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Eastern Europe Children's Games

Eastern Europe, or as historian Alan Palmer suggested, the countries between Germany and Russia, has its share of classic children's games. These games, though produced in a different region from the United States, share much of the same parameters as games played by American children during time spent with friends on and off the playground.

"The Cat" from Lithuania
- Quite like the classic game of tag played by modern children, this game from Lithuania starts by selecting one player to be the Cat. The other players become the mice. The Cat waits while the other children count to 10 and head away from him. Once they reach 10, the Cat races to the mice and tries to tag them. The first mouse caught becomes the new cat. This process continues for as long as you like, or until the children have all had their turns playing the Cat.
"Drunkard" from Russia
- A game similar to the card game, "War," begin by dealing 36 cards (from sixes to aces) to as many players as you like. The players should all have the same amount of cards. They all place their cards in piles, face down. To start, all players put the card at the top of their decks face up in the middle of the playing table. The player who has the highest card takes all of the players' cards. In this game, sixes beat aces, but any other card, apart from aces, beats sixes. If any of the players put down the same face card, and it is the highest card of the bunch, they have to break the tie. The players put down another card from their deck onto the table face up. The player with the highest card gathers up all the other players' cards and add them to his deck. Players who lose all their cards -- the "drunkards" who spent all their "money" -- are eliminated from the game. The player with the most cards at the end of the game wins.
"Shyla" from Belarus
- This Belarusian game begins with one person, the leader, sitting down in the middle of the room. The rest of the players form a semi-circle behind him so they can only see his back. Hand one of the players a small object. The player passes it on to one of the players beside him. The players continue to pass the object around until one player taps the leader on the shoulder. The leader has to guess who among the seated players has the object. If he guesses correctly, the player with the object becomes the new leader. If he makes an incorrect guess, he turns around and the circle passes the object around again in the same way. Play until everyone has had a turn being the leader.

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