Category Archives: Game

Game – “your team”

Nationality: American - Persian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 2011
Primary Language: English
Language: Hebrew

My informant plays a simple, funny and contemporary game with her siblings and friends. The unofficial name of the game is “your team”. People between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five are the most common participants. The origin is not definitely known but it definitely a recent addition to folklore that is spreading throughout the United States among young people.

The game is ongoing and can be played at practically anytime. “If you see someone who is strange looking, doing a strange activity, wearing unusual clothing or stands out in a somewhat negative way then you tell your friend ‘he’s (or she’s) on your team’.” A laugh made by either part often follows the statement. The point of the game is to make your opponents team as bad as possible. The game is played in public places or in the car since the assigned ‘team member’ is almost always a stranger. There is no scorekeeping and never really a winner since it’s a never-ending game. The game is basically a way to poke fun at strangers and laugh with friends.

My informant learned the game from her older brother. At first, she was skeptical and confused about the game but now she finds it hilarious. She has even taught it to many of her friends and continues to play with them and with her brother at random times.

Childhood – Song

Nationality: American (black)
Age: 12
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 2011
Primary Language: English

Down down baby

Down down the rollercoaster

Sweet sweet baby

Sweet sweet don’t let me go

Shimmy shimmy cocoa puff

Shimmy shimmy rah

Shimmy shimmy cocoa puff

Shimmy shimmy rah

I had a boyfriend

A biscuit

He’s so sweet

A biscuit

Apples on the table

Peaches on the floor

Step back baby

I don’t want you anymore

To the front (jump forward)

To the back (jump backward)

To the side side side (jump side to side)

The informant learned this song/chant in elementary school from her fellow classmates. She then also taught it to other friends. The song is performed with a partner while several variations of clapping motions are made and some small jumping at then end.

For the most part the song does not have a direct meaning but is more of a innocent nonsensical rhyme. Some of the keywords within the rhyme represent things that are on the consciousness of elementary school age girls, words like rollercoaster and boyfriend.

My informant said that they performed the chant during recess and lunchtime for entertainment. These types of songs and games are definitely most prevalent among elementary school age children especially girls. Young children in English-speaking countries learn and sing variations of the rhyme. A Sesame Street episode from 1980 featured some children performing the rhyme although most children who sing the song did not learn it from Sesame Street.

The Cup Game

Nationality: Polish
Age: 21
Performance Date: 1/4/2011
Primary Language: English

interview:

Alex: “The game itself is easy; two or more people sit around eachother, each with a plastic solo cup in front of them (DON’T use glass cups). The players then proceed to simultaneously perform a series of claps and cup flips, (I have no idea how to describe exactly what you do in words) with this motion ending in passing your cup to the player on the right. After each pass, the tempo of the game increases, until the player eventually messes up the cup flipping pattern, gets angry and throws their cup in frustration. The winner of the game is the person that can go the longest without messing the pattern up.”

Me: “So what does it mean to you?”

Alex: “I played this game for the first time on Search 1 (11/22/2008). I was taught it by Stephanie, during our first long break, in that little cafeteria room. I from there proceeded to pretend I knew what I was doing and challenge everybody in sight. This gives the game added significance to me because whenever I think of it I associate it with that time and place. Playing it makes me remember Search and everyone that was on it with us. When playing with non-search people, it’s not the same because I feel they do not appreciate it as much as I do. As with the Search in general, it’s just one of those things that outsiders can’t really understand without being there.”

The Cup Game is a tradition on religious retreats, like SEARCH, which are aimed at religious youth. Part of the experience of a Search retreat is the lack of traditional entertainment, like TV, cell phones, and computers, meant to encourage the candidates (those teens experiencing the retreat for the first time) to socialize with each other. The plastic Cup Game has evolved and been passed around groups of high school students, because those cups were some of the only materials available. The game is a bonding experience that a lot of candidates enjoy, because it’s competitive and fun.

Guido Hunting

Age: 18
Residence: Millburn, New Jersey
Performance Date: 1/7/2011
Primary Language: English

This game is only played at the Jersey shore, particularly Seaside Heights, NJ. Essentially, players are on the look-out for “guidos.” Every time one is spotted, the person who spots it gains a point. Whoever has the most points by the end of the day, wins. Extra points may be awarded for seeing a guido engaging in stereotypical guido behavior, like fist-pumping, or if they are seen with the female counter-part, a guidette.

A guido is a The Guido is an entirely American phenomena, with its epicenter in the New York/ New Jersey metropolitan area. Although most of its examples are of Italian-American descent, many times other non-descript Caucasians will follow suit in an attempt to achieve an identity- in fact any identity. The Guido is highly recognizable by his attention to muscular development, status symbols, and regional dialect. Guidos are fortunate in that they usually tend to be loyal to their heritage and cultures.

Kaity cannot specifically recall when or where she first encountered this game, but it has become a tradition to play every time she goes to the shore. I have played the game myself, and it is a great way to simultaneously celebrate and make fun of the “Jersey Shore” subculture. At once acknowledging the way the rest of the country sees New Jersey, and making it a part of our identity.

Danish Christmas Game

Nationality: Danish
Age: 18
Occupation: Student at Copenhagen Business School
Residence: Copenhagen, Denmark
Performance Date: December 23rd, 2010
Primary Language: Danish
Language: Italian, English, Spanish

“Then there is the almond gift game,

After we eat our Christmas dinner we usually eat a form of porridge with cherry sauce, it has bits of almonds in it, and only one whole almond in it. Whoever finds the whole almond when eating it, wins a present, which has been bought for the sole purpose of this game. Again I learnt it from my parents/family. I like it because it’s exciting to be eating and poof you find the almond! (Though my sister Nina always gets it…)It means a lot to me, because it’s part of a traditional Danish Christmas dinner, and I just love Danish tradition.”

Eva does not recall the first time she first participated in this food activity, but she says she believes she’s done it every year since birth. Eva spent most of her life in Rome, Italy, but she says that she spends every Christmas with Danish relatives and so the Danish traditions had been embraced in her home even though the family was in Italy. She believes the purpose of the game is solely another embracement of the holiday tradition of giving gifts during Christmas time.  She pondered if perhaps the reason was to keep the kids interested throughout the meal in order to have a stronger familial environment. However, she is not sure and so she just looks at it as a fond experience from her childhood that continues every year.

When I went to visit Eva and her family in Italy this year, it was during my winter break and so I was lucky enough to spend Christmas break and learn all of these traditions. This tradition came up during a conversation about our anticipation of Christmas day with the Danish relatives who had also come to visit. My interpretation of the game comes out of my own family’s tradition (and Jewish tradition in general) to play the game of the Afficoman, which happens in Passover. In this game a piece of Matzah (flattened bread that is specific for Passover) is hidden and at the end of the night the kids are all sent to look for it and whoever finds it wins a present. Since most Jewish traditions during Passover are related back to the Jewish people finding faith in God and being saved, I see the tradition of the almonds as one of finding yourself as a whole, perhaps through Christ seeing as it is a Christmas day tradition.