Jon-kana-po is the Hawaiian version of “rock-paper-scissors.” Two people would play by putting their hand into a fist and chanting Jon-kana-po as they shook their fist up and down with each word. When they got to the word “Po,” each player had to change their hand into either a fist, a flat hand, or in the shape of scissors. Jon was the name of the fist; kana was the name of the flat hand; and po was the name of the scissor shape. Each hand shape had its advantage. Jon would beat po; po would beat kana; and kana would be jo. However, if each player put the same hand shape out, they would try playing again, but this time they would chant: “Itchy-Itchy-to.” This change in chant did not change the game at all. The hand motions and shapes stayed the same, but the change of the chant made it to stress the importance of the next move as well as show that the round was not over.

Growing up in Newport Beach, Michael and his family and friends played a lot of beach volleyball. Michael’s dad and his friends used to play a drinking game mixed with beach volleyball that Michael now plays with his dad. The game is called Ace.
In Ace, you start by placing a pack of beers next to one of the poles that holds up the net. Everyone breaks up into two teams on each side of the net. Generally you play with two teams of four or possibly two teams of six. The game is similar to regular beach volleyball, however when someone gets an Ace, the drinking game starts. An Ace is when the ball hits the ground on the other side of the net without anyone on the other team touching the ball. When an Ace occurs, the team who got aced must share a beer. However, once an Ace occurs, a mini game takes place. Both teams try to grab the volleyball and touch it against the pole with the beers under it. Whichever team the person who touches the volleyball to the pole first is on, that team has possession of the ball. During the attempt to get the volleyball to the pole, each team can pass the ball and tackle or hold down other people to try and prevent the person form getting to the pole. The advantage for getting possession of the ball if your team got the Ace is that you can serve the ball the second the team finishes their beer, which is an easy opportunity for another Ace. The defending team advantage for possessing the ball is that they do not need to worry about the other team serving quickly because the other team can’t serve to continue the game without the ball. The game ends when the first team gets to fifteen game points in volleyball, meaning a team served fifteen successful balls over the net and hit the sand inside the court of the opposing team. Ace is just a mini drinking game that is a part of the game of volleyball. Ace just plays off the term used when you get a point where no one on the other team touched the ball. Therefore, the number of Aces doesn’t matter to the score of who wins Ace. Getting more Aces just means that the other team has to drink more and is likely to preform worse.

My friend Michael described a game that he and his family used to play on long car rides. The game would begin with a person thinking of the name of either a fish a fowl or an animal, and then would tell the guessers which category he picked. The other people in the car would ask yes or no questions that would lead them closer to the name of the fish, fowl, or animal. The people in the car would guess one by one going in a clockwise order. The guessers would continue to ask questions until they guessed the name of the animal. Even though the people guessing would be working together to guess the correct answer, the person who successfully guesses the animal would be the next to pick a fish, fowl, or animal. The game would repeat until they got to the destination or until they grew bored and moved onto another game.

John with his family and friends would play a game they called Commandoes that everyone in their neighborhood picked up and began playing as well. The game involved both parents and children playing. Parents were involved because the “finder” of the game needed to be driving a car or a gold cart, while the “commandoes” ran on foot. The game would work by everyone piling into the car or golf cart. The “finder” would drive the car to any location that he or she so choose, and then he or she would drop off the commandoes. The commandoes would then have to make it from the drop off location back to “home base” without being seen by the “finder” in the car. Home base would be any location that was agreed upon by everyone, but usually was a house. After the finder dropped off the commandoes at the drop off point, he or she would turn the car or golf cart around and drive away. The commandoes would wait until the car was out of site before they could start making their way to home base. The commandoes needed to be as stealth as possible, as they made there way through he streets. If the finder in the car spotted any commando, he would flash his lights and yell that he found you. The commando would hop into the car and join the finder in search of the remaining commandoes. The commandoes who made it to home base would win. The finder won if he or she found all of the commandoes before they made it to home base.
Commandoes was a game invented by one of John’s dad’s friends. They would usually play the game when there was a community beach bonfire. All the kids would want to participate and sometimes multiple parents would drive and be “finders” as well. The game allowed the kids to run around and burn out some energy, while the parents got to relive their childhood of playing hide and go seek, but to a more advanced level.