Category Archives: Game

The Pull- Hope College

Nationality: American
Age: 25
Occupation: Actor
Residence: New York City
Performance Date: April 13, 2017
Primary Language: English

My brother went to a small liberal arts college in Holland Michigan. He remembers “The Pull” vividly:

Skye: The Pull is a tradition that goes back 117 years. Every fall the sophomores challenge the freshman to a gladiatorial variation of tug of war. It takes place across the Black River. 16 men on each team, 16 women serving as the callers of the cadence and in charge of “morale”. The teams train for weeks, they shave their heads, and they put on war paint. They run throughout the campus carrying the heavy thick ropes. Trenches are dug, with footrests of dirt mounded up. The pullers will lie in the trenches to pull as they push their feet against the dirt mounds. The actual day of the pull thousands come from throughout the region to watch along either side of the river. There is a lot of guttural shouting and cheering. Mud is generated.”

Me: How long does it last?

Skye: “A typical pull goes on for approximately 3 hours before one of the teams is pulled into the river. There have been years when the exertion has gone on for over 14 hours. More recent years have brought rules that allow for the pull to end at three hours even if no one has been pulled into the river yet. The teams go by the names “Odd” and “Even” corresponding to the class year.”

Analysis: In a very conservative, Christian area of the Midwest, emotions are often kept inside and the behavior is quite circumspect. The Pull stands in stark contrast to this buttoned-up way of life in Holland, Michigan. Hope College prides itself on the purity and mild attitudes of its students. A loud and seemingly violent event like The Pull is and anachronism at this Conservative Christian Dutch College.150926PullOddYear020

McDonald’s Happy Meal Toys

Nationality: Mexican American
Age: 21
Occupation: Production Assistant
Residence: Santa Fe Springs
Performance Date: April 16, 2017
Primary Language: English

So we used to play with McDonald’s toys…HAMBURGLAR FOR YOUR LUIGI! And we used to like categorize them like, animals and… everyone got their own group and we would trade them. It was like picking teams for kickball but with like 70 fucking Mcdonald’s toys.

My informant used to play this childhood game with the toys she would get from the McDonald’s happy meals. She and her cousins would categorize them and trade them similar to pokemon cars, beanie babies etc. This game seemed to be quite important to my informant, talking about this particular game seemed to remind her of her childhood and the fond memories she had back then. I enjoyed listening and participating in this folk game.

Typing Drill

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/26/17
Primary Language: English

Informant: My informant, S. G. is 19 and was born and raised in Southern California. Sawyer lives in Chino Hills and has two mothers who both work as P.E. teachers for high school and middle schools. She has one older sister and one younger brother with the family having ties to its Swedish heritage.

Folklore: “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.” This phrase was meant to act as a way to improve your typing skills when people still used typewriters. Sawyer’s mom learned this when she was in college and was a common drill used to teach beginners. She later taught S. G. when she began learning how to type but doesn’t have the same practical meaning when being performed on a computer.

Analysis: The reason why people used this phrase as a typewriter drill was because it filled the 70 space line on a paper rather than being the best phrase to teach typing. Today, there are new drills being used to teach typing but this phrase did come up when I was learning how to type in middle school.

The Laughing Game

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: St. Paul, MN
Performance Date: 03/17/17
Primary Language: English
Language: Bengali

Informant Description: This is a game my friend made up with her little brother to keep themselves entertained.

Interviewee: The game is just like make each other laugh. We take turns though, so like I’ll have to try my best to keep a straight face and he’ll try to make me laugh. If he makes me laugh, then it’s my turn to try to make him laugh.

Me: How did you guys come up with this game?

Interviewee: Honestly it was on one of our insanely fucking long road trips that got so boring. We didn’t even have like an iPod or TV in the car then, so we just had each other. It was the worst.

Me: Have you played this game with other people?

Interviewee: Yeah all the time, it’s hilarious.

Conclusion: I’ve actually since played this game with her and can in fact confirm it is hilarious. I have taught it to other people too, especially when we’re really bored and I’m tired of seeing everyone on their phone.

Kubb

Nationality: Swedish
Age: 21
Residence: Gothenburg, Sweden
Performance Date: April 24, 2017
Primary Language: Swedish
Language: English

Informant:

Elliot Danielsson is a 21 year old man from Gothenburg, Sweden.

Original Script:

Elliot: “So there would be two teams on each side of a field, or…like…a grass area, and there would be 5 sticks or poles on each side with the two teams. Then there would be two throwing sticks per team, and each team would have to try to knock down the other team’s five sticks with their throwing sticks. And then after you, like, knock down all of the other team’s sticks, then you would have to knock down the big stick in the middle, and that stick’s name was the king. And once you knocked down that stick, you killed the king and won the game.

Context: 

This childhood game is, as Elliot states, “an extremely popular game for when you’re bored as a kid.”

My thoughts about the piece:

It is extremely interesting to me just how different childhoods can be from different cultures around the world. Sure, my friends and I used to play with sticks when were younger, but I don’t know of anyone who created a sophisticated game with rules revolving throwing sticks. The only organized games that everyone really knew when I was growing up were actual sports like soccer and baseball. This shows that the games that we all know and love in the U.S. do not necessarily translate to every culture outside America.