Flashback Friday: Which of These 6 Amazing Childhood Games Can You Remember?

A major part of growing up were the games we were able to place with our friends, during or after school or during the holiday. Without a doubt, these games put us in a lot of trouble. The funny part was how your parents usually arrived home whenever the game was at its peak. Interesting times!

We have curated this list of childhood games we played while growing up. Kindly tell us which was your favourite. Also, some of these games are called differently in different places. You can also tell us what you call it in your area.

1. After round one.

This is one of the childhood games that is not for the faint-hearted or soft-handed. I frankly wonder how our parents never paid attention to the lyrics of this game. How did they allow us to sing it only to realise what it meant as adults. Funnily, many of you might still not know what it is about.

Shar, After round one is one of the GOATed games we played back then. It just taught us nothing but violence and wickedness. It makes you susceptible to intense tears. Hahaha.

2. Suwe/Luskay

This was so probably what they beat me for the most because it has to be played outside, on soft soil, and with friends. However, it brought a lot of happiness and makes your sense of time fizzle into the wind. It was a game of intense strategy, focus, eye-and-hand coordination, and the beginning of understanding what real estate means.

It involved drawing about five boxes in two columns and throwing a tie into each successive box, and hopping on one leg into each box until you are done. You take turns after one person fails to hit the target with the tile.

Once a person goes through all boxes without, they toss the tile into one of the boxes to pick where they will build their house. The person with the highest number of houses wins—a big shout out to capitalism.

3. Rubber band/ring

I cannot remember if this had a name, but it was a breathtaking game – the suspense and excitment. The “bad guys” among us started gambling from childhood games like this. No 2 odds, but you could take all your friends’ money and secure their rubber bands if you are good and lucky.

The game had straightforward instructions. Just keep taking turns to throw rubber bands at a distance, and once someone throws one that covers any of the rubber bands, that person wins that round. They pick all the rubber bands on the floor. The game continues until someone’s rubber bands are exhausted or your mum comes back from work.

4. “Table soccer”

This did not really have to take place on a table. Just any flat surface. This game had us shamelessly picking bottle tops (cantas/counters) at events like upcoming “iron condemn” cart pushers.

There were a lot of modifications to this game, as the use of paper players instead of bottle caps and button balls instead of paper. Regardless, the game was all we had before we could go to gaming centres for play station or got FIFA 2002 on our old desktops.

5. Police and thief/ Ice and water

Whichever it was you did, this game was one of the best outdoor childhood games ever. Funny how most of us wanted to be a thief badly. We wanted to be chased by the police guys, dodging and trying to escape their touch else, you get frozen. If every member of the crime squad gets touched by any of the police guys, then the policemen become the thieves.

I believe we all had this very short friend with swift feet that can easily burst out of tight corners and evade being caught even when more than one person is on his tail.

Read also: 5 Children That Broke World Records

6. “One, Ready”

 “One ready, two disappear, three fire”. I still remember this yell from one of our neighbour’s uncompleted buildings. This was where the Amotekun in me was birthed. You see, before we had ball painting, we have had shooting games, and this was one of the most interesting. It is a war simulation where two squad tries to take each other out, making war plans, docking behind objects, and laying sieges. If Napoleon Bonaparte had played this game, maybe he would have won the Battle of Waterloo.

There you go with six amazing childhood games. Tell us which ones were your favourite and the ones we missed out.