Game and Watch

To those of us who went to school in the '80s, it wasn't always about "five stones" or "catching" during playtime.  The electronics games industry was in its infancy and we wasted many hours glued to the screen playing games too.  In those days, Nintendo came up with a series of Game and Watch playthings that were all the rage.  Any girl who owned one of these gained instant celebrity status and became very popular especially before school and during recess. It's a wonder these weren't banned.

This version of Game and Watch called  "Octopus" turned me into a serious addict!

I posted this picture on Facebook and asked my friends for responses.  Here are some nostalgic (and hilarious) responses:

Vasanthi: I loved playing "Manhole" as well

Jin Hui:  I remember the one with the chef trying to catch food in a frying pan.  Was it called Chef?

Kar Hue:  Haha...I remember them all!  Twas one with Mickey Mouse collecting eggs

Patricia:  I remember playing, and playing in class too   (Joanna says: Hor..hor..Pat...I tell teacher then you know!)

Jenny:  I loved all these Nintendo games

5 Stones

I was trying to recall how to play "Five Stones", the most popular game in primary school. A big thank you to Jeannette Poon for helping me out.

Step 1: Throw all five stones. Whilst throwing a stone, pick up one stone and catch the stone in the air before it falls to the ground. Do this for each of the stones on the ground.

Step 2: Repeat step 1 but pick up two stones at a time.

Step 3: Repeat step 1 but pick up a combination of three stones and one.

Step 4: Throw all five stones. Pick up four stones whilst one stone is in the air and catch the later before it falls to the ground.

Step 5: Whilst throwing one stone, place the four on the ground. Throw one stone up again and catch it whilst picking all four stones on the ground.

Step 6: Throw all five stones on the ground. Pick two stones. Throw one in the air and exchange the other with one on the ground. Do the same with the remaining stones on the ground.

Step 7: Throw the two stones held at the end of Step 6. Pick up one stone and then catch the two falling stones separately in each hand. Do this until there is three stones in one hand and two in the other. Throw the two stones and catch it separately. Throw the remaining stone and catch it with the hand that has all the stones.

Step 8: Throw all five stones on the ground. The opponent selects a stone to be thrown in the air. The player has to pick this stone without moving any others. The player throws the stone in the air and picks the remaining on the ground in one clean sweep.

If at any point of time the player fails to complete this set of eight steps, he/she will have to forfeit his turn to his opponent. Upon his opponent's failure to complete, he will return to the incomplete step, starting from the very beginning of that step.

Playing "Jamban"?!

This highly-amusing conversation took place between some cultured BBGSians on Facebook. Like most primary girls, I remember playing "Jamban" too. What a name!

Ms W: U look so cute...and this corner leading up to the staircase... i nearly forgotten this structure had u not put in the pic

Ms A: This is near where we played 'Jamban'!

Ms J: Jamban, wat game was that? i remember playing this game where we run from post to post, and one person in the center will be trying to take over a post

Ms A: Yup, that's Jamban! We gave it that name (or maybe our seniors did!) coz it was played just outside the toilet.

Hahaha..Does anyone else remember playing "Jamban"?

P/S: Thanks so much for allowing me to share this photo, Jeannette.


Update on Thursday 24 April: Note from Lee Siew Sze

Hi. Hope you don't mind me adding my two cents' worth. I was at your blog and happened to read something about the game we played in school called "Jamban".

I believe that game is a different one to the description. The game described in your blog was "tiang", hence the running from post to post. Basically, the "catcher" needs to grab a tiang as hers in order to relieve her position as catcher. The girl caught would then be the catcher and the other 4 players will "tempt" the catcher by swapping posts with each other.

Jamban, as I recall, involved leaping to and fro the corridor (where the tiangs as mentioned above were) to the window sills that jutt out from the toilet windows, hence the name jamban. Again, there is a catcher who has to catch a girl in the midst of leaping from corridor to window sill in order to relieve her position as catcher. The girl caught would then be the catcher and the other players will tempt the catcher by leaping to and fro. If I'm not wrong there were 3 window sills and I think unlimited number of players.

Anyway, keep up the blog. It's fun to have memories of BBGS school days.