Games

Games! Oh how I love them.

Now I’m not talking about the tete-a-tete games that people who intend to or are in a relationship play.

I am talking about the good old games like ayo, cards, ludo, scrabble, chess, draft, stupid, suwe, ten-ten,tinko-tinko, stuck-in-the mud, video games.

Based on my game choices; am I young? Am I old?  Pretty please guess,  lol.

Crazy thing I tell you is I don’t do well when playing most games, but that has never stopped me from participating 😀

Games excite me; they evoke memories and even make more memories.

I am sure every Nigerian guy has a memory that is video game related- it could be a game that caused him to be ridiculed, to be loved and cheered, a game that was the excuse to go see that girl (wink,wink)

Share your story please!

Scrabble and Ayo

The game ayo (pictured above) evokes memories of my maternal grandma and one of my maternal aunties too. They taught me how to play the game; I remember sitting on a white mat that had a woven picture of a mosque, with the ayo placed between both players,I usually had one of them beside me and the other opposite. I remember protesting when anyone tried to tell me what “house” to play – I’ve always liked to make decisions for myself, hehe.

The white mat – we know how to preserve stuff 😀

Draft and ludo remind me of my dad, his best friend and his cousins. Playing draft on Sundays used to be a staple for them; they would play from after church service till it got too dark for them to see. Guess who always won? My dad of course and no this isn’t a wrapped memory of a child, even till now, wake my father up from sleep to play your champion, he would make them cry, POW!

Suwe, ten-ten, and some others remind me of my coming of age in my third year of junior secondary school, gosh, I played so much then. Click to remind you of my coming of age.

The game stupid reminds me of a certain year in University.
Stupid is a spelling game; the aim is to spell a word. Let’s say you have players A-E, player A starts the game by calling out an alphabet of their choice, player B also calls out an alphabet of their choice, bearing in mind that the alphabet when put together with the previously called out alphabet has to contribute towards spelling a word, therefore, the onus is on the subsequent player to provide alphabets that would actually spell something, so players A-E keep calling out alphabets till they actually form a word or someone fails.
What makes it fun is that most players usually do not know what the preceding player has in mind to spell and it is hilarious to watch people go blank.
The rules are simple;
– Silence when it is not your turn to play / call out an alphabet
– Each player has about 30 seconds to call out an alphabet.
– Then for every fail; the player keeps raking up S,T,U,P,I,D till they spell STUPID and they have to leave the game (same thing as how the card game DONKEY is scored)
– When a word is eventually spelled or someone fails, the player after that person starts the game.

Simple but fun yes?

Cards I just love; they are my all-time favorite game to play, everybody knows the game, they are so handy, you can even take them to a party, above all they are so much fun!!!

In fact, games should be the ambassador for world peace; they unify and promote friendly competition. :!

So gist me, what is your all-time favorite game? What memory does the game evoke for you?

Strength

Strength is a noun; it means the quality or state of being strong as defined by Wikipedia.

The fact that the word strength is a noun alludes to the depth and greatness of what it is to have strength.

Strength for me is the ability to dig deep, the ability to find that thing in you that makes you go the extra mile, that makes you hold your head up, that sets you apart.

Strength is carrying that baby to full term and deciding to raise that child even though nobody wants you to or nobody cares to help you raise that child.

Strength is pitching an idea you know would work but you do not have the resources to execute it.

Strength is fighting for a cause nobody seems to care about.

Strength is going to the market after a long day spent at the hospital to see a consultant for an ailment you have but you know you have family to feed at home, so you dig deep, forget your tiredness, your illness ,you shop, get home and cook.

Strength is telling someone you love them; giving them the keys to break your heart, and continuing to choose to love them daily.

Strength is the ability to start all over even when you have been flat on the ground, unconscious, raped, spat on, insulted and forgotten.

Strength is succeeding against all odds.

Strength is believing.

Find your strength today.

Christmas morning

It’s Christmas morning in an area known as California in Ogbomoso, Oyo state, Nigeria, the air is cold and smells sweetly of dew glazed freshly cut grass, fried animals, and cooked food.

Relatives are scattered all over the house like a pack of cards thrown across a room. The close female relatives are out back churning out different dishes, chatting  with each other and occasionally shouting out instructions both to each other and to the children in different languages and dialects whilst standing over pots of amala, jollof rice, stew, gbegiri, ewedu, cow meat and goat meat.

The older children are either fetching water from the well out front to the backyard, washing cars, ironing, bathing the younger kids or hanging around trying to steal meat which was almost impossible because of our grandma who always took up post like a General, supervising and not missing a thing. The only people who could blatantly pick up a piece of  meat like it was their birthright were the two men in the family. We the kids would always clamor round them, employing every tactics in the game to ensure we got a piece of meat each, but that was difficult as we were usually a lot and the older folks knew we would  each have at least a piece when the meals were served after the church service.

I always wondered why certain relatives came to the house before church knowing that we always served the main meals after the church service… or maybe it’s because nobody ever came to the house and left without eating something…

Christmas morning at California, Ogbomoso, Oyo state always ended with big coolers of different meals lined up along the corridor,sandwiched between jooko(s), plates and wash hand bowls and elegantly dressed people heading off to church.

Amala – a meal made from yam flour
Ewedu – a leafy viscous soup
Gbegiri -a thick soup made from beans
Jooko – a locally made low stool