Games kids play in The DR

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suarezn

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Feb 3, 2002
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I've been doing my christmas shopping for my kids, and it reminded me that growing up we didn't really have many toys, but still it seems like we were always doing or playing something. We had a lot of made up games or home made toys. Here are some I remember:
- Fufua - I loved this one. Now that I think of it, it's actually quite dangerous. You flatten a metal cap (I.e. a coke bottle cap) and make two little holes in it. Then you sharpen the edges...to the point where you can shave with it. You buddies will do the same. Then you put a string through it and wind it up...The object is to cut the other guy's string before he cuts yours....It's amazing we didn't put somebody's eye out with this.
- Trompos - This are homemade tops, which again you sharpen the tip. The object here is to break the other guy's top, which he probably spent a whole week building...I love it
- Bellugas or bolas - The little crystal balls...The object being to win as many as possible. You're basically betting. Some guys are very good at this.
- Ligas - Rubber bands. Kind of the same concept as with the Bellugas.
- Capitan pasando lista -
Anybody remembers the name of the one where you draw a bunch os squares on the ground and skip through them?
And of course the ever popular "house"...ehem...
There are a ton of others that I can't remember right now.
Anyone remember any others from their childhood?
 
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Pib

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Jan 1, 2002
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www.dominicancooking.com
[B]suarezn[/B] said:
Anybody remembers the name of the one where you draw a bunch os squares on the ground and skip through them?
Click to expand...
Hopscotch, rayuela in Spanish, el avi?n or peregrina in Dominican Rep.

Other games:
Arroz con leche: I cant' remember how it was played exactly. But kids sang a rhyme.

Arroz con leche
Se quiere casar
Con una viudita
De la Capital
Que sepa tejer
Que sepa bordar
Que ponga la aguja
En su mismo lugar
Etc.

I remember playing "Capit?n pasando lista" with my cousins and grandparents when I was a kid. Whoa! Was my grandma good, she would have made an excellent drill sargent. :)
 
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Petaka

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Nov 8, 2002
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You could call them games.

I was some sort of a loner, so I always had games for one.
Chichiguas (kites): Some versions were called Cajon, Pajaro, etc.
All were hand made with very thing color paper and barillas (bamboo sticks) you could buy in the colmados, and glued with almidon de yuca or school glue. Some guys used to be very creative when building these things.

The simplest ones were the Capuchinos, no glue required: The body was a page from your school notebook, the tail was from a second page of the same notebook (many homeworks ended up hanging from electric wires) and the string was stolen from the sewing machine when nobody was looking.

Patinetas (scooter): Hand made with three pieces of wood and a hinge. The wheels were worn-out ball-bearings (noisy as hell) collected from auto repair shops backyards - an all time favorite Dominican place to dispose of garbage. The only problem with them was their wide turning radius.

Jacks???: Something the girls used to play with a little ball and about a dozen metal pieces.
 
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Petaka

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Trucano?

Quote:
Anybody remembers the name of the one where you draw a bunch os squares on the ground and skip through them?

We used to call it Trucano.
 
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earosemena

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Aug 18, 2002
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When I was growing up we used to jump rope o saltar la soga. We also used to play a game I loved, Las Cintas. "Knock, knock." "Quien es?" "El Diablo." "Que quiere?" "Cintas." "De que color?" Everybody had picked a color and if the diablo picked yours, you'd have to go with him/her. Players were eliminated until there was one left, the winner. The challange was to come up with the most exotic or different color. What fun!(This was in Cuba, but that's close enough.)
 
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Tony Cabrera

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Sep 24, 2002
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The best one was "la botella" you take a coke bottle in spun it
around in kiss (hopefully) the best looking girl or the one you like.
hehehe, God just the memory!
 
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Bugsey34

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Feb 15, 2002
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I don't know about years ago, but these days keeping a tire rolling with a stick that has a milk jog handle on the end entertains kids I know for hours on end... fun to watch too. And the little girls have endless clapping games.
 
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LazyGirl

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Jan 12, 2002
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I used to play "stop", I can't remember how u play it but I used to play it, "el topao" or "el topao paralizao" or "el topao con ayuda", ladrones y policias, el escondido, "musa tatara musa fundillo pelao siempre ta quillao" lol, mano caliente, i forgot what we used to call dodge ball in spanish, we used to play that too, the girls used to play gosh the name sounds stupid "chicle mas chicle" we used to get long elastic and make like a band with it, then 2 people would stand on each end of it with the elastic band on the ankles first, then u move on to the "batatas", then the knees, then the waist, etc etc, and one third person would jump the elastic band without touching it saying "chicle mas chicle mas chicle americano, se abre se cierra y se sale" each jump was different and more difficult the then the previous. I used to play other games but I cannot remember the name.
 
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suarezn

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Feb 3, 2002
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Petaka: I used to have one of those patinetas...My friends used to do the rolling tire with the stick...Good ones guys
Keep them coming!
 
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jose?to

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Suarezn asked:

"Anybody remembers the name of the one where you draw a bunch os squares on the ground and skip through them? "

We called it 'plancha'.

...and how 'bout a "patineta" de ruedas de jabillas when you could not afford the ball bearings.

trompos, bola a la u?ita, semilla de cajuil.

...y despu?s llegaron las vitillas.
 
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suarezn

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Joseito: I had the "ruedas de javillas" edition, before I graduated to the more expensive "metal bearings" type.

"Plancha" is what we also called hopscotch. That's what I was looking for...It's been so long I had forgotten.
 
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Petaka

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Nov 8, 2002
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jose?to said:
...and how 'bout a "patineta" de ruedas de jabillas when you could not afford the ball bearings.
Click to expand...

I remember those. When the jabillas dried-out you used to have the "tires" blown out when rolling down the street.

*
A cheap version of the trompo was built with a rum metal cap. Punch a little hole in the center for a thin cuava stick, roll it between your hands and the thing would entertain you for hours.
After playing one afternoon with this thing your hands would end up with a very sticky stain.

*
How about the movies?. We would spend one day cutting figures from cardboards and attaching them to cuava sticks.
Wrapping paper from the colmado was the "telon" (screen). Lights out, a candle behind the screen and away we went. The plot was developed the as we went along. We used to charge a chele (cent) to all the other kids that wanted to see the movie.
The best way to end it and send everbody home was by setting the telon on fire.

*
I played Las botellas or Russian roulette after I started drinking.
We used to get a lot of free bottles from rum propagandistas and that's usually how we emptied the last one. After that, we would go in search of a place for a good mondongo.
 
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jose?to

The thread finally snapped...
Jun 19, 2002
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Suarezn, Petaka,

You guys are making me relive old memories. I had totally forgotten the "fufua". Did anyone of you ever committed the ultimate sin, "coca"?. This entailed taking all the marbles and running like hell.

Has anyone ever played with semillas de cajuil? We would take a large one and fill it up with plomo to make it heavier and easier to knock the other ones out the circle.
 
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Indie

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Nov 15, 2002
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No, but I've played "bellugas"!

That, and endless games of "cocinao" with lodo from my grandmother's patio. Also jacks, rayuela, and all the clapping games that someone mentioned. This clapping song stands out in mind...anyone remember:

"All? en Villa Arriba, all? en Villa Arriba, una muchacha dec?a, una muchacha quer?a..."

Aay 'ombe...innocence lost.
 
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jose?to

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Those were the days, my friend. We didn't know we were poor.

Does anyone recall saying the word 'gofio' and elongating the 'F' sound at the same time that you ate it?

Jose?to
Dominican by birth, pariguayo by choice.
 
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