viernes, 6 de mayo de 2011

LA COLA DEL DRAGÓN

(China)
Todos los jugadores forman una fila, agarrándose de la cintura o de los hombros del de delante.  La fila es un dragón que tiene una cabeza (el primer chico de la fila), y una cola (el último).   

Mientras haya silencio, el dragón permanece dormido y, por lo tanto, no se mueve. A una señal del jugador que hace de cola del dragón, la cabeza trata de tocar a la cola pero sin que el dragón se rompa, es decir, sin que nadie se suelte del que tiene delante.  Si el dragón se rompe, la cabeza pasa a ser la cola del dragón y se reinicia el juego con un nuevo jugador en la cabeza.  Si, por el contrario, la cabeza logra tocar la cola sin que el dragón se rompa, repite nuevamente el juego siendo cabeza.

JACKS OR FIVE STONES

You play this game with small rounded stones or with plastic or metal jacks. (See photo left)
To decide who starts, a player throws five jacks into the air with one hand and tries to catch as many as possible on the back of the same hand. The jacks that were caught are then thrown up again from the back of the hand where they came to rest and as many as possible are caught in the palm of the same hand. The other players do the same and the player who catches the most jacks starts, play continuing in a clockwise fashion.
The first player starts the game by throwing the five jacks on the ground and then picking up the ball.
The player throws the ball up, picks up one jack with the same hand and then catches the ball before it hits the ground. The jack is then put into the other hand. This is repeated until all the jacks have been picked up. The player then throws the jacks back on the floor and starts again, but this time, two jacks must be picked up each time except for the third and final throw when, obviously, only one jack is picked up. Once this is achieved successfully, the player starts again but this time with three jacks and then again with four jacks and finally the ball is thrown up and all five jacks are picked up at once before the ball is caught.
When the player misses the ball or does not manage to pick up the required number of jacks, the turn immediately finishes and the next player has a try. The player who manages to progress furthest in the sequence of throws wins.
Five Stones (alternative version)
This is an older version of the previous game.  5-stones was played with stones bought from a shop - these stones were cubes of varying colours - like dice, but made of stone. This is how it was played :-

It started like jacks with  

Ones - tossing one stone in the air and picking up 1 stone

Twos - picking up 2 stones

Threes - picking up 3 stones

Fours - picking up 4 stones

Creeps - one stone was placed on the back of the hand, the others picked up between the fingers and then the 1 stone tossed in the air, caught in the palm of the hand and then the remaining 4 gathered into the palm - not as easy as it sounds)

Cracks - the stone being caught had to crack against the stone picked up.

No cracks - the reverse of cracks in that the stones couldn't make a noise as one was caught.

Little titch - the stones that had been picked up were retained in the palm as the subsequent stones were picked up - that meant that finally 3 stones were in the palm as 1 was tossed in the air to be caught and the 5th picked up from the ground.

Big titch -  the stones that had been picked up were tossed in the air as the subsequent stones were picked up - that meant that finally 4 stones were tossed in the air to be caught as the 5th was picked up.

CONKERS


During the months of September and October, a favourite playground game is conkers. It is a game which has been played every autumn for generations in Britain.

Children playing the game of conkers
Roald Dahl was a big conker fan. He tells us in his book, 'Roald Dahl, My Year' that,
'...a great conker is one that has been stored in a dry place for at least a year. This matures it and makes it rock hard and therefore formidable.'
Did you know? ......
On finding your first conker of the season, you should say:
" Oddly oddly onker my first conker". This ensures good fortune and few tangles throughout the coming season.
The game of conkers is known as 'Kingers' in some parts of the world.
.
What is a conker?
A conker is the seed of the horse chestnut tree (not the sweet chestnut tree where we get edible chestnuts from).

It is a hard brown nut which is found in a prickly casing.
Conkers, not yet ready, on a horse chestnut tree
The green outer casing of the seed will turn brown and crack open revealing the conkers inside.
Seed pod split revealing conkers inside
They fall from the tree when they are ripe during the autumn months. Each seed pod can house many conkers.
Conkers is also the name given to a game played between two people at a time.
How to prepare your conker for playing.
The best conkers to play with are uncracked, firm and symmetrical. Make a hole through the middle of of your chosen conker. Thread a strong piece of string about 25cm long, through the hole and tie a knot at one end, so that it doesn't pull through.
How to play conkers?
Each player has a conker hanging on its string. Players take turns at hitting their opponent's conker. text taken from and copyright of projcetbritain.com

If you are the one whose conker is to be hit first, let it hang down from the string which is wrapped round your hand. The conker is held at the height your opponent chooses and is held perfectly still.

Your opponent, the striker, wraps his conker string round his hand just like yours. He then takes his conker in the other hand and draws it back for the strike.

Releasing the conker he swings it down by the string held in the other hand and tries to hit his opponents conker (yours) with it.
If a player misses hitting his/her opponents conker they are allowed up to two further goes.
If the strings tangle, the first player to call "strings" gets an extra shot.
If a player hits his/her opponents conker in such a way that it completes a whole circle after being hit - known as ‘round the world’ – the player gets another go.
If a player drops his conker, or it is knocked out of his hand the other player can shout 'stamps' and jump on it; but should its owner first cry 'no stamps' then the conker, hopefully, remains intact.
The game goes on in turns until one or other of the two conkers is completely destroyed.
Scoring
A victorious conker assumes the score of all its victim's precedent foes.
Thus, in a contest between two fresh conkers, the winner would then have a score of 1 (known as a 'one-er'). If it then beat another three one-ers, it would become a four-er.
However, if the same conker then beat a conker which had previously conquered (no pun intended) 5 fresh opponents (and thus was a 'five-er'), our steadfast nut would then become a ten-er (its own four, plus its latest victim (1) *plus* its victim's previous count of 5).
You won't find this rule for a world championship as it doesn't make sense for a one-day event. But it certainly does at school, where a good conker could go for several seasons or even be passed on to a younger sibling.
How to choose a good conker.
Ever wondered why some conkers float in water but most sink? When placed in water, all the conkers that have damage inside them will, due to their lack of density, float to the surface.
For children who wish for 'killer' Conkers. you simply discard the floaters and concentrate on the much harder ones at the bottom of the bucket.
Hints on how to make your conkers harder.
You could try one of the following, although it is considered cheating:
  • Soak your conker in vinegar.
  • Bake your conker in the oven.
  • Use an old conker from previous years.
World Conker Championships
This event is held every year on the second Sunday in October on the Village Green at Ashton in Northamptonshire. Contestants are not allowed to use their own conkers. Nuts are supplied for each game after being gathered and strung by the organisers. Each game lasts five minutes. If neither conker has broken a shoot out takes place. Each player has three sets of three hits and the one who lands most clean hits is the winner.
Visit the official World Conker Championship website for more details.

Interesting facts about Conkers
Britain is believed to be the only country in the world where the game of conkers is traditionally played with horse chestnuts in the autumn.
Horse chestnut trees were first introduced to England in the late 16th century from Eastern Europe.
Horse chestnut conkers, unlike many other kinds of chestnut seed, are unfit for human consumption.
Conkers are edible by deer, cattle and not surprisingly, horses.
The first recorded game of conkers was on the Isle of Wight in 1848 and was modelled on a 15th century game played with hazelnuts, also known as cobnuts.
The origin of the name 'conker' is unclear, but one popular explanation is that it stems from the French word cogner, meaning to "hit" or "biff".
Extracts from horse chestnuts have been used to treat malaria, varicose veins, diarrhoea, frostbite and ringworm, as well as being a component of sunscreen products.

LA CUNA



( LOS NUDOS, LAS CUNITAS)  
Dos o más participantes
Una cuerda o lazo fino de unos 100 centímetros de longitud.
 En este juego se utiliza una cuerda atada en los extremos y cogida entre las manos. Los dedos se van entrelazando con ella. Formada la primera figura básica, el  otro jugador coge la cuerda en determinados puntos, pasando ésta a sus manos, y creando en esta ocasión otra figura distinta, y así sucesivamente. La precisión a la hora de coger la cuerda es importante, porque si no se hace de modo correcto la cuerda se liará y ya será imposible seguir el juego, por lo que la jugadora o el jugador que ha fallado, perderá. Estas figuras recibían cada una un nombre: bigotes de gato, la cama, las tijeras, etc.

EL DIÁBOLO.






El juego consiste en hacer girar sobre una cuerda atada al extremo de dos palos una figura formada por dos conos unidos por sus vértices.

BALÓN PRISIONERO

(LAS VIDAS)



Organización: dos grupos
Los dos equipos se distribuyen las dos zonas del campo (cada equipo en su zona), separados por una línea. Un jugador de cada equipo se sitúa detrás del equipo contrario (cementerio).
El juego consiste en lanzar el balón a los jugadores del equipo contrario para que vayan eliminándose y entrando a su cementerio. Solamente son eliminados si se golpea al jugador contrario sin que bote.
Los jugadores que están en su campo como los que están en el cementerio pueden eliminar a los del equipo contrario.
Los jugadores pueden coger la pelota antes de que bote y conseguir “una vida”
No está permitido invadir las zonas del otro equipo. Los lanzamientos se realizan con las manos.