Traditional Games

Safeguarding and promoting Traditional Sports and Games (TSG) as sports practices and intangible cultural heritage is a key challenge for the future development of sport and societies. TSG enhance intercultural dialogue and peace, reinforce youth empowerment, and promote ethical sports practices.

Safeguarding and promoting TSG build temporal and cultural paths leading to intercultural and intercommunity dialogues. TSG promote the understanding of contemporary cultural, societal, and sports practices and anticipate their future evolutions. TSG give communities, and individuals the chance to express both cultural pride and richness.

“The diversity of physical education, physical activity, and sport is a basic feature of their value and appeal. Traditional and indigenous games, dances, and sports, also in their modern and emerging forms, express the world’s rich cultural heritage and must be protected and promoted."

The importance of this intangible cultural heritage notably relies on the intergenerational and intercultural dialogues that maintain these traditional practices living within communities. Building intercultural dialogue and promoting ethical values through TSG fosters a fertile soil for youth empowerment and the development of peace between and within communities and societies.

ROMANIA


1,2,3 la perete stai! (1,2,3, freeze!)

How to play it: One player from the group volunteers to stay face-fronting a wall while the other players form a horizontal line behind him/her. The game begins when the player who faces the wall says, "1,2,3, la perete stai!" (or “1,2,3, freeze!”). During this time, the other players try to get as close as possible to the wall. After the word "freeze!", the player who is facing the wall turns to face the rest of the players. Whoever is caught moving is sent back to the starting line. The game ends when the first player touches the wall. Depending on the dynamic of the group, the players can decide together to change the rules and increase the difficulty level after each round. For example, in the first round players can advance forward by running, in the second round only by walking, in the third round only by doing the frog jump walk and so on.

Mațele încurcate (Tangled guts)

How to play it: The players have to form a circle while holding hands. Without letting go of their hands, they try to "tangle" as much as possible, going over or under the hands of each other. One of the players will sit with his/her back to the group while the other players tangle their hands. When the "guts" have become tangled, the one who has their back turned will have to try to untangle the mats and rebuild the circle. If he/she fails, he/she will have to turn around again and the other have to mix a second time. If he/she succeeds, he/she will join the circle while another player is chosen to turn his/her back to the rest of the group.

Țară, țară, vrem ostași!

(Country, country, we want soldiers!)

How to play it: Players are divided into 2 teams. The teams sit face to face, in horizontal lines, at a distance of a few meters from each other. All players on each team will hold hands, forming a "fence". The team that starts the game shouts: Țară, țară, vrem ostași! (or "Country, country we want soldiers!"). The other team answers: "Pe cine?" (“Who?”). Then, the first team chooses an opposing player by shouting their name. The chosen player must run to the team that called him and break the "fence" formed by them. If he/she succeeds, he/she will return to their team with another person from the opponent team. If he/she fails, he/she will remain part of the team that called him/her. In order to break the "fence", the player must run fast through the place where 2 opponents hold hands. The role of the opponents is to stop him/her without letting go of their hands. The team that captures all the players wins the game.

Rațele și Vânătorii (Ducks and Hunters)

Necessary materials: One volleyball ball.

How to play it: Firstly, players are divided into ducks and hunters: 2 players will play the role of hunters while the rest become ducks. Then, the playground is delimited. Usually, the space has a rectangular shape. At each end of the playground there will be a hunter, who is not allowed to enter the playground. Between the hunters are the ducks. The hunters have the role of hunting the ducks with the ball. The ducks must avoid the ball, without leaving the playing space. When a duck is hit by the ball, the player is eliminated from the game. The maximum number of attempts the hunters have to hit the last remaining duck is equal to how many years the player has (for example, if the last duck is 20 years old, the hunters must hit him/her in a maximum of 20 throws). If they fail, the game resumes with the same hunters. The game ends when all the ducks have been eliminated from the game. Aditionally, with every trow hunters make, ducks can earn extra lives if they manage to catch the ball in their hands before it touches the ground.

BULGARIA


Giants and dwarfs

How to play it: The players are divided into two teams. One volunteer of the group will become the leader and tell the others what to become: giants or dwarfs. When the leader says "Giants", all the other players must rise their hands in the air. When the leader says "Dwarfs", everyone must do a squat.

Furthermore, there is no set order in which the leader says "giants" or "dwarves".

Crows and sparrows

How to play it: The players are divided into two teams (Sparrows and Crows). The fields length is of 25-30 steps depending on the number of players. The game has 5-6 rounds. The two teams line up in two parallel rows, one step from the centerline. There is one neutral player, who shouts out "Crows or sparrows".

When the neutral player shouts "Crows", team "Sparrows" needs to run to the line which is their safe zone. In the meanwhile, team Crows needs to chase after them and touch as many players of the opponent team as they can before they reach their safe zone.

On the other hand, when the neutral player shouts "Sparrows", team "Crows" needs to run to the line which is their safe zone and team Sparrows needs to chase and catch them before they reach it. The players who get touched by an opponent player stay in "jail" and can't be chased or be caught anymore. The winner is the team who has more "prisoners" after the 5-6 rounds.

Dodgeball

Necessary materials: One volleyball ball.

How to play it: The field should be 15-20 steps long and 10-15 steps width depending on the number of players. The players are divided into two teams. During the game, all players are allowed to pick up the ball and throw it at the opponent team. Furthermore, each team should delegate a member who will be positioned behind the enemies to make ”backfire”. This delegated team member is called "Cosule". When someone gets hit and the ball bounces on the floor he/she is out. If someone catches the ball in the air he/she remains in the game and can save someone who is out. This will allow the saved player to reenter the game. When one of the teams has no other players left on the field, "The Consule" enters the field. The game ends when all players of one of the teams, including "The Consule", are out of the game.

ITALY


Schiaccia 3

Necessary materials: One volleyball ball.

How to play it: All players should form a circle. Each round consists of 3 volleyball passages between the players, and at the third one the player who last received the ball needs to hit another player with it. If the player is hit, he/she is eliminated, if he/she manages to hit the ball and maintain it in the air, the thrower is eliminated.

Bandiera

How to play it: The players are divided into 2 teams. The teams are placed in 2 parallel lines at the opposite sides of the field. Each player of the first team will receive a number that corresponds to a player of the second team. In the middle of the field there is a referee with a flag (bandiera). Each couple of players from the opposite teams, when their corresponded number is called by the referee, need to run to the centerline, take the the flag and bring it back to their team. When one players catches the flag, the other player from the opposite team should run after them and try to touch them in order to steal the flag back, bring it to their own team and gain a point. At the end of the game, the team with the most points wins. Depending on the number of pairs formed, the players can choose to play as many rounds as they want.

Lupo Mangia Frutta

How to play it: 5 people are needed in order for this game to work. One person plays the wolf while the other players are fruit. The people are only allowed to reveal what fruit they are to other ‘fruits’ in the game. Every person should be a different type of fruit to avoid confusion. All of the fruit players are required to line up (side-by-side). The wolf stands about 20 steps away from the fruit line. The wolf yells out to the fruit, “Knock – Knock.” The fruit players shout: “Who is it?” The wolf says: “It is the fruit eater wolf.” The fruit shout out: “What fruit are you looking for?” Then the wolf names a fruit. If one of the players are the fruit that was just called, then he/she must break free from the wolf without getting caught. If the player gets caught, he/she becomes the wolf. If the wolf is not able to catch the fruit, the person remains the wolf.

FRANCE/REUNION


Facteur n’est pas passé (Has the postman passed?)

How to play it: To play postman has not passed, you will need: An object that represents the package (ball, handkerchief, glove, clothes, etc.). To begin, you must designate a person who will play the role of the postman. The other players sit on the floor in a circle. All the players except the postman close their eyes and start chanting: "The postman has not passed, he will never pass ... Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday!!!"

During the song, the postman walks around the other players and by the end of the song they must have placed the package behind a player's back. All players should look behind them and whoever received the item should stand up and grab the postman, running around the circle. The postman must take the place of the player without being hit. If the postman managed to sit down without being touched, he won. The other player therefore becomes a postman and a new game can begin. If the postman is caught and tagged, the other player returns to his starting position and the previous postman retains his/her role. The postman may not drop off any packages at the end of the song. In this case, the other players start singing again. Note that if a person does not see that he/she has a package on his/her back and the song restarts, he/she must take the postman's place.

Poules, renards, vipères (Hens, foxes, vipers)

How to play it: The participants should form 3 equal teams of 5 to 10 players: Team foxes, Team hens, Team vipers. Each formed team has a camp (refuge/prison for their prey). The goal of the game is for each team to "eat" as many players from the other teams as possible using the following system:

  • The foxes eat the hens.

  • The hens peck the vipers.

  • Vipers bite foxes.

Each team therefore can "eat" and take to their camp by simple touch one of the other teams but is vulnerable vis-à-vis the third. In other words, each player is both prey and predator at the same time. When a player is "eaten", he/she is taken to prison by his predator where they have to make a big line of people that have been eaten. The prisoners (for example hens among the foxes) make the chain by holding hands. When someone from their team manages to touch one of his captured teammates, he/she is free until they are captured again. To continue playing the released prisoners must first return to their camp. The team who wins is the team with the most "eaten" players in the end.

Kadok

SPAIN


Las sillas

How to play it: To play this game, there must be as many chairs as there are players in the game. One chair will be removed before starting. A speaker for playing music is also needed. The chairs are placed in a circle with the backs facing inward. To start, the players stand around the chairs, one behind the other. The person controlling the music makes it play. While the music is playing, the players should walk all together around the chairs. As the music stops, each player must sit in a chair. Whoever is left without a chair will be eliminated. The game ends when one of the last two players sits in the last remaining chair. This person becomes the winner of the game.


Gallinita ciega

How to play it: One player from the group volunteers to be blindfold. The other players form a circle around the blind chicken by holding hands. The "chicken" must turn around three times before starting to search, so that he/she does not know where he/she is. The chicken's task is to catch some of the players, who are allowed to move but without letting go of their hands and breaking the circle. When the chicken catches someone, he/she has to guess who it is by touch. If it is correct, the roles are exchanged.