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NOSTALGIA:
Self-made Games of the Past



How to Play 'Noli bir-Rota'




English translation : Hide and Seek with the Bike

When Invented : 1988 (aged about 14yrs)

Who invented it : I and my best friend Brian

Players needed : At least 3, the more the better, up to about 8

Items needed : Bicycle

Description :

This is a strange modification of the classical outdoor game: Hide and seek. Basically, it is the same principle of being one player who seeks (cat) the others who hide out (mice) - the main difference is that the cat has to find the mice while on the bike, and he cannot climb down except certain exceptions. The aim of the mice is not actually just hide, as in hide and seek, but they have to run from hiding place to another or run in disguise , such as for example around parked cars or building block with being noticed by the person who is on the bike.

This game cannot be played anywhere, the area must be free of cars as much as possible, and there must be a free block of building where the mice and cat can turn around. For example it is not good in just a straight street, it would be boring for the person on the bike, and difficult to hide. The game was played in the map shown below....

Click on image for a larger map ! ! !



RULES:

01) The person with the bike must go around the large house block as shown in the diagram from point A to B (or B to A).

02) In the meantime the mice should hide anywhere in the area allocatd, marked in yellow.

03) No one can hide beyond the playing borders marked in dashed red.. It would be impossible for the person in bike to find mice beyond these borders

04) The cat can climb down from the bike only to seach in teraces and front gardens of few houses whch were allowed to hide in. These inlcuded Brian's house, Jason's house, my house and Stefan house front garden. They are shaded in pencil grey in the map.

05) if the cat sees someone, he just shouts that he saw a particular person by name, and where he saw him.

06) The mice which are caught should sthen tay outside of play.

07) The one who ic caught last is sort of rewarded to be the cat and so have the bike. in turn. So everyone tries to be caught last.

08) Nobody (eg caught mice) can hint the person on bike where the others hiding people are, but they can hint him bad info instead (for example pretending that there is someon hidden in a front garden, where in fact there is no one!!! usually the caught mice will help the other mice by saying where the cat is running or doing... It was so fun!

09) Nobody can hide in the flat corridor (marked 1) but he can only pass through.

Basically that's all about the rules of the game. Instead of just hiding I (and also Brian and Noel) preferedd to just run behing the cat, and just hide when he turns back to the opposite direction. Once I remember that I managed to hide Brian (being the cat for about 25 to 30 mins. he couldn't catch me.!! It was great fun. Another trick of mine was to hide in places that the cat just have checked for mice. However I hated to hide stationary... it was so much more fun to run and get involved in action while the cat is biking.

As mentioned above, the last mice caught will be reawrded to be the cat and have the bike. So sometimes there was a sort of competition between the playing mice. For example one mice will shout another that the cat is coming from say the left side (while actually the cat would be coming from the right) and so the fooled mice will just run in the diection of the cat. But in most occassions the mice colaborated and being placed at different locations they just hint were the cat is (by sign language of course).

It may seem a simple game but it involves some skills, the most prominet being co-ordination (esp between mice), sense of instinct, thinking, running and adventure.



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