When it comes to the memorable playgrounds of yesteryear, the dragon playground is probably the one that stands out:

While certainly one of the more majestic playgrounds around, it wasn’t the only kind of playground. James, who grew up in Jalan Bukit Ho Swee, played at the ‘globe’ playground, which was a spherical metal frame that children could climb on and swing about. Searching the pictures of the National Archives of Singapore, he has put together a collection of old playgrounds (many of them don’t exist any more) in his blog post here.

James Seah blogs about the games people play, not just the tabletop games like mahjong in this archival image seen here, but also games by way of sport and their role in Singapore.

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The Singapore Art Museum (SAM) held it’s last Open House on Sunday 4 December 2011. Ice balls, “kuti kuti” (tokens) and other games of the 70s reminded us how we were delighted and entertained before the age of digital gadgets. For those of you young-lings who were born after the 90s, these were traditional home made toys and entertainments which was what simple pleasures of life were made of. Read the rest of this entry »

Where to to buy those old games of past such as kuti kuti, pick up stick, 5 stones, marbles, simple paper kites(not the fanciful ones) & many more, or even the one I can’t remember what is it called & usually played by girls. It’s a plastic ring(diameter abt 6 ” or 7″) with a string about 3 feet long with plastic bell shape at the end of the string & the ring is place in the leg at the ankle & then the person will swing the bell & starts hopping as the string twirls round & round counting the times she is able to hop without causing a disruption to the string.

Pick-up sticks is a game enjoyed by both children and adults alike. The objective of this game is to pick up as many sticks as possible without disturbing or moving the other sticks. To begin, the player bundles the sticks with his hand, then slowly releasing it from his grip. This will lead the sticks to fall in an outward manner, usually in a messy circle. The player will decide on which stick to isolate so as not to create even a slight movement on the surrounding sticks. As easy as it may sound, the game requires much determination and focus to identify the best stick to pick up. Players who successfully pick up the sticks without touching the other sticks may continue to have a go, until he disturbs a stick. The game ends when the last stick is picked up, and the winner is the player with the most sticks.

Chinese checkers originated from a Victorian British game, Halma, converted into a star-shaped board. It was first patented by Ravensburger, a famous German games company in 1892, only a few years after Halma appeared. Originally called the “Hop Ching Checker Game”, it was renamed “Chinese Checkers” before it took off.

Chinese Checkers can be played by 2 to 6 people, each person starting with a set of uniquely coloured pieces in one point of the star. The objective is simply to be the first to move all the pieces across the board and into the star point opposite. Pieces move a single point or else hop over other pieces in order to advance their pieces as quickly as possible. The middle part of the game becomes quite a challenge as the options for hopping vary rapidly as the game changes shape.

The common theory states that chess originated from Chaturanga, mimicking a very similar war-game invented in North India around 600 A.D. The origins of chess continue to spark lengthy records of debates and findings about where, when and who invented this board game. Chess was taken to China by Buddhists over the mountains – over the Indus River or through the Khyber Pass, a key juncture point of caravan routes. The Chinese developed their own game of chess in 800 A.D.

Known today as xiang qi, Chinese Chess has also other variations such as wei qi, a similar concept with simplified rules. Each chess piece comes with its own rules of movement, requiring players to pit against each other in intellect, skill, strategy and mind agility.

Like many childhood games, Zero point was a simple activity that consisted of a long rope strung by elastic bands and hyper-active young girls hell bent on jumping highest.

At least three players are needed – one to jump across the altering heights and two to hold the rope on either end. As the rubber rope gets raised higher (usually elevated inch by inch), it gets tougher to manoeuvre over the rope. No part of the body should touch the rope and should that happen, his/her turn is forfeited and the next person starts his/her round.

Kids tend to create fancy game lingo and it’s no different with zero-point. One would be ‘twist’ where a player jumps around the rope – held at waist-length – five times repeatedly.

Photo Courtesy: Daquin Li

While many might remember the recent Channel 5 drama serial Fighting Spiders which was set in rural Singapore in the 1960s, the hobby of pitting these eight-legged creatures against each other was once considered a favourite past time of many school boys.

The fun begins by placing two spiders, one of each end of a long stick, lead them to the middle of the stick and a furious fight will ensue! The battle ends when one spider drops off the stick. Nominal bets of a few dollars might be made – for the young ones, this was quite a sum! In some cases, a win is considered only when the losing spider is eaten by its opponent.

What’s a fight without its warriors? These spiders are usually caught in trees and bushes. It’s believed that spiders that live in areas exposed to predators are more aggressive than those living in isolation and therefore better fighters. So are those with slender bodies and long legs!

Usually housed in used matchboxes, these spiders are well-taken care off though the trainer might intentionally starve the creatures before a match to increase their ferocity.