Growing up, a number of games shaped our childhoods and frankly our whole lives. Tinko-tinko taught us pristine hand-eye co-ordination, Ayo sharpened our math skills. We are pretty sure this list isn’t exhaustive, but for me these are the most memorable childhood games I can remember.
Who is in the garden?
Who remembers how the chant went?
“Who is in the garden?”
“A little fine girl”
“Can I come and see her?”
“No no no no”
Suwe
To the ajebos its hopscotch but to me, it’ll always be Suwe. Who remembers slipping bits of chalk stolen from class to draw the lines for Suwe during break?
Ten-ten
For reasons I’ll never understand, this game was only ever played by girls. It was mad fun though.
After round one
This game was the bane of my existence because I always lost, but that didn’t stop me from playing it every day. I’d go home with my hands red and smarting but would still play it the next day.
When will you marry?
It’s funny how for me this went from being just a childhood game to a real-life question I’m asked every day.
Tinko-tinko
Your hand-eye coordination needed to be on point for this one. Miss a beat and you lose.
Name, Place, Animal, Food, Thing
Trying to fill out this form for X, U, V and Q used to be so hard.
Fire on the mountain
I remember never really running too far once I heard “There is fire on the mountain, run run run” so that I could easily get a partner once I heard “the fire is out”.
Boju-boju
You might know this one as hide and seek, but the real OGs remember this as boju-boju.
Form a big circle
This might not have exactly been a game itself but it was the start of all the greatest games from there is fire on the mountain to ‘who stole the meat from the cooking pot?’
I’m sure I left many out so please help me jog my memory!
