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Thu 24 Nov, 2005 07:46 am
Or perhaps a variation with similar gear?
The game is called da-gargar in Beijing dialect. Now virtually extinct, it used to be highly popular among children in Beijing and some other areas of north China.
Distinguished by simple but unusual equipment, the game essentially involves a scoring defender and a challenger. It starts when the defender, who stands in a outlined circle, makes a skill-demanding hit on a short stick with a wooden bat--which are all the gear needed for the game. The stick, called gargar, measures several inches long with tapering ends, so when laid flat on the ground and skillfully chopped on one end with the bat, it can be launched off ground in a spinning movement. While it is in midair, the defender swings the bat at it for a second hit, trying to propel it as far as possible.
The distance is vital to the defender: from the spot where the projected gargar comes to a stop, the challenger picks it up and tries to throw it back into the defender's circle, which, if successfully accomplished, will result in the challenger's victory for the round and the swapping of the players' positions. But the defender, now becoming the goalkeeper, can try to divert the coming gargar by hitting it with the bat, again the farther the better.
With the hit gargar coming to a stop on the ground, the defender now can demand scores based on his estimation of the distance from the gargar to the circle, in paces or bats. The challenger can grant the demanded scores, or doubt it--if he/she thinks the defender is asking for more than the actual distance allows. In the latter case, a joint measurement is conducted with the defender's feet or the bat. If the overestimation is proven, the defender's greed will cost his defending position, so his chance to score more in the next round is surrendered to the triumphant former challenger.
We call it Gilli Danda in Indian Culture.
The Gilli is the gargar and the Danda is the bat you hit the gargar with.
But the gilli is shorter (less than 3-4 inches) & not long as the gargar, which makes Gilli rotate faster when hit. It also becomes harder to hit it precisely. But as it is shorter in length, it must be lightweight & the distance covered by the gilli hit with the Danda should be more than that covered by the gargar (I assume).
Thank you, vinsan.
Thanks, vinsan. (sorry, I changed my name coz I messed up my account editing profile
)
I do vaguely remember seeing some children playing it on a tv travel show a few years back, tho i was not sure whether they were Indian or Nepalese. I have googled gilli danda and got many links. The Indian version seems very interesting, esp. the part involving the gilli placed over a small pit to be hit up by the ganda from below. In fact I am too young to see a real gargar, or the bat used to hit it, so I can't give their exact measures. But the bat used in China is different (at least in some regions) from the Indian round rod bat. It has a narrow handle and grows broader toward a flat-surfaced hitting end, quite like a cricket bat. So I guess the second, airborne hit could be an easier job in China than in India.
I suspect the game was imported into China from India, maybe via the the same route as Buddhism
Re: Thank you, vinsan.
Indeed,
The Glli danda is now almost forgotten in urban even rural areas. The bat or danda here in India are straight away made up of some dried sticks or tree branches. So they not made any more sophisticated though like the way u said.
I am unaware about origin of da-gargar or Gilli Danda but I played it when I visited my native village, just once though.
Strange as it seems, I have played this game as a little boy in Germany before WW2.
The bat was flat and had a handle, the little stick was square with pointed ends. It had the first four roman letters carved on its four sides.
I cannot remember all the rules, but it was like da-gargar with some more complicated measuring using the bat.
We had no idea that others played this game. We thought it was srictly East Prussian.
I'm going to build one for my grandson in Toronto.
detano inipo wrote:Strange as it seems, I have played this game as a little boy in Germany before WW2.
The bat was flat and had a handle, the little stick was square with pointed ends. It had the first four roman letters carved on its four sides.
I cannot remember all the rules, but it was like da-gargar with some more complicated measuring using the bat.
We had no idea that others played this game. We thought it was srictly East Prussian.
I'm going to build one for my grandson in Toronto.
Yeah, Thats very nice ....
this is fascinating. detano, what did you call the game in germany? do you know if it's still even remotely around?
dagmaraka, I cannot remember the name of our game, but I remember vividly the pleasure of hitting that skittle. We played mostly on the street, the traffic was nonexistent in those days.
We made our bats and the little square stick with our pocket knives.
That German province is now inhabited by Russians and Poles; they may have their own games.
This sounds like a game I played many years ago as a child called Nurr and Spell.
The bat was the spell and the other piece was the nurr. We would ballence the nurr on a small stone with the front edge overlapping. A sharp tap on the edge would cause the nurr to fly into the air. The idea was to hit it with the spell for maximum distance.
Quote:
http://www.bartleby.com/81/12257.html
Nurr and Spell or Knor and Spill. A game resembling trapball, and played with a wooden ball called a nurr or knor. The ball is released by means of a spring from a little brass cup at the end of a tongue of steel called a spell or spill. After the player has touched the spring, the ball flies into the air, and is struck with a bat. In scoring, the distances are reckoned by the score feet, previously marked off by a Gunter's chain. The game is played frequently in the West Riding of Yorkshire.
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