Tommy Teal's Human Curling

Recent Strange Game no:158 Inuit Airplane Game prompted reader Tommy Teal to write:

"A great extension to the Inuit Airplane Game would be for teams to play it on ice. The aim being to throw one player, in full airplane position, stomach-down onto the ice with enough speed so that they reach a target. Just like in real curling other team members could rush in front of the 'stone' frantically brushing at the ice. The team that gets their 'stone' nearest to a target wins."

After a little research it appears that the game already exists, albeit not in such an extreme form as Tommy describes. Human Curling is usually played by teams diving onto large rubber innertubes that are attached to a base board. Nearest the target wins.

video of human curling
brilliant (spoof) video of yogic curling!
strange games no:161

Split the Kipper - strange games with knives #1

Split the Kipper, incredibly, was a popular game played by children in the 1970’s.
All that is required to play is soft ground, stout shoes, a knife and large amounts of stupidity. That’s right, a game for children involving knives.
Players stand facing each other a distance of 1 or 2 meters apart with their legs together. The leading player, the one with the knife, then aims and throws his weapon so that it lands outside his opponents feet. That is to the right of his right foot or left of his left foot. The knife must stick into the ground blade first and must be within 30cm of said foot. If it is further away or if it doesn't stick in the ground at all then it is a ‘no-throw’ and doesn’t count. If it is within 30cm then that player has to move his nearest foot to where the knife landed. He now pulls the knife out of the ground and it is his turn to throw back in the same way.
The game continues with each player taking turns to throw whilst all the time trying to remain standing, their legs getting further and further apart. If a player falls over or gives up, he loses.

When one player feels he can’t take it any longer he may decide to ‘split the kipper’. Here he aims the knife between his opponents feet and if he throws it there successfully may now close his own legs to the starting position. Obviously, the number of times you are allowed to ‘split the kipper’ should be decided before starting otherwise games can continue a long time.

strange games no:160

Dwile Flonking / Dwyle Flunking

Resurrected in the late 1960’s Dwile Flonking (or Dwyle Flunking) is an outdoor pub game of dubious origin but startling originality. Centred around the villages of Bungay and Beccles in Suffolk this is a bizarre game made even more unusual by its incredible array of yokel terminology.
The game requires two teams formed of twelve players each. One team forms a circle (called the Girter). A member of the opposing team takes his turn to stand in the middle of the Girter and be the Flonker. The Flonker carries a 2-3 foot long stick (or Driveller) on the end of which is a beer sodden sponge (or dwile). As the Girter members dance around him the Flonker must flonk his dwile using his Driveller to try and hit a member of the Girter. He has two attempts and scores as follows:

Hit on the head (a Wanton) 3 points
Hit on the body (a Marther) 2 points
Hit on the leg (a Ripple) 1 point

Miss totally (a Swadger) 0 points, plus the poor Flonker must now, as a forfeit, quickly drink a pint of ale. A process which for some reason has no rustic alternative name in the yokel-lexicon.

Each member of the team has a go at being the Flonker then the two teams change places. The highest combined team score wins although often games finish with no-one knowing or even caring about the score.
Like many village games, Dwile Flunking's origins are cloudy to say the least but a game very similar in appearance appears in the 16th century painting “Children’s Games” by Breughel.

strange games no:159

web: virtual dwile flonking

Inuit Airplane Game

The last post about Human Battering Ram brings to mind the traditional Inuit game of Airplanes.

A game for teams of four that appears at first glance to be easy but requires phenomenal upper body strength. One member lies on the floor, feet together and arms outstretched - the 'airplane'. The other three team members now lift the 'airplane' up - one person holds the ankles with one each holding the players wrist/forearm. The airplane must keep his body totally rigid - sagging is not allowed - as long as possible whilst his team 'fly' him around the room. The team that flies their plane the furthest wins.
For the ambitious games player you could always try getting a Human Airplane formation team together - a sort of Inuit Red Arrows!

video: wheelbarrow racing the nearest Western equivalent game
strange games no:158

Human Battering Ram

Yesterday's post on Piggy Back Fighting led to a missive from Resh Dorka (Strange Games' expert on playground stupidity) detailing a pleasingly violent variation he played as a child.

Human Battering Ram is best played with a large number of players. Everyone gets into groups of three people and then every group bar one forms a Piggy Back Horse as detailed in the previous post (two players form the horse, one rides them). The sole remaining team of three now forms a human battering ram: basically two players hoist the third onto their shoulders so that he is horizontal to the ground with his feet facing forwards - some players prefer to hold the 'ram' under their arms. Play commences with the battering ram rushing at horses and riders, their aim being to knock a rider off his mount. That team will then be out of the game. Play continues until a victorious horse and rider remains.

human battering rams video (without the horses!)

strange games no:157

More Piggy Back Fighting

The last post on Kibasen prompted the following mail from Herbert Rowsell (Strange Games Expert on Playground Games):

"Monty, I remember a piggy back game very similar to Kibasen being played on the school playing fields. It was a more complicated version of piggy back fighting in the sense that it was really horse back fighting. A couple of boys would form a horse by one bending down behind the other and placing his arms around the standing boy's waist - a little like the position needed to be a pantomime horse. A third boy, the rider, would now climb upon his back. Other groups of three boys would form their horse and riders and then battles would commence. Horses would charge into each other and the riders would attempt to pull others off their mounts - thus securing victory. A relatively harmless game as long as it was played on grass although I do remember it being banned when an irresponsible boy brought in some pool cues to use as lances and tried to have a jousting competition."

the attached picture is a Picasso sketch showing how to make a horse

strange games no:156

Kibasen / Cavalry Battle

The traditional schoolyard game of piggyback fighting, with its associated back, arm and head injuries, is probably near the top of the league of banned games in Britain's schools (just behind British Bulldog and Red Rover) The Japanese version Kibasen (Cavalry Battle) however is so popular in Japan that it even forms part of school sports day.

Kibasen is for teams of four players. Three people stand in a triangular formation, facing the same way, and hold hands. This enables the fourth member to perch on the back of the front player with his feet supported by the others hands (see picture). All riders wear a hat or headband. Now battle commences. The aim is for each group to charge towards the other and for the rider to grab and remove an opponent rider's hat thus eliminating that team from the game. Falls and injuries are commonplace.

Games can be simply between two teams of four, or as often happens the whole school forms two armies and a full scale Kibasen battle is held.

video of kibasen
video of piggy back fighting

strange games no:155

Strange Games for the Bedbound: A Toy Lift

Strange Games receives many e-mails like the following: "Montegue, my child has (fill in contagious disease of your choice) and has to remain resting in bed for two weeks. Are there any unusual activities that will entertain him during this time? regards, Roland Puleston Jones."

Obviously you want to avoid new-fangled entertainments such as television, portable games machines and MP3 players (in my day you were lucky to get a copy of the Dandy and a bottle of Lucozade) so I suggest you make a Toy Lift.

Here are the original instructions for a Toy Lift from the book Something To Do' (1966)
You need a very long piece of strong string, some cotton and three curtain rings. Put the long piece of string through the bar of the bed behind your head and secure loosely. Thread the other end of the string around the rail at the end of the bed and slip the three curtain rings onto it. Holding on to the end, untie the string at the head of the bed and tie both ends together, making a belt of string that can be pulled around. Tie a small aeroplane, or a little doll, or anything which might enjoy riding in space on to the middle ring with cotton. Then lie back and send your traveller off on his journey. Marvellous!

The original illustration from the book shows how much fun can be had.
strange games no:154