a point, and gets to throw the ball again. If the defensive
team is able to strike a player first below the knee, there is a change
in possession.
KHO KHO: Kho Kho is a traditional Indian sport, being one of
the oldest outdoor sports dating back to ancient India. A game of
Kho Kho is played between two teams. Number of players in a Kho
Kho team is 12. But only nine (8 from the chasing team, 1 from

defending team) can compete on the field. A standard match

encompasses two innings. Each inning will have 9 minutes which
includes chasing and running.
The chasing team sits or kneels in a row in the middle of the court.
The eight players of the chasing team are made to sit facing
opposite directions. For example: If Player 1 is facing North, Player
2 must face South.
The chasing team tries to finish an inning as quickly as possible.
If the chaser is looking to pass the baton to his/her teammate,
he/she must yell ‘Kho’ and tap on the back of the teammate to give
them a chance to chase.
The team that takes the shortest amount of time to touch the
player chased, is adjudged as the winner. The runner or the chaser
is decided by toss.
BOWLING: The ancient Egyptians rolled stones at various
objects with the goal of knocking them over. Over time, various
varieties of bowling emerged from the Ancient Egyptian game. Fill
the plastic bottle with a few small toys or water to weigh them
down. Set up the plastic bottles in as many rows as you wish. One
in the first row, two in the second row, three in the third row, etc.
Then take about 7-10 steps away from the plastic bottle pins. Roll

the ball on the ground towards the pins. Try to knock over as many
pins as possible in one try!

GATRIK: This game uses tools from two pieces of bamboo , one
resembling a stick measuring about 30 cm and the other
smaller. First, a small piece of bamboo is placed between
two stones and then hit by a bamboo stick, followed by hitting the
small bamboo as far as possible, the bat will continue to hit several
times until one time the blow misses the small bamboo. After
failing then the next person from the group will continue. Until the
last person's turn. When finished, the opposing group will give a
gift in the form of a slingwith a benchmark of the distance from the
last small bamboo to the starting stone the game started
earlier. The further away, the more comfortable it is to be carried
and the opposing group will be more tired of carrying.

KELERENG: this game involves drawing a circle in the sand and

players will take turns knocking other players’ marbles out of the
circle with their own marble. The main goal is to end up with the

most marbles at the end of the game. Each player brings his own
set of marbles to use and potentially lose them all. This is
considered playing “for keeps” or “keepsies”
XIKUNAHATI: a traditional sport also called hiara or head
football played in Brazil. A traditional variant of soccer, it is played
on all fours, using the head as the principal offensive weapon for

blasting the ball and keeping it off the ground at all times. The fouls
include; touching the ball with your feets, ball touching the ground,
or ball going outside the court. if any team who commits a foul, it
is automatically a plus two points for the opposing team. At the rnd
of the game, the teams with less fouls commited and has more
points wins.

TUG OF WAR: Tug of war is a sport that pits two teams

against each other in a test of strength: teams pull on opposite ends
of a rope, with the goal being to bring the rope a certain distance in
one direction against the force of the opposing team's pull.
Remember to keep your feet forward of your knees at an angle.
Move as one – The key to success is teamwork. Pull as one, don't
waste energy on short tugs, let your thighs take the strain, work
together making effective use of your pulling power and with a
concerted effort you should tug the other team into submission.
You should hold the rope with an underhand grip, keeping your
arms extended so you can lean back. Winning tug of war isn't about
using your hands to pull the rope; it's about using your legs to push
against the ground while holding onto the rope. If you plan to win
just by pulling, you will get tired

FOOTVOLLEY: is a sport which combines aspects of beach

volleyball and association football. Footvolley combines field rules
that are based on those of beach volleyball with ball-touch rules
taken from association football. Essentially, footvolley is beach
volleyball except players are not allowed to use their hands and
a football replaces the volleyball. Points are awarded if the ball hits
the ground in the opponent’s court, if the opponents commit a

fault, or if they fail to return the ball over the net. The first team to
reach 18 points wins.
SPUD: Spud is a game for children and adults, where players try
to eliminate each other by catching and throwing an inflated and
generally soft ball. As few as three may play The game begins with
each player being assigned a number, in secret, with the highest
number corresponding to the number of players. For example, if 5
people are playing, each player will be assigned one of the numbers
1 through 5. A player is chosen as 'It.' The person who is It stands in
the approximate center of the playing area, with one foot in front
of the other. All of the other players must then touch one of their

feet to its inward foot, and then step backwards 3 paces. This 3-
step-backward set-up is required. When all of the players have
stepped backward 3 paces, the person who is It throws the ball
straight into the air and calls the number of another player. The ball
must be thrown straight up.
When the ball is thrown skyward, all of the players then dash away
until the player whose number is called both (1) gains possession of
the ball; and (2) calls out 'Spud!' At that point, all of the players
must freeze. In no event may any of the players run around corners
or hide behind trees. The player who has the ball is allowed to take
an identified number of giant steps toward one player. After the
steps are taken, the person with the ball will try to hit one of the
other players with the ball. If the target player comes into contact
with the thrown ball in any way (unless he or she catches the ball),
he or she is penalized with one letter (i.e., S P U or D), and then is
charged with throwing the ball into the air for the next round. If the
target player does not come into contact with the thrown ball or
the target player catches the ball, the player who threw the ball is
penalized with one letter, and then is charged with throwing the
ball into the air for the next round.

CUP TO CUP: Put one full bucket of water on the ground and
have one player sit right behind the bucket. Have the rest of the
team sit in a straight line right behind the first player. Have the last
person in the line turn and face the other way so the last two
players are back to back instead of one after another. Put another
either smaller bucket or a bucket with a marked halfway line in
front of the last player. For Adults, every player is blindfolded.

Give the first player an empty cup. They must dip the cup in the full

bucket of water and pass it backwards over their head to the next
kid. The second kid must then pass it over to the third and so on
until the final kid on the team dumps the water in the cup into the
empty bucket. Then pass the empty cup of water back up to the
front. The first team to fill their bucket wins.
PALO ENCEBADO: greased pole refers to a tall pole that has
been made slippery with grease or other lubricants and thus
difficult to grip. More specifically, it is the name of several events
that involve staying on, climbing up, walking over or otherwise
traversing such a pole. A very long poll of about 30 feet tall is either
placed above a river or dipped underground, it usually used to be

greased with Lard, oil, soap, Pig fat or whale fat or any slippery
substance. Competitors take turns climbing or hopping the poll
from one angle to the other side of the poll. Winning this game
attracts a lot of rewards.