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yet another memory (yam)

YAM #4 (Yet Another Memory)Two Games from My Own Youth
When I was growing up, there were several activities that were officially banned by higher authorities (i.e., adults) as potentially harmful to our bodies.

(from Bruegal's Children's Games)

The top verboten game was BUCK-BUCK! One guy (sorry, but I don't ever remember the girls being so stupid to do this) would lean up against a tree, his teammate would bend over and put his shoulder against the first guy's belly, the next teammate would bend over and grab the second guy's waist, and ditto, etc. until your team presented this long (we used to have about 6 to 8 kids on a team) line of backs to the opposing team, who, one by one, would run as fast as possible and leap-frog over the last bent-over guy onto the backs of the other team - the object being to make the first team collapse by the force of each leap and/or by the sheer weight of the entire second team. I remember this as great, great fun and VERY competitive (and, again, I don't think I'd let my own kids do this...hmmm (hmmm #2 - maybe THIS is why I have had a bad back the last decade or two)).



Also, I remember playing mumbly-peg where you and your opponent stood facing each other starting with your own two feet right next to each other. You then flipped a knife off your fingertip towards one side of your own feet (but I don't remember the exact rules...can anyone help me here?). Your opponent and you would take turns throwing the knife as close to your own feet as possible. With each successful throw, you would have to stretch your stance out to meet the edge of the knife. The person who ended up not being able to reach their own knife throw would lose the game (i.e., even if you could do the splits, there's a limit to how far you could reach).

Obviously, if you were able to stick the knife into the ground very close to your own foot, you would win the game over a person who, being more cautious (and, perhaps, smarter) would prefer to not risk throwing the knife into his own foot.