The games children played

I do not know what they play now but those days it was plenty of games.It was from the innocent ones to some which if an elder was seen all would dash for cover.

I am aware of the traditional games like nhodo.I never played much of nhodo which was a favourite for my sister Lucky (RIP).From her I was so discouraged from playing nhodo because it was one of those things sheplayed with passion.I only remember there were games dzemamu six mamu eight,and mamu twelve.

The games that I could play and remember included chipure.Chipure was played by at least two people on sandy ground.A round seed would be used.All it was was one player would make a small pile of sand.He would then hide the little seed or pebble in one i the sand .He would then divide the pile of sand into small piles maybe six or eight,one of which would contain the hidden seed.the opponent,s task would be to guess which pile contained the hidden seed.Boring one would say but it would last for hours.

Tsoro yomu twelve was more advanced.It is also called muravarava and in English a similar version is called nine man moris.This could keep the whole village me busy tespecially in the hot summer.People used to play it using amarula fruit,mapfura or amaganu.Its unique strength was its ability to be drawn even on the ground .

The games which could easily lead to mischief were chapta and play button.These are the ones which would make us run whenever we saw madhara madhara.Chapta because it was a coin heads and tail gambling game which resulted in theft and fist fights.Play button would result in many buttonless shirts encroaching to even clothes of everyone else in the home.

Chapta was just a normal coin spin .One would spin a coin then while it was spinning they would quickly palm it down covered.A opponent would slide under the palm a coin showing the face one thinks the hidden coin is showing.When the two do not match then the coin spinner won.When they matched the one guessing won and the winner would take both coins .

Play button was similar in the sense that it was a game of deprivation too.Traditionally it used to be played using nhondo,thats seeds from a mutondo or musasa tree.The seeds closely resemble buttons this is why for value reasons the cheap seeds gave way to buttons.A little circle woulr be drawn on flat ground.There would be a sport kick place .A button or seed would be placed on the shooting point the aim being to 'kick' te button by ne's fingure.The kicked button would then land in the circle.If an opponent's button landed outside the circle he would lose it