This post is probably coming in really late, but here it is finally. I was binge-reading (if that's even a thing 😁) other blogs posted on this topic and big waves of nostalgia swept over me heavily and I could not just help myself but drop mine.
Growing up as children in Nigeria, we didn't much like social media, or even HIVE, lol. And all we had to get us by was just ourselves and the fun we had. I am Nigerian, and I'll be talking about Nigerian childhood games I loved as a child. Enjoy!!
- The first on my list here is POLICE & THIEF
This game, I must say, was never really played by girls then, for obvious reasons. 😂. It was a game that demanded a lot of physical strength and running speed (like that of The Flash)
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This game was usually played by schoolchildren during their period for the day's break. Many of the boys willing to participate would gather around to form two distinct types of groups. The first group is called the police, and the second is the thieves.
The selection for each group is mostly done at random, but each group has a similar, if not identical, number of members.
The objectives of both groups are simple but completely opposite. As the name implies, police chase after thieves to catch them. That's simply the objective. The members of the thief group run, while the police try to catch them. When you're caught as a thief, you're taken into the police custody.
Victory is determined by whether the police are able to catch the thieves within the specified time.
- The next is the O J O.
The true meaning of this acronym is unknown to this day. Nobody ever really knew its meaning, or how it was coined. All we knew back then was how it was played and that it was so much fun.
This game is actually only a variation of soccer. But the difference here is that there is only one goalkeeper and an unlimited number of teams, each consisting of only one member. 😂😂😂. Even the goalkeeper's team is a one-man team as well.
The game initially starts with no goalkeeper, leaving the post empty. And then everybody participating gets into the field. Then one person tosses the ball as high as they can (usually in a way that favours the tosser) and, upon landing, the first to get the ball gains control of the call and becomes the target of attack. At this point, everybody tackles and tries to get the ball for themselves. At this point, as the goal post is open, the first person to score gets to be the goalkeeper (giving the person a chance to rest and reign).
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The new goalkeeper's objective is now to defend the post with all his life (not literally though😂😂), defending his title for as long as he can. At any point at which he fails, that is, to concede a goal to any of the other players, the striker gets to be the next goal keeper.
With every goalkeeper keeping score of how many times they became goalkeepers, the one with the highest score is declared the champion. There was never really a time specified for the game to last. We usually played till our dying breaths (my God, it was such an energetically demanding game😂😂😂).
The games usually took place in the evenings. So, in the end, we all retired to our parents' homes, with many surely having sustained some injury of whatever kind 🤕🤕😂). The injuries never really stopped us from doing it again the next day.
So guys, those were my favourite games as a child.
Thank you for staying.
