Traditional Russian games and how to play them

Games have long been an important part of Russian culture. Many games developed from pagan dances that predated Christianity. These traditional games were often played in a circle or group, making them a form of community social networking. Although the practice of many traditional Russian games has been abandoned, others remain in force and some have even become popular. 

lapta

Lapta is one of the oldest Russian games: its origins date back to the 10th century but it is still popular today. It has similarities with cricket and baseball. To play lapta you need a bat and a ball and it is played on a rectangular field. One of the players throws the ball and another uses the bat to hit it; after throwing it, he runs across the playing field. The opposing team must catch the ball and throw it to the batter before the runner ends his run. Each race that is completed awards points to the team.

During the reign of Peter the Great the lapta was used as a training technique for Russian troops. Over the centuries, the game has become a popular way to develop physical stamina and speed. Today lapta is an official sport in Russia.

Cossacks and robbers

Cossacks and Robbers is the equivalent of cops and robbers. The players are divided into two teams: one is a Cossack and the other is a robber. At the beginning of the game the thieves hide in a previously agreed area, such as a park. They indicate the path they followed by means of arrows drawn on the ground or on a building. The Cossacks give the robbers 5-10 minutes to hide, and then start looking for them. The game ends when all the thieves are caught.

The Cossacks exercised police functions in the time of Tsarist Russia and from there derives the name of the game, which was popular in the 15th and 16th centuries. It was a scene from real life. Free Cossacks, that is, those not in military service, formed gangs that robbed banks and caravans that transported goods. And Cossacks doing military service persecuted these gangs.

Chizhik

The Russian chizhik is also known as Gilli Danda , Viti Dandu , or Kitti Pul . It is a very simple game. Two sticks are needed: a short one with a sharp end and a long one that will be the bat. Before starting to play, a line and a circle are drawn on the ground, far apart from each other. The game consists of hitting the small stick with the bat to throw it as far as possible; the other players will try to catch the small stick as it flies or find it when it falls and return it to the circle. The name of the game comes from the small stick’s resemblance to a bird, the siskin .

Durak

Durak is a card game of Russian origin ; a 36-card deck is used in which six is ​​the lowest and ace is the highest. Between 2 and 6 players can participate. Each is dealt six cards and a trump card is chosen from the deck; any card of that suit can be defended against an attack, otherwise attacks can only be defended with a card of higher value than the attacker’s. The object of the game is to get rid of all the cards; the player with the most cards at the end loses.

elastic

In the game of elastic, players jump over and between a rubber band held by two other players, although sometimes the rubber band can be held between two chairs or a tree. The object of the game is to complete a sequence of jumps without stepping on the elastic or making mistakes. The difficulty level increases when a round is completed without anyone losing, raising the level of the elastic from the ankles to the knee. It is a game that is commonly played in the schoolyard, during recess.

Will you go to the dance?

A game for rainy days. The game begins with a short rhyme in which the person saying the rhyme tells the other players that a case containing one hundred rubles and a note have been delivered. The note invites you to play along with instructions on what you can’t do and say, or what colors to use. These instructions can be invented by the participant who initiates the game, the speaker, who then asks each player a series of questions about their plans for the game, questions designed to get the players to say one of the forbidden words.

Fountain

Steve Craig. Sports and Games of the Ancients (Sports and Games Through History) . 2002.