Slapheads

There are some bizarre playground games for two that involve pain. Well known ones such as Feet Stamping, Slapsies and Knuckles and lesser known such as Extreme Rock Paper Scissors. But, there is one that understandably and thankfully never played today: Slapheads.
Slapheads is like the human equivalent of the summer fayre game of Hit the Rat ( a 'rat' is dropped through a drainpipe and the player has to hit it with a baseball bat when it emerges) Here, one person must hold his hands, palms facing inwards, a set distance apart (2 feet or so). The other must now bob his head down between the hands and avoid being slapped in the head. To trial this game I have just played a session with Mrs Blister and it is brilliant fun. Whether it's through fear of reprisals or slowness of reactions the bobber often wins and the slapee is left slapping thin air.
I suppose if this marvellous game were to take off today then the wearing of a safety helmet would be the only update required. Encouraging children to play old fashioned games to help in the fight against obesity is all well and good but not at the expense of a perforated ear drum.

Badfight / Badmington Fighting

Recently Strange Games received an E-mail from Michael Semenenko, senior lecturer of faculty of sports St.Petersburg State University. In it he describes a most brilliant new combination game that he has created.
Most strange games enthusiasts are aware of combining two games to make an unusual new one, Chess Boxing being the one that comes immediately to mind. But badmington fighting or Badfight as Michael has named it combines Badmington and a martial art and is very special indeed.

Badfight is played on a 6x12m area with a badmington net set at 2m high in the centre. Players attach flat sponge pads, measuring approximately 15cm square, onto the backs of their hands and also onto their feet (see pictures). The serving player must kick the shuttlecock over the net. The returning player has two moves to return it, first with the foot and then with the hand. To catch and flick up a shuttle using just your foot pad must take quite a lot of agility...and then to smash it back over the net with the hand pad! It sounds like it would be absolutely exhausting to play.
If the shuttle touches the floor or goes out of bounds then the point is lost. First to 15 points wins.

A superb game that deserves much wider publicity and inclusion in the Olympics as soon as possible.

Drawing Room Baseball

An extremely silly indoor game but immense fun nonetheless, Drawing Room Baseball brings the great American sport into the living room provides hours of endless fun and broken ornaments.

Best for small teams of three or four players (but I guess it depends on how big your house is), simply re-arrange some room furnishings to provide the bases. Then replace the baseball bat with a kitchen spatula (either wood or metal) and instead of a baseball use a ping pong ball. This gives the pitcher the opportunity to wind up his throwing arm and pitch the ball as hard as he wants without fear of injury. The damage to the room is not from bat and ball action but rather the dashes to reach bases and the scrambles for the ball of the fielding team.

Camel Jumping

Usually on Strange Games the equipment needed to play the games is minimal and often for the some of the best games all you need to be able to do is pretend to be dead.
For Camel Jumping you need...well, you need some camels. As this incredible footage from Yemen shows, to play, stand three camels side by side, take a good run up and then jump over them. Simple. Notice that the jumpers aren't exactly the tallest men you've ever met and they clear the camels with ease. Unfortunately the presenter of the piece doesn't have a go.


All those years watching extremely dull field events at the olympic games when we could have been watching camel jumping. And surely the sport could be extended to the Giraffe Polevault.
strange games no: 176

What Do You Want / More Spectacular Deaths

The childhood pastime of Spectacular Deaths has all but died out these days (sorry) but its coverage on Strange Games no:139 prompted an e-mail from Molly McDoodle about a variation played in Scotland called What Do You Want?

Players stand in front of a chanter who shouts out,
"What do you want, what do you want, Gun, Arrow or Atom Bomb?" After which all players must act out their death as if they were killed with a gun or a bow and arrow or most spectacularly of all an atomic bomb.

The 'winner' of the game is decided not just by who can die in the most sensational or realistic way but who can 'remain dead' the best when the chanter walks among them and prods the bodies with his or her feet.

It's a sort of combination game of Spectacular Deaths and a violent version of that old party favourite Statues. Marvellous!

strange games no:175

Stange Games New: Finger Jousting Rules

The king of hand games Finger Jousting has been covered by Strange Games a few times before but it is only now, after 2 years solid work, that the full, unabridged rules for Finger Jousting tournaments have been finalised.
Written by self styled Lord of the Joust Julian Gluck the rules run to 30 pages. The main structural change to competitive Finger Jousting is the move to 3 rounds of 2 minutes each with a minute break in between and an overtime round of 1 minute in the case of a tie.
My favourite rules, however, are:-

~Taking care of your fingernails is a sign of respect for your opponent and shows an interest in maintaining a healthy body.

~A finger jouster is prohibited from wearing clothing that is profane or lewd; exposes the bosom, belly or groin; contains sharp or excessively hard parts.

~The length of a competitors finger shall not be longer than 6 inches

~Bending ones own ‘lance' (finger) down or dropping it so that it no longer sticks out, known as sheathing, is illegal.

~Illegal fingernail length is an automatic disqualification unless an approved glove is worn or the fingernail is trimmed immediately.

The rules also come with a great diagram indicating hand signals for referees should you wish to get involved in the judging and refereeing side of this marvellous game. You can download the full rules from the World Finger Jousting Federation site

video of finger jousting
download finger jousting rule book here

Caterpillar Racing

There has been a flurry of odd racing games on Strange Games recently (Spit Racing and Banana Racing being particular highlights) and Caterpillar Racing is yet another children's racing game about to be resurrected from the past.

For as many players as want to play. From a standing start, lie face down flat on the ground as quickly as possible with your arms stretched above your head. Where your fingertips touch the ground will be your next starting position so now you have to leap to your feet and place them where your fingertips used to be. And so on. Players continue performing this set of moves as quickly as they can to get to the finishing line first.

strange games no:174

High Heel Racing / Stiletto Running

Recent posts about strange forms of racing prompted reader Boris Spedding to mention the sport of High Heel Racing.

High Heel Racing, or Stiletto Running, is exactly as it says on the tin...running as fast as possible whilst wearing stiletto shoes. In the last two years the sport has taken off in Europe with large organised events taking place in Russia, Germany, Holland and Poland.

The minimal rules state that the shoes worn must have a heel of 7cm or longer with a tip of diameter no more than 1.5cm (i.e. you will be disqualified if you turn up in your 1970's platform heels)
At this years Berlin race competitor Denise Hanitsch won the 100m race in a stunning time of 14.7 seconds.
But Europe can not claim Heel Racing as its own. There is an annual High Heel Race held by local drag queens in Washington DC. And it has been held for the last 19 years.
Surely it is time for the marvellous sport to extend to other track events. The High Heel Hurdles would surely be an event worth staging.

video of russian high heel racing
video of drag queen high heel racing
strange games no: 173