Growing up in Pakistan was a unique experience in itself, especially due to the different games we grew up playing. We all have memories of being street urchins and enjoying our time in the sun with our squads. I feel bad for kids these days as many of them won’t grown up playing these games.

1. Football

Scoring a goal, regardless of rules, meant stealing the crown for the next 50 years just to remind your friends…’Oh yaad hai? What a goal that was man.’ Yes, we all know that was to impress your neighbors daughter. Every guy had that lousy friend of his who always became the goal keeper. I think we all had that one ‘phupo ka beta’ who thought he was the next Beckham, pffft dream on son.

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2.Yasu Panju

‘Yasu panju haar kabutar doli’. A moment of silence for those who ended up being slapped and bottoms up for those who ended up slapping the victims. The game had no concept at all and it was in the wincing of the victim, after the slap, that pleased us evil kids the most. A look of betrayal and eyes full of unshed tears were a clear sign of success.

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3. Barf Pani

The entire community would end up playing. The pathway to glory was never easy, because two teams had to participate and try and well freeze as many opponents as they could, whilst kids from your own team would ‘pani’ the ‘barf’ kid so they could start running wild again to save his tiny butt.

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4. Street Cricket

Those were the days… The boundary would usually end up being either the park fence, the end of the block or the walls of some rich kids house who had a huge lawn. If you broke someone’s window, cricket turned into sprinting. Catching the ball wasn’t an out, but an ‘outtayyy’ which was always followed by a twisted version of the desi victory dance.

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5. Chuppan Chupai

Chuppan chupai for the elder lot turned out to be more of a romantic rendezvous, but for the young squad it was serious business. Hiding behind the curtain, in your parents closet and under the bed were the hot spots back then. Choosing who would look for everyone would be more of a conspiracy theory than fair play, because that poor kid was never anyone’s favorite.

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6. Dark Room

Sometimes I sit and wonder how in the world someone ever invented these games…. Okay so dark room was, in short, the ultimate game with which everyone would scare a newcomer. This game involved a dark room, a few people hiding and one looking for them all. This was a really bad version and attempt at a haunted house. Please people, stop making creepy sounds while the lights are out, so not cool.

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7. Kho-kho

I don’t even know what the original name is, but this is what I call it.  I remember a lot of running, zigzagging, standing and pushing, basically a kid version of the matrix movie. Saving yourself from the opponent was the key to winning the game and for the opponent, catching you was the ultimate goal. The magic word was ‘kho-kho’ which you would have to scream upon pushing your teammate from standing position so you rest and catch your breath. Both teams would end up looking like kids high on some suga’.

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8. Chor Police

This was some serious shit, bro.  Chor police was once again kids running wild in the ground in an attempt to save themselves from the so called cops. The police was either one guy/girl or a bunch of them, but they were focused as hell on catching the chors and stealing the trophy.

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9. Ludo

This  board game witnessed more fights, among all ages, than any other game known to us Pakistanis. Scoring a six on that dice was a big nuisance, because without it your ‘goti’ would be stuck inside that tiny colored box. Killing the opponents ‘goti’ was a source of utmost pleasure and making a ‘jota’ to torture all the ‘gotis’ behind you was like playing the Devil’s advocate. Pure evil, I tell you.

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10. Oonch Neech 

All we ever did was run after high ground, meaning ‘oonch’, so that we could save ourselves from raving lunatics, also known as kids. Neech was the forbidden land, normal ground, where running meant you could be caught by your arch nemesis.  Our ‘two times’ excuse was the ultimate save. Some wild goose chase this was.

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11. Gilli Danda 

Gilli danda was a  knock-off of cricket and kids on the streets  always had a soft spot for it. There aren’t many rules, but all you have to do is hit the ball hard and make sure the crowd knows you’re the next Aamir Khan Lagaan hero. The harder you hit the ball, the more you get to impress the ladies too, just like he did.

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12. Beech Ki Billi

This was the local volleyball championship, but the only difference was that instead of a net we prefered using normal human beings. The trick was to throw the ball to your teammate at the opposite end and make sure the person(s) in between weren’t able to catch it.

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13. Kings

This game would start off in such a decent manner with all the participants in a circle, until it would end up with a lot of kicking feet and shouting. You only got one chance to kick the other persons foot and if you succeeded in doing so, you’d get to continue playing. Fast feet, bluffing, good reflexes and bruised ankles was the name of the game.

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14. Carrom Board

Just because you didn’t get to roll a dice and see a lion pop out of the board, didn’t mean carrom board was any less exciting than Jumanji. You had to be really good at aiming so you could score the tiny puck through the hole. Not being able to score was always a source of frustration, I mean relax…. Just a gotti yaar.

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15. Maran Kuttai

The word ‘kuttai’ will obviously suggest that it was more of a boys game, but this one perhaps might have been for the tougher ladies from the lot, too. Guys high on suga’ ran after each other to try and hit them as hard as they could with a ball, if you were hit, you were ‘outtayyy’. Ouch boys, I guess that must’ve hurt a lot. Sorry, not sorry.

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Hats off to those who invented these games, because without them our lives would’ve been absolutely empty. For the children who never really left their iPads to explore these games, I think now’s the right time.