Throwback Thursday

Games People Play

I was reminiscing, recently, about the games I used to play as a child. The games that were most memorable were the group games I played with my cousins. We would often get together at my Grandparent's house on Saturday evenings when the families would gather to watch LSU football games. During the games, children were banned from the living room and generally went unsupervised for up to 4 hours at a time. With all that free time, 'kids will be kids'. And we had kids... At times, there were a dozen or more first cousins present, some born into the family and some acquired by other means, but cousins no less. (I had an uncle very actively involved in foster care, shameless plug). So, I figured I'd recall some of the classic games that we would play and give brief descriptions for the uninitiated.

1. Spy

Spy was a favorite amongst the cousins. Here's the synopsis: We would split into two teams, boys vs. girls. Each team would establish a secret 'base'. Each team would develop super secret spy plans. Finally, each team would 'spy' on the other to try to discover the secret base and the secret plans. That's it! Sometimes, this game would go on for hours. It sure seemed more interesting when we were younger, but now it just seems like a silly waste of time. Especially since the secret plans that each team would guard so closely always consisted of establishing a secret base, developing secret plans, and spying on the other team.

2. Colored Chicks

Ahh, the classic game of colored chicks. In this game, we would pick one cousin to be the big, bad wolf, one to be the 'momma hen', and the rest of us would be the colored chicks. To begin, the wolf would hide in seclusion as chicks would discuss colors with the momma hen. Each chick would choose a secret color and should their color be guessed by the wolf, the chick would have to run a designated route, without being captured, and return to the 'nest' for safety. It was a modified Duck-Duck-Goose, in a sense. Once the colors were selected, the wolf would discover the nest and would exchange some cheesy dialogue with the momma hen. The wolf would then begin guessing colors to draw out some tasty chicks. Through the years, we became bored with traditional colors and began to expand our palette. What used to be yellow, blue, red, or purple morphed into mustard, brick, maroon and paisley. Well, that made playing the part of the wolf frustrating, trying to guess all of these hippie colors. The solution was to have family colors. When a family color was called out by the wolf, all of the defenseless chicks had to scramble for their lives. I had an awkward moment a few years back trying to explain this game with a bunch of my National Guard buddies. Now, there are folks of all ethnic groups in my unit, so I drew some strange looks when I explained that I played a game called 'colored chicks' when I was young.

3. Over

Over was one of my all-time favorite games. It was simple, and fun. Basically, we would split the cousins into two teams and each team would gather on one side of my grandparent's house. The point of this game was to throw a ball, any ball that was available, over the house. If the team on the other side is unable to catch the ball, they would take their turn in throwing the ball back over the roof. At some point in the game, a player from one team would eventually catch the ball. When that happened, the game transformed into a fast-paced dodgeball match where the catching team would attack and try to strike as many opposing players with the ball, as they ran for the safety of the opposite side of the house. Now, the teams have changed sides and all players that were hit with the ball join the catching team. Wash, rinse, repeat until one team is eradicated. What made this game especially interesting is the fact that we were limited to whatever ball we could find. Often, the ball was a football. Occasionally, it was a baseball...

4. Science

Kids will be curious and become more so under lack of adult supervision. I always loved a good 'game' of science and as much as my daughter Lilly professes to love science, I am scared for her future... While the adults were mesmerized and transfixed on LSU football, we children could have gotten away with anything, and sometimes did. Anyway, here's how science worked. Old people love Dixie cups and my grandmother was no exception. She always had a cute Dixie cup dispenser in her bathroom. She also had a stockpile of chemicals in there that would have made Dr. Jekyll proud. So, what did we do? Well, we sent a team to grab as many Dixie cups as they could (all of them) and collect samples from every shampoo bottle, deodorant spray can, Avon dispenser, etc... than they could and proudly march them to the utility room! When they got to the utility room, there were Dixie cups prepared with laundry detergents, fabric softeners, bleach, spray lubricants, paints, etc... We would then recruit some minions to fetch from the shed some gasoline, oil, bug spray, etc... Once we had all of our Dixie cup delights spread out on top of the old deep freezer, we would begin our experiments. There was no scientific method to our madness, we simply mixed a little bubble bath with some bleach, added a spritz of Old Spice, a tinge of 10w30, a little WD-40, just a hint of cortisone cream, a dollop of Dawn dish soap, and some zest of Zest. If it didn't look cool, we would pour it down the drain. If it did look cool, we would apply it to every living creature, plant or animal, that we could find. We never really got any compelling results, but we did turn part of an elephant ear leaf pink, once. I never did get that chemistry set I always wanted as a kid...