Category Archives: Game

Assassin game

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: student
Performance Date: 4/25/12
Primary Language: English

My source is a current college student who claims to have played this game in high school. From what I have been told, a game master sets up the game known as assassin. A list of names of those involved in the game is written down. The person after you on the list is the one you try to ‘kill’ or eliminate. You are designated an object to use as a killing weapon. In trying to kill a person, the killer would attempt to make the victim touch the killing object as that would eliminate the victim from the game. This game made the players very paranoid and on high alert against touching unknown objects. Can get more complicated with the addition of a specific location in which the victim had to be killed. Touching the object anywhere else would have no effect. Because the game was played on such a wide scale with several hundred involved, the game was soon banned by the school. The notion of playing a game involving ‘killing’ one another was discouraged likely for its intrinsic connotation as well as the distracting nature of a game that puts its players into widespread paranoia, though all in good fun. The rules of the game are spread by word of mouth; typically by the introduction of upperclassmen to lowerclassmen.

“Assassin” appears to be is a teenage folklore game that allows players to have the adrenaline rush of fear of being ‘killed’, but without any real consequence. The notion of the school discouraging such a game and it being played regardless of that fact brings light to a well-known phenomenon of the teenage disestablishmentarian mindset and ‘fighting oppression’ within society.

돌잔치 – baby ceremony

Nationality: Korean American
Age: 50
Performance Date: 4/20/12
Primary Language: Korean
Language: english

Doljanchi is a tradition that occurs when a baby first turns 1 year old. My source first witnessed this with the birth of his baby sister in Korea. In this ritual, a baby is celebrated and his or her fortune is told. The fortune of the baby is told by placing the child  in front of a table of foods and objects such as string, books, brushes, ink and money. Whichever object the child picks up will foretell the child’s future. For example, money or rice signify wealth, while a brush means a scholar. People will often bet with money for fun to guess what a baby might choose at such a ceremony. At these ceremonies, entire extended families are often invited, making such events very important in Korean culture.

Doljanchi appears to show the significance that having a healthy child holds in Korean culture. The objects placed on the table as well as the objects that the parents of the child want them are symbolic of faith in one’s children. Predestination appears to be a large part of Korean culture as well, though nowadays the ritual is said to have become much more simply a family gathering than anything else.

Chinese palm reading

Nationality: Chinese-American
Age: 20
Occupation: student
Performance Date: 4/22/12
Primary Language: English
Language: Cantonese and Mandarin

Chinese palm reading and fortune telling is a custom that still exists to this day and was passed on to my source directly from his mother, who in turn learned from her own mother. By reading the top line, one understands his or her own love line. The longer the line is, the longer a love life he or she has, and the more cracks or off-shootings that appear, the more love affairs that person has. Next comes the career line. If it is a solid long line, one will have a good long career; however, if it splits or stops short, he or she will have one or more choices, or will have a poor career altogether. Finally comes the life line. My source seemed to emphasize this line as the most important to Chinese. This line tends not to shoot off in multiple directions, and is very straightforward. A long line means a long life while a short line leads to a short one.

 

I found the fact that my source, despite being born and raised, still learned this fortune telling from his mother. He described it more as a game that people play and being less serious, yet at the same time, the notion of fortune and predetermination seems to be a common East Asian theme.

Chinese Drinking Game

Nationality: Chinese-American
Age: 20
Occupation: student
Performance Date: 4/25/12
Primary Language: English
Language: Cantonese and Mandarin

In the game described by my source, who first learned about the game through a study abroad program to Hong Kong, a circle of individuals will pass around a bottle cap of a bottle of hard alcohol, below which is attached a sort of metal safety seal that can be twisted and ripped off. This excess piece of metal is twisted in a way in which the seal has almost broken off, but is just barely hanging on. This cap is then passed around and flicked at. The person who first flicks off the seal will lose the game and must drink more than everyone else. There are apparently subtleties of the game such as the person who flicks too lightly is considered a pansy, and you are encouraged to flick harder to make the game more intense.

My source describes this game as a fun game amongst people who are already slightly inebriated, and therefore have less overall motor control. This game seems to me like a sort of Russia roulette with alcohol, and the loser is almost guaranteed to do worse each and each time, as he is going to have less control. He explained that this game did not even have a name, yet everyone he was playing with already knew the rules, suggesting a word of mouth passage as a folk game.

Toad Counting

Nationality: Australia
Age: 26
Occupation: Student
Residence: Australia
Performance Date: April 2012
Primary Language: English

This is the game played by Australian people during the raining season. To play this game, two cars and people have to drive cars on the road surrounded by bushes. The rule is that two cars leave the same destination and both cars need to count the number of toads they kill until they reach to the goal.  Every time when the car run over toads, it make a pop sound, so it is easy to count. In Australia, toads are considered to be pests since they are not local animals in Australia. They eat domestic Australian insects and plants therefore Australian people don’t feel guilty about killing toads.

He is a 26 year old graduate student studying occupational therapy in Australia.

He was able to tell this story while he visited Los Angeles.