Category Archives: Game

Playground Game

Story: There was this one game- I used to go with my parents to these health and biotech conventions and at one of them I got this comic book that was like.. Basically to explain this biological process where these cells attacked and shot at cancerous tumors. After I read that I went back home and told my friends at school about it. On the playground we would pretend to be parts of the immune system and we would have battles. One of the roles was commander of the immune system, who would call other cells to attack a bacterium (another kid). All of the cells would then chase the bacterium down and, like, make sure that they couldn’t further infect the body (by tagging them).

Context: I was told this story by the informant in person, and recorded them so that I could better transcribe later on.

Thoughts: The informant talks about it as one of the first times where they and their friends used creativity to actually build something. “There were like 10 kids playing this game that was a cool melding of education and play, and it made me wanna learn more”.

Analysis: I thought this game was really cute, and an interesting example of folklore. Starting with a from of media that is in fact written down, and transferring it to a playground game that constantly evolves, shifts, and allows for new players and ideas is a great concept. Especially one so complex as this, with the amount of actually relevant information. Overall, a great way to learn and a very creative idea!

The Floor is Lava

Story: Me and my siblings used to play this game when we were little called The Floor is Lava. We would put all of the couch cushions on the floor in the living room, and run and jump from them to the couch to the ottoman, to the chair, and keep doing that until someone touched the floor. If you touched the floor you died, and someone would usually be chasing us- either fictionally or my dad would and we would run and sometimes trip into the lava. It was really fun!

Context: The informant told me this over Zoom, and I recorded it so I could write it down later.

Thoughts: Looking back on it, the informant says that it was a great way to bond with their siblings and father, and that some of their favorite times were just leaping in small circles in their living room. They also said that they have heard a lot of other people played that game as well, and are surprised since they don’t believe they learned it from anyone.

Analysis: I think this game is a really great example of a study I reference in another entry, about children and imaginative play. It is a big help with boosting social awareness, empathy, and creativity. It makes sense that a lot of children would develop a similar game since it also utilizes motor skills, and plays heavily into the countless imagination possibilities for a toddler/younger kid.

“Step on a Crack…”

Background information: My brother is currently a sophomore in high school. He recalled some sayings and games he remembers playing when he was younger.

Brother: I think this is a, like, just a folklore saying? Or kinda a game. But we used to say “Step on a crack, break your back, step on a line, break your spine.” Something like that. So you can’t step on any cracks in the sidewalk or step on any of the lines on the sidewalk or on the roads either. Otherwise something bad might happen to you.

Me: How did you hear about this? Do you believe it yourself?

Brother: It’s just a kid thing that I remember hearing with my friends when we would walk around after school or during recess. It’s a saying and a kinda superstitious thing but then it can also become a game if you actually try not to step on anything. I think I probably took it seriously at one point, but not anymore.

This saying was interesting to me because I remember it differently in my own childhood, and many of my friend do too. I remember it as “Step on a crack, break your mama’s back.” However, my brother and I do have a somewhat large age gap between us, and maybe in that time the saying slowly changed, as many playground games do. I think this is something that a lot of children take seriously when they’re young, because of the threat of something bad occurring, and not only something bad, but something very specific. For another version of this saying, see https://journeys.dartmouth.edu/folklorearchive/spring-2020/southern-superstitions/step-on-a-crack-break-your-mommas-back/.

Baron Pit Dodge ball

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: May 29, 2022
Primary Language: English

Context: League of Legends is a popular video game in which players are placed into 2 teams of 5 and must fight each other. There is also a wide roster of characters for the players to pick from and use. Due to the free-flowing rule set of League, many community-made mini-games have been created. One such popular one is ‘Baron Pit Dodge ball’. In this game, all the players confine themselves to a small circular part of the arena called the ‘Baron Pit’ and create a line using place-able items. They must also pick characters that have primary abilities that have to be aimed. They then play dodge ball by only using a single aimed ability. There are many adaptations of this game, and every group of friends will have different in-house rules. S. is once such example as she plays this game with her friends quite often.

S: “In a league of legends, my friends and I would play dodge ball in the baron pit, we would put wards in the middle and make a line for the court. We then would only play skill shot champions, if you die, you are out.”

Reflection: ‘Baron Pit Dodge ball’ is an interesting case where the community of a video game has created their own mini-games within the confines of the greater video game without having to change or ‘mod’ the game in any way. It is particularly interesting when these mini-games emerge because that indicates that the rule set of the video game is loose enough to allow for such creativity on the player’s part.

Thumper

Context: This is usually played as a theatre student or children’s game and is chanted while alternating between clapping your hands and slapping your thighs.

A.F. : It’s called Thumper, which—
P.Z. : Thumper?
A.F. : Which, it is played two ways, like the main two
P.Z. : Okay
A.F. : So it’s like “Thumper, thumper, this is how you play, one, two, three, four,” and then you can say like, say we can play the name way. So like “[name], [name], [collector’s name], [collector’s name], and then when it’s passed to you you have to say “[collector’s name], [collector’s name],” then someone else’s name and if you mess up then you’re out.
P.Z. : So if you mess up, as in..?
A.F. : Like, you’re off beat, or you forgot to say a name, so say if I say “[name], [name],” then I forget to say the next name then I’d be out
P.Z. : Okay, so you want to be the last person?
A.F. : Yeah. And then the other ways you can play are like, you’re an animal, or have a sign, like you can be like, a llama, a narwhal, a unicorn, like, you have to do your sign and then the other person’s animal. So that’s the two ways we typically would play.
P.Z. : And there’s two versions of that one?
A.F. : Yeah, one about names and—
P.Z. : And was that another camp game, or..?
A.F. : Thumper’s just a childhood game.
P.Z. : Childhood? Like elementary school?
A.F. : Yeah, I’d say elementary/middle school

Thoughts: I’ve heard of numerous theatre-style games from my friends who are acting majors or simply took an acting class. Some other examples include the game Zip Zap Zop. It seems the purpose of these games, traditionally played with children from elementary school to high school age, is to have players focus on memorizing multiple requirements and keeping track of a number of rules and names simultaneously.