Ways Done in the Past - Games Kids Play

Pinball board game in the 1960s.

Do we remember the "Games We Played Growing Up in Singapore"? Relive your childhood here on Games We Played , a site dedicated to the things and activities which kept us entertained (and our parents sane!). Find your favourite games, share your memories of them, get your friends and family involved too.

"Games We Played" is one of the many initiatives under the Singapore Memory Project, an ambitious undertaking to curate the people's memories of Singapore through the ages, so that generations of the future can have a past they can hold on to.

I used to play the "Design-It-Yourself (DIY) pinball board game" in the 1960s where I grew up in Bukit Ho Swee.

My childhood buddies in Bukit Ho Swee kampong taught me how to make a "DIY pinball board" which require the following items:

1. A flat wooden board (36" by 20")
2. A sheet of white "mahjong paper"
3. Rubber band
4. Short nails
5. Small marbles
6. Colourful pictures of themes you like, such as cartoon, cowboys, animals, photos of film stars, and so forth to recycle discarded magazines.
7. A bottle of glue.

Instuctions

Step 1: Glue the white "mahjong paper" on the sanded surface of the wooden board.
Step 2: Position the magazine pictures (or just a big picture to occupy the entire board) and glue it on the board. Wait until the glue is dried before working on the next steps.
Step 3. Use a pencil to mark the nails as positioned for the "lanes" on top of the board for the marble to roll down the pinball board, the edges of the board and the edges of the picture.
Step 4. Use a hammer to nail the marked points on the edges of the board and the "lanes", leaving 1/2 inch exposed.
Step 5. Stretch the rubber bands around the nails. The tighter the stretch to loop the rubber bands around the nails, the bigger the bounce. The marble which roll down the bottom of the board will score zero point. The rubber bands become the game's border, and marbles become pinballs.
Step 6. Shoot the marble to test a few times to see where it tends to roll, then create an obstacle course.
Step 7. Use a marker pen to mark the points where the marble could land on the board.

The kids used it as a "pinball casino", using candy to win or lose the game. The players have to buy the candy from the dealer. We did not know that it was illegal.

The games kids play in the 1960s are posted with photo credits of the National Archives of Singapore, acknowledged with thanks.

Can you name the games on this blog? Please submit your answers to the "Games We Played" website.

Blow the balloons until they burst...

My former colleague and friend of over 3 decades, Lawrence Lim, a retiree, is keeping himself busy every day to keep his two grandsons busy. His video entitled "Jump" here:



Please watch Lawrence's previous video at "Baby Jacob - Grandpa's Joy" blog here . Jacob can be seen in the "Jump" video at a playground with his brother, nephew and niece entertaining him.

Games Kids Play to store happy memories of their games.

As a person approaching "second childhood", I am retrieving these happy memories of the games I played as a child to make me happy too!

What's the name of this ageless game children or grandmothers could play in the kampong or anywhere?

Please create happiness for the children to remember the games they play, the games they remember these happy memories, and retrieve these happy memories to be happy as they grew up over the years and the games they do not play any more.

But the happy memories will be stored in them for recollection to overcome the unhappy thoughts if ever they arise in future. Give them love and space to be happy and fun during their childhood.