A sh!t game

With the recent explosive fame of Squid Game, it got me thinking. What are your favourite games from childhood?

If you’re Gen X or a millenial (and from an asian background) you might remember playing a modified (and less dangerous!) version of some Squid Game games. Or you might have played elastics, hopscotch, marbles, flicking basketball cards, jacks, handball, hop and run (anyone?) or rock, paper, scissors.

I played all of these in primary school and loved them. As I got older, I moved away. Further and further away from my old school friends. From any friends. And from these games. But kids will be kids. And they always like to play.

During high school, my brother and I ended up living on a farm of sorts, very far away from suburban Sydney. The kind of place where you needed to buy cart water (where a big water truck comes up to fill up your large water tanks so you can drink water and have a shower).

We had to develop our own games. We didn’t have much around so we improvised. Looking back, I question our improvisations but we still laugh about it to this day.

We used to have 2 horses on our property. They were meant to eat the grass so we didn’t have to mow the lawn as much. Horses eat a lot of grass. Which results in a lot of horse manure. My brother and I had to pick up all the horse manure.

Instead, we played this game of throwing horse manure at each other. They’re shaped like balls and they fly intact, but yes they’re disgustingly messy upon impact. Hence, you better run. Extra points and laughter was awarded the fresher the horse manure. My brother and I became super fast runners after that.

Sometimes my brother and I would do separate chores. I had to pick up the rocks on the property that might destroy the blades of the mower. I would pick them up then put them next to the fence, out of the way. Our neighbour had a huge property and many cows. One day I noticed the cows. And their manure (do you notice a theme?)

Unlike horse manure, cow manure comes in short, dark, round mounds. I decided to throw my rocks into the cow manure piles. Extra points for a bullseye in the middle and bonus points if it landed in the fresher manure, still steaming in the cold morning. When I later told my brother, he joined me too.

What’s the point of all this?

Well sometimes, what seems like sh!t can be fun after all. You’ve just got to make the most of the sh!t that you’ve been given.

So, what’s your sh!t game?