Walking games

As a child, my mother and I didn’t have heart-to-heart conversations about the eternal, we didn’t discuss world problems, my mother didn’t tell me how things worked, she didn’t read long lectures (if she scolded, it was short and succinct), but I still had the feeling that that we were constantly in dialogue. Already as an adult, I tried to remember what we talked about? What did we discuss when we traveled for forty minutes to the music room and back three times a week? We were not silent, I remember that for sure. What was discussed during frequent walks in Sokolniki Park? And when every summer we walked in the evenings along the embankments of Crimea, we also chatted about something?

I remembered! We played all the time, I loved it, and my mother seemed to enjoy it too! The first thing that comes to mind is the game of cities, or words. Although banal, it expands vocabulary and knowledge of geography. I haven’t played this game for a hundred years, but I remember that, oddly enough, the words ending with “A” were the first to end.

One of my favorite games is Danetki, riddles that take a long time to solve by asking the host leading questions that can only be answered “yes”, “no”, “doesn’t matter”. These mysteries usually had a detective plot, preferably with a corpse. This created a mysterious atmosphere and tickled the nerves. “The body of a man was found at the edge of the forest, wearing only swimming trunks, fins and a mask. The nearest body of water is 5 km away. What's happened?" “Having received a letter from her husband, the woman realized that he had died. How did this happen?”

In the mid-90s, being impressed by the charming Valdis Pelsh, we ourselves began to play “Guess the Melody”. Well, here everything is clear with the rules: they sang and guessed. And then we decided to diversify our musical exercises and began to tell each other a word for which we needed to remember the song. For example:

- Remember the song that contains the word “darkness”!

- Spray your magic into the crystal darkness of the glass...

On hikes with classmates we often played, of course, everyone’s favorite “Contact” with guessing the word by letter. It was friendly. We also played “The Gardener,” which was more heartfelt.

But my favorite game of my school years is “Anything for the soul, all gifts are good!” This is the most girly of all word games: the presenter names some item of clothing or accessory, and the rest of the participants try to come up with it and describe it in detail so that the presenter chooses it from all of them.

- I want a ball gown! - said the presenter.

This was in the 90s, so it usually started like this:

- You will have a fluffy pink tulle dress with lace at the hem, a bow on the corset and roses on the sleeves.

- You will have a tight short dress all made of turquoise and pink sequins with an open back and one sleeve.

-You will have a golden dress with a two-meter train and embroidered with precious stones.

The presenter had a difficult choice...