SC-S29/W1- Nostalgia Of The Liitle Me : Games we used to play (Running Jokers and Scrabble)

When it comes to games, I doubt that there's anyone who has played more than I did when I was a kid. It even got to the stage where I had to play with broomsticks and sew clothes for them. I'll carve humans from my school textbook and make them behave like normal people. Did you do that? See how hilarious it was, but impactful. Now, I'm no longer a kid, but I'll recreate moments I had playing those games.

Permit me to mention more than one game because I had a lot of childhood moments back in the day, and I played a lot. There's what we call games and gameplay. I did both of them when I was a child, and I'll talk about three games and how they were played. I also recreated them with pictures of my young friends and me. These are a few games I've played that I recreated.

Pursuer Game	Swing Gameplay
	Ayo Game

This was the most interesting game I ever played in my childhood. I don't know how, and I loved scary things back then. Maybe there was a reason why we played this game because we're not fearless youth. Nothing can scare us. If the two Jokers scared us and we were used to it when we were small, nothing can scare me.

This isn't a common game, as the normal game we used to call it is hide and seek or pursuer.. It was originated by me and a group of childhood friends after watching a scary movie where kids were hunted, and these kids proved to be strong. The Jokers shouldn't see you; that makes it hide-and-seek.

How to Play? — Rules

• The running jokers is a game of two characters, male and female. These characters are expected to wear joker costumes to scare and catch their opponents. The Jokers are usually based on appointments.

Joker 1	Joker 2

• Players can be up to 10, running away from the chasers. At the start of the game, a group of people will appoint two people they want as chasers. When these two are selected, they'll be dressed in Joker's outfits. The male joker will wear a hat to cover his face at times, and the female joker will wear a scarf. These two jokers will paint their faces with white powder and use lipstick to mark their lips in a stylish and scary way.

• After wearing these costumes, the two jokers will be allowed to find their hideout in an incomplete building. This incomplete is more like a maze with different rooms. It can be done in a house, but it's more fun when played in an incomplete building.

• The other players won't know where the Jokers are hiding. On hearing the laughter of jokers from a distance, they'll have to enter the uncompleted building from the main entrance.

• Only three are allowed to enter at a time. If they can successfully come out without being caught by the joker, they are saved from the game.

• The jokers, on the other hand, are to spread in the incomplete building and catch these players. They are not allowed to stand at the exit. Once a player is caught by the joker and held firm, that player is bound for life to be a joker as well.

• Note, players can struggle from the jokers and escape, but if you're held firm with the Joker's two hands, you're not allowed to struggle.

• No weapons are allowed in the game. The Jokers are meant to catch the players by holding their two hands. Once caught, the player caught eventually becomes a joker.

• If at the end of the game, everyone is a joker, the jokers win, and if at the end of the game, one or two players escape, they are the winners.

This is a game of letters and word formation. I played it a lot during childhood. It's an academic game that helps improve the brain.

How to play?

• The game has a sheet where scores can be counted, as we have spaces for doubling of letters, tripling, and doubling of words. You form a word box by starting from the center and then extending it till the letters are exhausted.

• Four players is the ideal number for this game, as it has four letter stands. Every player must have a letter stand and must fill his letter stand by dipping his hand inside a bag and picking 7 letters without looking at the letters.

• Each letter has numbers attached to it. For example, the letter A can have 3, T can have 2, and the letter E can have 5. If you form a word with these two letters, making it ATE, you have a total of 10 points. Impressive, right? If you place these letters on the score sheet and it falls on a double word or letter, you do your mathematics.

• You're not allowed to form a two-letter word. It's only from 3, and you're not expected to waste more than 10 seconds; otherwise, you'll be skipped.

• You must form a word with the letters of the word the first person formed. You can exchange letters with someone if you can't form a word with yours, and note that after each formed word, you're to refill your letters. It must always be 7 at all times till the game ends.

• The person with the highest points wins the game.

When I was age 7-12, I used to play the Running Jokers game with my neighbors every evening. We never missed the evening moments. It's usually from 4pm to 6pm. During weekends, we'll play in the morning. In my compound, we were 6 boys and 4 girls. These were the people I used to play this game with.

We'll take permission from our parents for 2 hours and then do our makeup. To convince our parents, we'll tell them that the game is teaching us to avoid being afraid of bullies in school. Then there's this incomplete building in our compound. We'll use it for the game.

For security's sake, we'll ensure that sharp objects are discarded before playing. For Scrabble, I used to play with my sister @dorismos at home and then with friends when we went out for recreational activities. I was always the highest scorer in this game until my sister joined and beat my score.

Of all the games, these two leave a lasting impression on me.

It was special to me because as an introvert, I've been embarrassed and bullied in several ways. Most times, I tend to run away from my fears and keep silent even when I am expected to voice out. No one would want to see a joker at night. That was the same way I wouldn't want to see my bullies in school around me.

They felt I was weak, but the Running Joker game taught me that I can beat a bully without using my fist. I can stand up against them even though my parents then warned them about me and they refused to listen. No one has violated or made fun of me ever since I started playing that game because I faced my fears in that incomplete building.

There's how you're trying to escape, and behold, the joker shows his face with scary laughter. You didn't expect that sharp turn, but it did happen. My adrenaline levels do rise in such situations before I could even struggle with the joker. When you play this game more than thrice, you become used to the scary face and have this inner confidence of standing up against the joker.

It wasn't teaching me how to fight but how to be bold and confidence*. Most girl players in the game aren't usually strong. When such happens, they'll scream out loud in fear and succumb.

That's why the running joker game tends to be more special than any other game I've played. The Scrabble game is also special because out of all the games I've been playing, this game helped improve my vocabulary and exposed me to words I didn't come across. It made me become friends with my dictionary and improved my ability to speak fluently.

When I remember this incident, I'd laugh as if I were the joker. During one of our gameplay sessions, a joker was scared for the first time. Jokers aren't meant to be scared of the people they are chasing. They are meant to scare the players. On one occasion, one of the players knew that the joker was behind him but pretended not to see. When the joker wanted to scare him, he scared the joker in a hilarious way.

You needed to see how the joker ran out of the incomplete building with a scream. He didn't want to play again. He removed all the costumes, and we appointed another person. In time, he became used to the fears, and he could comfortably sleep alone in his room without his parents.

This is too made me feel remember when a family took us out for recreation for helping her child build confidence and was able to conquer her fears at night.

I think I've said a lot already, but I'll focus on the running jokers before talking about the scrabble as I've learnt life lessons from this in particular. Do you have fears which could be people, objects or insects like spiders? You can conquer your fears if you keep running away from them. It's very rare to hear that people died while trying to conquer your fears. At least give it a try. You're not a public speaker because you don't like crowds.

You're someone who's always bullied but remains silent all the time. Let me tell you, silence most times isn't the best way to answer a bully. Sha, it depends on the kind of bully because they'll always taunt you. When you're silent, they get even stronger to make life miserable for you. The exclusion of weapons and fights in this game shows that in such a situation, your attitude speaks louder than using force.

Everyone knows how scary a joker is, but you can build confidence if you face it knowing fully well it won't harm you in a bad way. These are the values. You can still remain chaste even when building self-confidence in school areas in particular. Your parents won't be there to save you. All you got is you and yourself. Face it squarely. The scrabble game taught me that life is a struggle.

You must struggle to survive when though it means thinking out of the box. When playing Scrabble, you're given deadlines to solve a problem and you must solve a problem with another person's solution. Scrabble gives you a lot of opportunities to decide or choose from. So is life. You're also given what is needed. All you need to do is play the mind game. I have a lot to say, but I'll stop here.

I invite @heriadi, @dove11 and @etified01