Prompt 49.04

[paian]

Five games the children of Jaffa play.


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Comments

[(Anonymous)]

1. swei ju'iu (rough translation: hide & see)
some children hide, others look them for them and take them prisoner. those not captured try to free the prisoners. the game ends when all the hiders are caught or all those captured are set free.

2. bi'bo al'Kesh (rough translation: take the village)
a group of children defend a small area with an object (painted stone or piece of wood) from another group of children trying to take it. the game ends when the object is taken or all of those trying to capture it have been taken prisoner.

3. dis'tra jankin (rough translation: you dare tell?)
usually played by teenagers, one asks another a question if she/he prefers not to answer they must run several laps around an area or lift a large rock over their heads several times.

4. mid'cha ihn'tar (rough translation: pay attention to the changes)
children divide into two groups; taking turns one child stands in front of their group and mimes a person, place, phrase or animal. there is a time limit for the group to guess. after 10 words are mimed whichever group has guessed the most correctly wins.

5. ni'ya ihn'tar (rough translation: listen to the changes)
a variation on the above where one makes the sound of a bird, animal, device, musical instrument or imitates a persons voice to be guessed by their group.


goa'uld words found here: http://members.liwest.at/reno/transl_goa.htm

[lilyleia78]

Cool. I like how they're all familiar but subtly different.

[starglyph.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes. Children are the same all across the galaxy. Sorta. :)

[catspaw-sgjd.livejournal.com]

Clever idea to trawl the goa'uld dictionary! I like the bellicose twist you've given most of them, because *of course* Jaffa children would play games to develop their skills as warriors.

[(Anonymous)]

I like the bellicose twist you've given most of them, because *of course* Jaffa children would play games to develop their skills as warriors.
that's the main thing i was going for.

[sid]

I can see how games 1 and 2 could go on for a very long time!

"Kree, children! It's bedtime!"

"But Ma! We just need to take two more prisoners!"

"Don't make me zat you, young man."

Five games the children of Jaffa play

[sid]

1. Zats and villagers
2. First Prime says
3. Tag, you’re shol’va!
4. Tic-Tac-Toe – a universal constant under many names
5. Seek and destroy

Re: Five games the children of Jaffa play

[lilyleia78]

Tic-Tac-Toe is the key to peaceful co-existence with our intergalactic neighbors. 8)

Zats and villager! ::snorts::

Re: Five games the children of Jaffa play

[sid]

Tic-Tac-Toe has magical properties. *nods solemnly*

Re: Five games the children of Jaffa play

[starglyph.livejournal.com]

And Jack would join in and play all the games with them. I think #5 would be his favorite. :)

Re: Five games the children of Jaffa play

[sid]

Oh, yeah, that would totally be his kind of game! And he'd love being First Prime and tripping everybody up. :-D

Re: Five games the children of Jaffa play

[delphia2000.livejournal.com]

#3 made me laugh the most, but then I'm weird that way.

Re: Five games the children of Jaffa play

[sid]

Me too! :-D

[dhae_knight_1]

#1: Tak'ma Ta'ruk (literally: to me, to you)
This was always a popular game for Jaffa boys - mostly because it could be played one-on-one or entire groups together. One-on-one, it was played with a wooden stick (for the fortunate, a wooden staff-weapon), but if there were more, a rope was used. The game itself was simple - grab hold of one end and pull. Whichever side overbalanced the opponents first, won.

When the boys turned 14, and entered their warrior's training, they discovered that Tak'ma Ta'ruk was now a training-exercise - between master and apprentice - and that it was played with two staff-weapons.

#2: Do'riak (literally: hearth)
The Jaffa girls played Do'riak. It was a great game, that could be varied into infinity. It could be played alone, or with a group. It required little more than an old pot and a doll at it's simplest - but could involve an entire household at it's most complex.

The girls didn't know that they were training for the day when they would be married to a warrior and be expected to run their own household, take care of their children and do it all while their husbands were away on their Gods command - sometimes for entire decades at a time. They simply imitated the adults they saw around them.

#3: Rak'il'na (literally: death by staff-weapon)
This was a very popular game in the old days before all Jaffa were freed. It was especially popular among the bigger children because of the tournaments held in Rak'il'na, where the weapons-masters would come to chose their apprentices.

Rak'il'na was played anywhere children could run around unchallenged. When played in the tournaments, the game-field could be set up as a hillside, a maze, the interior of a ha'tak... only the game-master's imagination was the limit. For those without staff-weapon dummies, it was played with branches of the right length - and it was played on the contestants' honor. To call out a hit when you had not had a line of fire was dishonorable - as was denying being hit.

A hit from a distance counted two 'stones'. A hit from two staff-lengths or less counted four 'stones'. But a hit within striking distance counted eight 'stones', and took our your competitor for the rest of the game. The children didn't understand that this was a way to judge damage and how lethal a hit would be in real life - or they wouldn't, until their weapon was real.

#4: Bas'alk (literally: Moose of winter)
One of the few games the Jaffa children played with members of the opposite sex. It wasn't a very complex game - but it was always played under aldult supervision. Mostly because it involved kissing.

The girls would hold their hands up against their heads, fingers spread like horns - and then they'd chase the boys, trying to trip them, catch them or touch them with their hand-antlers. The boys, for their part, had a long stick, representing a spear. If they touched the girls with the spear before she could catch them, she'd drop to the ground, and the boy would get to kiss her. If the girl caught the boy first, she'd kiss him.

The games of Bas'alk were always full of laughter and shrieking, and it was one of the games the Jaffa on rare leave would request most often.

#5: Mor'ian'tesh (literally: Steel-blades)
The Mor'ian'tesh wasn't a game the Jaffa knew before they were freed. Indeed, for quite a few years after they were freed, it wasn't a game they knew. It took one retired general and a whole lot of persuasion to get the first Jaffa children to put on the Mor'ian'tesh. But once they did, the winter-frozen lakes of the Jaffa worlds were no longer safe.

In fact, within 15 years of Mor'ian'tesh being introduced, the retired Tau'ri general was invited to the opening of the first Jaffa Mor'ian'tesh'eck. Both human and Jaffa reporters recorded his immortal words as he cut the blue ribbon to officially open the building.

"Cool. Now you get to ice-skate all year round."