Tuesday, June 10, 2008

THE GAME OF CONVERSION

As I walked down a block on the hottest Shavous eveR. I couldn't understand two things. One how could these kids I see be plAying outside in this weather. Two they were playing the game of conversion! on Shavous the day we got the Torah. This game is also known as Galachim which means Christian priests.

The game is seTup by having two BaseS on two sides. Everyone is on the sIde except the "Galach" in the middle. The object is to run from one side to the other with out being tagged by the Galach, kind of like tag.(why anyone would run from base I don't know). If you are tagged by the priest then you are "converted" and are now the Galachs helper. The Galachs helpers job is to grab/jump on to people running from one base to the other. That usually ends up ripping peoples shirts due to the kid struggling to be break free. The Galach will come by and tap the kid and they also become "converted".

I remember playing this when I was younger, along with cops and robbers and freeze tag.(memory) Ahh (not ahhhh!! that would be a scream) such stupid times I had. Though the game doesnt have much to do with its name there is something not right about . Maybe we can have a more kosher named games then this. Got any Ideas?

9 people gave their 2 cents:

Anonymous said...

hey about thi line "got any ideas?" thing, i got something a game called "cholent". its like Musical Chairs. There's a guy in the middle and he calls out things like "kishke" or "chicken soup", if you're something he calls out you have to run out of your seat and go to another seat or where your partner is. but if he calls "cholent" everybody gets up and moves around and you cant sit in your own seat

Mikeinmidwood said...

So a common jewish practice, take an already existing game and change it around to something jewish.

corti said...

Well when I was a kid and played that game I didn't know that a galach was a priest, plus I never knew about the symbolic 'conversion' that when on when I was tagged.

One game we used to play in shul does intrigue me now. It was called Suicide, played with a blue punchball slammed from one side of the room to the other. I forget exactly how the game goes but I remember how the kids who got out were given Tushie Bombs.

Those were the days...

Mikeinmidwood said...

Mike

The "conversion" was my little attachment to it. Suicide was another game but we played in school.

Jewish Side of Babysitter said...

I heard of the game Galachim, kids I babysit used to play that, but I never heard of the conversion part to it. Kids play a game and not realize what it means.

wow, you started memory lane. I remember tag, freeze tag, cops and robbers, tap tap treo...

there's also food tag which is a very good game, where you have 4 bases. One is called: I love it, one is: so so, one is: never tried it, and one is: hate it. One person is it and they stand in the middle and say a name of a food, then the people playing have to decide what category they fall into and go to that base, then while they are going, the person it has to try to tag them and if they do, then they become it.

Then a new game, which has no running involved, but rather a thinking game is called ghost. Where one person says one letter, then another person has to say another letter that can make a word, and then it keeps going till a word is formed. So lets say one person says "R" the next says "a" then the next says "t" then they formed a word and they start over, taking turns who gets to say the first letter. Actually I just heard about this game yesterday and one of the mothers of the kids I babysit was outside and she saw me playing the game with the kids and she thought it was so much fun that she decided to play too.

Sam the organizing man: you know what you reminded me of? I remember playing a game where there would be two teams and each person would have a number and they stood an even amount apart from a bowl or cup in the middle of the room, and when the person would call the number they would both try to come up and grab the cup, and once you touch the cup you have to run back, or the other person can tag you, now I remember it was called steal the salami, it was a fun game.

But that's a cool game you described.

Mike: never heard of the game suicide.

Mikeinmidwood said...

Babysitter

The game suicide has rules where people have to get the ball thrown at them. So you really arent missing out on anything. I remember snatch the salami.

Jewish Side of Babysitter said...

MikeInMidwood: yea suicide doesn't sound like a good game from the name and description.

Anonymous said...

no the name is bad for kids to learn at such a young age but believe me its alot of fun you should try it sometime

Anonymous said...

whoever "invented" the game of cholent is a cheater.I could also copy a game and change the name.yeah,not so hard.