Street game

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Street games in the 16th century
(painting 'The Children's Games' by P. Breughel the Elder ; 1560)

The street games , mostly called alley games in Austria , are a group of different types of games that take place outdoors. This sets them apart from the so-called room games , which are preferably played inside the house.

term

Originally, street games generally meant games that were played on the doorstep, i.e. outside the house. The play area was not limited to the street , but included spaces such as sidewalks , squares, courtyards or vacant lots. For practical reasons, today's game collections like to speak of "games outside and inside". In the game systems of our time, the traditional terms street games and room games are often modernized to the terms outdoor games and indoor games in an expanded understanding . Municipalities are trying to gain space for street games at least partially from traffic by setting up so-called play streets . The individual street game can take on different names depending on the local tradition and be known under different rules and variations.

history

Leapfrog (P. Brueghel the Elder 'The Children's Games', excerpt)

The genre of street games in the original sense of the word has existed since humans started playing. It can be proven to be widespread worldwide: in Stone Age rock drawings , in Egyptian tomb paintings, on Greek vases, on the palace walls in Crete , in Pompeii buried under lava , people have documented their playing forms. From the European Middle Ages , for example, the famous painting The Children's Games by the Dutch peasant painter Pieter Brueghel the Elder is. Ä. known from the year 1560, which handed down more than 250 street games of the time in a street. In her book, Weber-Kellermann has over eighty poets and writers from Goethe to Ringelnatz report on their former children's games.

In Europe, the street games around the Second World War (1925 to 1950) found another boom , as the numerous reports from this period show. In the course of intensive construction activity and increasing traffic density after 1950, however, they gradually disappeared from the public eye. Even the so-called play streets are now mainly frequented by pedestrians and cyclists and are rarely used for street games. However, these have been preserved in protected areas and on leisure time up to our time or have been rediscovered as valuable toys in educational institutions such as kindergartens , schools and clubs . In developing countries , street games are still widespread, especially because of the cramped indoor space.

Men playing a board game on a sidewalk in Ahmedabad, India

Street games are closely linked to the development of gaming as a whole. Most of the highly sophisticated and even professionally operated sports games known today emerged from simple street games. The game of football , for example, like the game of rugby, has its origins in a driftball game that inspired English people in the 19th century to drift a ball through the streets of London or rugby . Even the various bull games have their roots in street games with the bull, as they are still practiced every year in Pamplona, ​​Spain .

character

Hickelkasten in a Cuban schoolyard

Street games are characterized by their simple play structures and play utensils. They can be quickly mastered by anyone without lengthy technical learning processes. Everyone can join a syndicate right away. These are games that arise spontaneously with quickly communicated rules . Usually only a few players are necessary for a game to take place. A piece of chalk, a ball, a rag, small stones or sticks are often sufficient toys. Some street games do not require any play equipment at all . You only need your own musculoskeletal system as in 'curb hopping' or other players as in 'catching and hiding games'. The individual game is flexibly adapted to the terrain. Two stones or satchel are enough for the players' goals. A discarded tennis ball, if necessary even a bundle of cloth or a tin can, can also serve as a 'ball'. Even a windowless garage wall can encourage throwing and catching games. Sidewalk markings invite you to play jumping and maze games. All that is important is an area that allows undisturbed play.

Examples

Street games have a great variety, which can only be indicated in a few summarizing groups and individual examples:

Many of these games are also possible indoors in a restricted or modified form.

rating

Educationally guided circle game in kindergarten (1948)

The tradition of many street games, which has lasted for thousands of years, speaks for their social significance.

Warwitz / Rudolf also see the traditional street game, especially in the context of today's game culture , as particularly valuable and therefore worthy of funding from the following points of view:

  • the children get to know and appreciate the traditional toys of their ancestors and their region
  • Street games teach you to play with the simplest means
  • As open-air games, they create a counterbalance to sitting and computer games in oxygen-poor indoor spaces by moving in the fresh air
  • In contrast to technical long-distance communication via computer , cell phone and other electronic media, street games promote holistic engagement with game partners in direct visual, acoustic, tactile human contact
  • Street games solve consumer attitudes in the play area and require creativity and willingness to cooperate

literature

  • Ernest Hemingway : death in the afternoon . Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1996, ISBN 3-499-22609-X .
  • Irene Knoll: Heaven and Hell. Street games on the play street . Illustrated by Thomas Schallnau, Altberliner Verlag, Berlin 1988, ISBN 3-357-00228-0 .
  • Marianne Loibl , Yayo Kawamura: Funny street games . Coppenrath, Münster 2010 DNB 997340282 .
  • Detlev Platz among other things: Active play and fun. The most beautiful street games . Coppenrath, Münster 2004, ISBN 3-8157-3229-8 .
  • Anita Rudolf, Siegbert A. Warwitz: Playing - rediscovered. Basics-suggestions-help . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1982, ISBN 3-451-07952-6 .
  • Ernst Schmidt: Back then on Feldstrasse. A childhood and youth in the Ruhr area 1924–1942 . Klartext, Essen 2008, ISBN 978-3-8375-0006-6 .
  • Helmut Spiegel: The Bollerrad has to roll, the Knicker, it has to roll. Lost children's games, told in stories from the Ruhr area . Illustrated by Torsten Kyon, Henslowsky Boschmann, Bottrop 2004, ISBN 3-922750-49-4 .
  • Siegbert A. Warwitz (ed.): Games of other times and peoples - discovered and experienced with children . Karlsruhe 1998.
  • Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: From the sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas. 4th edition, Verlag Schneider, Hohengehren 2016, ISBN 978-3-8340-1664-5 .
  • Ingeborg Weber-Kellermann et al. (Ed.): What we have played. Insel, Frankfurt am Main 1981, ISBN 3-458-33071-2 .

Web links

Wiktionary: Street game  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Commons : numerous photos related to street games  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ SA Warwitz, A. Rudolf: How play comes about and why people play. In: SA Warwitz, A. Rudolf: From the sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas. 4th edition. Verlag Schneider, Hohengehren 2016, pp. 8–17.
  2. ^ P. Brueghel: The children's games 1560. In: Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien
  3. ^ I. Weber-Kellermann et al. a. (Ed.): What we played . Frankfurt 1981
  4. ^ E. Schmidt: At that time in the Feldstrasse. A childhood and youth in the Ruhr area 1924–1942 . Food 2008.
  5. ↑ H. Spiegel: The Bollerrad has to roll, the Knicker, he has to roll. Lost children's games, told in stories from the Ruhr area . Bottrop 2004.
  6. ^ A. Rudolf, SA Warwitz: Spielgelände Straße. In: A. Rudolf, SA Warwitz: Playing - rediscovered. Basics-suggestions-help . Freiburg 1982, pp. 59-62.
  7. ^ SA Warwitz (ed.): Games of other times and peoples - discovered and experienced with children . Karlsruhe 1998
  8. ^ E. Hemingway: Death in the afternoon . Reinbek 1996.
  9. ^ SA Warwitz, A. Rudolf: Body and players as game impulses. In: SA Warwitz, A. Rudolf: From the sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas. 4th edition, Verlag Schneider, Hohengehren 2016, pp. 241–246.
  10. ^ I. Knoll: Heaven and Hell. Street games on the play street . Berlin, 1988.
  11. ↑ M. Loibl, Y. Kawamura: Funny street games . Münster, 2010
  12. ↑ D. Platz among other things: Active play and fun. The most beautiful street games . Munster 2004.
  13. ^ SA Warwitz, A. Rudolf: From the sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas. 4th edition, Verlag Schneider, Hohengehren 2016