10 best games from our childhood: Lifehacker readers remember

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We recently asked you to share your favorite games, and the answers we received have made us old school! We share a selection with you - send it to your children you know so that "Banks", "Traffic Light" and "Don-don-dary" do not sink into oblivion.

1. Alphabet

Number of players: from 2.
Time: 30–90 minutes.
Age: 10+.

1. Each participant draws a sign on a notebook sheet. The column names are: boy's name, girl's name, plant, animal, city, profession, something to choose from, points. Usually the set of topics is standard, but you can change it if you wish.

2. The speaker silently lists the letters of the alphabet. When one of the players says: “Stop”, he must name the one that sounded last in his head.

3. Participants are given a minute during which they must fill out their tablets - write words, that start with a hidden letter and relate to the topic indicated in the header: a plant, an animal, and so on Further.

For example, if “B” fell out, then the answers could be: Vera, Volodya, Venus flytrap, wolf, Volgograd, doctor, eyelid.

4. When the minute is up, the players must take it in turns to announce their notes. 10 points are awarded for each correct word. If the participants have a match - 5 points each. If any column is left blank, nothing is given for it. The winner is the one who scores the most points.

My mother taught me this game. The whole family loved spending time with her. Now I'm getting my son into it too!

2. Rat

Number of players: from 3.
Time: 5–20 minutes.
Age: 5+.

We played Rat (or Sifu) at recess. The rules are:

1. The host gathers a crowd around him, commands: "Begin." Participants scatter in all directions. At this moment, the water should be thrown at one of them with a “rat” - a toy mouse on a string. It was kept in our classroom.

2. If he hits someone, he should try to quickly throw the toy at the other participant. Otherwise, he will become a "rat".

You can play indefinitely, but we usually finished when we heard the bell for the lesson. The one who remained last, at the next break, tried to get rid of the humiliating status as quickly as possible and quickly throw the “rat” at another person.

By the way, in Middle Ages for this game, the children did not use a toy, but a real dead rat.

3. Peaks and farads

Number of players: 2.
Time: 10–30 minutes.
Age: 8+.

My older sister taught me to play this game. We often spent evenings with her, and it was always interesting! And all you needed was a couple of sheets of paper and pens. The rules are:

1. Everyone thinks of a four-digit number. We had an agreement that the same figure should not be repeated in it. That is, you could take, for example, "2967". But there is another option - with repeating numbers. In this case, the participant can guess at least "2244", at least "2222".

2. Players take turns trying to guess each other's numbers. If the number in the number is guessed and is in its place, you need to say: "Farad". If not on your own - "Peak".

For example, if the opponent thought of "3456", and you called "3546", he should say: "2 farads, 2 peaks." When you get the answer "4 farads", you win.

You can't cheat! Yes, and it hardly makes sense. After all, when you sort through possible combinations, you understand that something does not converge. The error is quickly discovered.

The game is great! I told the rules to my daughter. And when she was in elementary school, we constantly spent leisure time with her at Peaks and Farads.

4. Banks

Number of players: from 3.
Time: 20–60 minutes.
Age: 8+.

A tin can was placed on the ground. A leader was appointed who was supposed to protect her. Further the rules are:

1. Players find sticks for themselves and throw them into the jar in turn, trying to knock it down.
2. As soon as someone manages to do this, the participants run across the field after their sticks. The leader's task at this moment is to put the jar back. And after that, have time to touch any player, until he ran away for a predetermined line.

When retreating, participants may attempt to knock down the jar. Until the host puts it back, he can't blame anyone. The one whom he managed to hurt takes his place.

5. Fight with soft toys

Number of players: 2.
Time: 10–40 minutes.
Age: 4+.

The rules are simple:

1. Participants distribute shells among themselves - soft toys without sharp and protruding noses and eyes. A small leather gorilla has always been in special demand with us - it flew hard.

2. Players sit at different ends of the room, put toys next to them. And the fight begins!

Important to remember:

• You can hide behind furniture.
• You can't step forward, not even a step.
• You can not take away and steal shells.

6. The sea is worried

Number of players: from 3.
Time: 10–20 minutes.
Age: 4+.

When I was very young, in kindergarten I liked to play with my friends in "The sea is worried once." The rules are like this.

1. You need to choose a leader. He should turn away from the others and recite the poem:

The sea is worried
The sea is worried two,
The sea is rough three
Marine figure freeze in place.

Usually we replaced the last words with something else: "animal figure", "clown figure", "funny figure". It got to the point of absurdity. In general, we gave vent to fantasy.

While the host is saying a counting rhyme, everyone moves randomly. As soon as he finishes and turns, you need to freeze, imitating someone: a fish, a seaweed, a starfish, and so on.

2. The host must guess who exactly the players show. He can approach any person and ask him to move. If someone else moves or laughs at this moment, they will lose.

Usually there were four of us: three show, the fourth guesses. But I think you can play in this game and a big company. The main thing to remember is that the point is not to win, but just to have fun when someone imitates something!

7. Wall

Number of players: from 2.
Time: 5–20 minutes.
Age: 8+.

My first gambling game money. We gathered with friends, brought our change, and then - as lucky. Someone left with a big "catch", someone - with empty pockets. The gist is the following:

1. You need a flat wall and a flat surface under the wall. For us, this function was performed by a span in the school corridor.

2. You agree which of your friends will go first, who will go second, and so on. The easiest way is to draw lots with the help of “tsu-e-fa”.

3. The first participant throws a coin so that it hits the wall and falls to the floor. You cannot move it.

4. The second person should try to throw his coin so that it also bounces off the wall and lies as close as possible to the first.

To check how far they are from each other, you need to try to reach from one to the other with your fingers. If this was done, the second participant takes everything for himself. This is his win. If the coin is too far away, the money is returned to the owners. They take turns changing.

Once I was very lucky. I came to the game with 10 rubles, and left with 52! Bought ice cream and soda with them. It was a real joy!

8. Don-don-dary

Number of players: 2.
Time: 1 minute.
Age: 5+.

In my yard, patties were popular, or rather Don-don-dary. Their essence is to perform a series of some kind of hand movements while you read a rhyme together:

Don-don-dary, and dary-dary don-dong,
Sasha baby, Sasha baby sa,
Am yo baby, am yo baby,
Mexico, Mexico.
And Jimmy, Jimmy, jaguar.
Jaguar go, go.
And si-si-si, and zhu-zhu-zhu,
A si, a zhu,
Ai love yu.

After the words “Ai love yu”, my friend and I stood with our backs to each other and made a wish. And if then both turned their heads in one direction, it should have been fulfilled.

Most often, I played Don Don Dary with my friends in the yard. The funny thing is that each girl had a small notebook in which words were written down and certain hand movements were drawn. We also wrote down the rules of other games there, but still Don-don-dary was our favorite.

9. secrets

Number of players: from 2.
Time: 20–90 minutes.
Age: 5+.

1. Participants build treasures from “jewels”: sweets, plastic rings from Kinder Surprises, small toys, unnecessary keys. To do this, they choose places where they bury their hidden treasures. Lay "secrets" under the fragments of glass bottles. And they draw a map on which they schematically mark the location of the treasures.

2. Other participants, using this card, must find the "secrets". Sometimes burial places are forgotten and lost - so that even the "pirates" themselves do not know where the treasures were buried.

I have always enjoyed being a seeker. It seems that only thanks to this game I went to work as a forensic scientist!

10. Traffic light

Number of players: from 3.
Time: 5–20 minutes.
Age: 5+.

I really liked to play "Traffic Light"! Thanks to this game, it was possible to fill the time between lessons and an extension or circles. The rules are:

1. The leader is selected. He stands with his back to everyone and calls any color.

2. Players are looking for this color on their clothes, shoes, toys. If the necessary item is found, you need to put your hand on it and go to the other side.

3. If the participant did not have the right color, he must quickly run to a safe area - so that the leader does not have time to hurt him. “Bluff” is allowed: for example, you can cover a part of a T-shirt with your hand and calmly walk past the presenter, convincing him that there is an image with the desired color.

If the water touches the participant, he takes his place.