Hide-n-Seek
In this game, which is usually played at night and can be played both indoors and outdoors, a person is chosen to be the seeker. The seeker must first count to sixty in a corner to give the other players a chance to hide. When the seeker has counted to sixty, he must find all those who are hiding. Once the seeker finds a person in hiding, he must tag him and then the person tagged becomes the seekers helper. The seeker and all those tagged must keep seeking and tagging until all the players have been tagged. The first person tagged becomes the new seeker if they decide to play again.
The way the original seeker is chosen is especially interesting. One can become the seeker by being the last one to call not it when everyone has agreed to play. The other way of being chosen is through a counting game called bubble gum. First, the players agree upon a number which will be used later on, and they get in a circle. In the circle they put their hands into fists and one person becomes the self assigned counter. The counter repeats the following while hitting first the fist, which he is not using to count, and then everyone elses fists with his counting fist:
(number is 5)
Bubble gum, bubble gum in a dish who many pieces do you wish..1,2,3,4,5
The person whose fist is hit last is free of being the seeker. The count is repeated until there is only one person left standing. The last one standing becomes the seeker. If the counter is hit last, then someone else becomes the counter, again this role is self-assigned.
Ricardo learned both hide-n-seek and bubble gum from his cousins. He plays the game because he enjoys it and because it is a fun way to get active.
I do not know why one must hide but I believe there must be a reason for it besides to just make the game more interesting. The fact that this game is played at night is to make it difficult for the seeker to find the hiders. It is also not rare to have those hiding scare the seeker, even though they risk being tagged.