Background information: MD is a 21-year-old student at University of California San Diego. From a young age, he played baseball and was very involved in the sport throughout his childhood and young adult life. According to MD, baseball is a very superstitious sport, and athletes in general can be very superstitious.
MD: Before a game, you have to make sure to jump over fresh lines of chalk on the field. I think everyone kind of knows this, like even if you aren’t playing, even people watching know it. If you step on one of the lines, you’re basically throwing away the game.
Me: Why do you think the tradition is so well-known? How did you find out about it?
MD: I know about it because I played baseball for 14 years! I learned it through playing and seeing other players do it. Especially when I would watch older players, they would always jump over fresh chalk lines. I think you catch on mostly through teammates, and baseball traditions tend to last forever. That’s probably why it’s so well-known too, it’s just becomes a rule at some point…um, I think baseball has a lot of traditions that are like that. There’s a lot of ways that you can give your team bad luck before the game, and there’s a lot of things you can do to get good luck too.
Me: Have you ever accidentally stepped on a line, or seen someone do it? Did it affect your game at all?
MD: I’m sure I’ve accidentally messed it up, um, sometime before a game but I don’t know if ever affected our games at all. I don’t think we even think about it once the game starts (laughs). I personally am not very superstitious, but I think it’s fun to get into the game and it’s fun because everyone knows what to do and what not to do. I would say some people are definitely more committed to it, um, than others.
I didn’t play any team sports as a child or teenager, so I know very little about these superstitions and unspoken rules that MD talked about. I think it was interesting that he brought up the fact that baseball traditions tend to last forever, as younger players observe the practices of older players and copy them. By watching older players “perform” these rite uals before a game, they become so commonplace, that even someone who is not superstitious will engage in them for the sake of the game, and for the sake of forming a camaraderie with teammates.
Category Archives: Game
Club Penguin Iceberg Flip
Context:
J is an 18-year-old from Canada who has parents from the Philippines.
This conversation took place over a discord call with my friend group when I brought up old games from our childhoods. We talked about club penguin and were discussing the club penguin “secrets.”
Text:
J: I remember like… when everyone was playing club penguin, there was this one rumor that you could flip the iceberg if you had enough penguins standing on one side of the iceberg. I think it was… the left side? I can’t really remember.
Me: yeah yeah, I remember that! I tried so many times.
J: Yeah exactly! But then people started thinking that like.. you needed to use the- the, what was it called. ummm…. the- Oh the jackhammer. I think.
Me: The one with the like orange hard hat that you got in the mines right?
J: Yeah that one! Everybody was convinced that like the reason it wasn’t flipping was because you needed to do that on a side of the iceberg with enough people. But it just like, never like flipped. BUT! I think on the final day of club penguin when the servers were getting shut down, I’m pretty sure it flipped over and there was like… a dance floor or something like it was a huge deal because everybody wanted to flip it so bad. And it like- finally happened.
Me: No because I like remember that happening and I like lost my MIND!
Reflection:
Like many childhood games, there were many rumors and secrets that were propagated over the internet and the game community. I think it was nice that at the end of the game, the developers were aware of the rumor and made it actually happen as a nod to everyone finally getting some closure to it. Rumors and secrets like this help to distinguish the game and make it more interesting for children. Especially when children could not get club penguin premium accounts, the secrets and rumors helped to make every player feel like they were part of something exclusive.
Mafia – School Yard Game
Informant: The informant is my sibling, a Mexican American boy who is 14 years old and currently an 8th grader at a charter school in Los Angeles California.
Context: The following transcript is a conversation of his explanation of his version of “Mafia” – a schoolyard game that he has been playing for as long as he can remember. Usually, this game is played in large groups of students either inside of a classroom or outside in a schoolyard to pass by time/to enjoy oneself.
Transcript:
Me: Hey, so what game did you play again? J: Mafia! Me: When did you play this game? J: I played it one day when we couldn’t go to the park for P.E (physical education). Me: And….How exactly do you play that game? J: I don’t exactly remember, but I do remember that it was really fun. Okay, so what we had to do was that there were different roles in the game. There was the narrator, who had the most power in the game and made the decision of how the game would play out. Me: Wait, so you’re telling me this person chooses the other roles as well? J: Yeah! Okay, so our teacher Mr. Y would tell us to sit down, with our heads down and our thumbs up. As we were like that, he would tell us closely to listen up and start with the roles with the following line: “Okay! I will be starting with our mafia student, as the mafia, you are out there looking to steal money from the people and eliminate them. If you feel that I tap your shoulder, then that means that you are mafia.” Again, this would also be similar with the sheriffs, but you know instead of sheriffs getting up anything they would just have to guess who the mafia was and “arrest them.” (informant air quotes as he says this). The last two roles are one doctor and one civilian. The doctor saves civilians, but they also run the risk of saving someone who is from the mafia because they don’t know their identity. Civilians have it easy because they don’t need to stand up. They just sit there and enjoy themselves either to get killed or be saved. Me: Wait, so how of each number was there J: Uhm well it all depended on the size of this class and really it all depends on who the narrator is. Me: Did you win! Where are you mafia, sheriff, doctor, citizen? J: NOOO!! I lost!!! I was the first one to get eliminated (hysterically laughs) Overall, even if I lost, I really enjoyed the game.
Analysis:
I think is an interesting game to play at such a young age. One would think that this type of game would not be allowed because it involved violence and death. However, it’s interesting to see how violence, and what used to be censors is not so present in our lives because it is seen as means of entertainment. I think the game’s fostering of mistrust among players is what is so particularly appealing to students from all ages (even our little ones) because there is huge degree of uncertainty and suspense to who you can trust and vice versa. In addition, because this game is so competitive it allows for kids to be unashamedly competitive and sneaky against your own friends. Overall, it teaches students the lesson of loyalty, survival and sucess.
“El Juego del Lobito” (“The Wolf Game”)- Children’s Game
*Originally spoken in Spanish. The following is a rough translation.
Description (From Transcript): “A bunch of kids, we would make a circle and we would choose one person in the center of the circle and the “wolf” outside the circle. And we would start moving in the circle and singing the song “Jugaremos en el bosque, mientras que el lobo no esta, porque si el lobo aparece a todos nos comerá.” (“We will play in the forest while the wolf isn’t here because if the wolf appears, he’ll eat us all”), and then we would pause and say “Lobo, estas ahi si o no?” (“Wolf, are you there, yes or no?”), “Sí aquí estoy” (“yes, I am here”), and we would ask “what are you doing?”, and the wolf would say, “I’m showering”. Then we would start moving in the circle again, and so on. And when the wolf was done getting dressed, (each time he would say what he was doing) he would say, “I’m gonna eat you all” and we would run! We would all run and whoever he caught had to be the wolf next, until we were done with everyone. I guess just until we were bored”.
Context: TR is a Mexican woman, born and raised in Zacatecas, Mexico. She immigrated to the United States in 1995. She would play this game in her hometown when she was a child. Her and her neighbors would get together when they were children and they didn’t have much else to play with. They would play a lot of rondas, games such as this one where children would stand in a circle and do some kind of call and response. Some of the games had losers and winners.
When asked about her children knowing the game now, she responded that her son didn’t know or play the game, and her grandchildren will probably not know it either. However she accepts this reality because times are changing. Her grandmother and mother also played this game. She explains how many generations played rondas infantiles until electric light was introduced to these rural communities, at which point many children just wanted to watch TV.
My interpretation: This game is heavy on contact, communication, and movement, all characteristics that explain why they were so heavily used in rural Mexican communities, where children didn’t have much else to play with or do. Because these virtues are instilled in children at a young age, the people in these communities remain close as adults and emphasize activities such as play, dance, and music. This game in specific is very telling of how fear is a motivating emotion from a young age. Oftentimes, these communities are low on resources and high on crime, a difficult lesson to learn as an adult. But here, children learn to be attentive, stick together, and outrun danger, all while maintaining youthful qualities like joy, movement, and competition.
“Zapatito Blanco, Zapatito Azul”- Mexican Children’s Game
Description (From transcript): “It’s like a game I guess “Zapatito Blanco, zapatito azul”. The literal translation is “White shoe, blue shoe” but it’s like the equivalent of “Bubblegum, bubblegum, in a dish” where you put in your feet and you count around the circle. We as kids would use it like before an actual game to see would start or who would be first or who would be ‘it’. It’s like “Zapatito blanco, zapatito azul, dime cuántos años tienes tu” and whoever it would land on they would say how old they are and that number is how many times you would go around and tap each person’s shoe and whoever it would land on you would take out their foot… And you just kind of keep repeating that until you get to the last person and that’s who’s it. I remember playing it before playing tag and that’s who would be “it”. Or like hide and seek. And sometimes we would play it as a game itself just to play that. And “dime cuántos años tienes tú” is “tell me how old you are” and you would say how old you are but after a while if you’re playing with the same people, it gets repetitive to keep saying your age so you would just say a number like in “bubble gum, bubble gum in a dish, how many pieces do you wish?”, you just pick a random number.”
Context: The informant (LV) is a first generation Mexican American woman residing in Denver, Colorado. Her mom taught her this game. She would play it with all the kids at parties so it was popular. She remembers playing this at school, as well. Mostly kids of any gender play this game. She does not see it as a gendered game. She thinks that children no longer play these types of games (hide and seek or tag). The game is in Spanish and belonged to Latin America. She would be interested in asking her friends from places other than Mexico in Latin America if they’ve ever heard of this. She said that as a kid you don’t really question the origin, but at parties, it is a part of Mexican culture. It takes her back to her childhood, which was very different than kids today.
My Interpretation: Based on both the informant’s thoughts as well as the annotation listed below, I think that this game is very telling of generational and cultural change. It was originally a kinesthetic reliant form of play that required children to be physically in spatial proximity of each other, a characteristic that is no longer as popular with young children today, most likely because of internet culture and the social distancing that came with the pandemic. Furthermore, Mexican American children were also forced to use their native language each time they played this game, strengthening their connections to their ethnic heritage. Without games in Spanish such as these, Mexican American children are no longer maintaining linguistic and cultural practices that are crucial to their ethnic American identities and the politics that said identities entail. More can be said about the connection between these childhood games and socio-political implications in the further reading attached below.
For further reading on this game, see:
Anonymous. “Zapatito Blanco: Acknowledging Old Rules and Agreeing to New Ones.” Unbound, 18 Nov. 2019, justiceunbound.org/zapatito-blanco-acknowledging-old-rules-and-agreeing-to-new-ones/.