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5 Games Every Nigerian Child Played in the 90s (And What They Teach)

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Growing up in the 90’s was so much fun! Everyone knew each other and we shared stickers even when we did not have phones, a tweet meant the sound of a bird and our Facebook was called a photo album. 

I can vividly remember the excitement I felt each time visitors came and my mom brought the stack of photo albums out (claps in childlike enthusiasm), I was sure to hear new stories of myself as a baby or that of older siblings, relatives or parents and even get to relive some of their experiences as they recounted the tales…..I just enjoyed the feeling of warm nostalgia that filled the air with so much love. 

The happening music artist was “Daddy Showkey” and “galala” was making the rounds at every party. Inter-house sports, not the gym, was a great place to show off your physical fitness, as well as network. 

We made every plain ground a football pitch and invented games as we deemed fit. In the 90’s, regardless of location, ethnic tribe or religious background, we had various games, each with unique rules. Apart from bringing children together and entertaining the adults, all our games had a common factor: songs! We were always singing, chanting or playing music, depending on the game play and we definitely learnt a lot from them.

Here are some games every 90’s kid played and what you can learn from them:

Musical chairs

After a plate of jollof rice, the next thing at every birthday party in the 90’s was musical chairs! We all loved this game, both the players and spectators. The game is centred around music, dance and chairs. 

Participants have to dance around chairs while music is played  in the background. Once the song stops, they are to be seated sharply, the person without a seat loses the round, gets eliminated and steps aside. The game continues till there’s one person left. 

This game teaches kids to be agile and always alert. It also teaches strategy as there’s an art to winning which involves not dancing too much or too fast.

Tinko Tinko

This game involved singing as well as clapping. Your claps must be in sync with that of your partner and this game can be played with 2 or more people. Tinko Tinko helps to improve your psychomotor skill, concentration and is a great way to teach children how to multitask. You had to always be alert and follow the eyes and hands of your partner(s)

Bread and Butter 

This is a tug-of-war game with a Nigerian twist. It starts with children randomly selecting either bread or butter as the name of the team they will belong to without knowing who the leader of the team would be (as they have been anonymously selected) whilst chanting the bread and butter song. Once everyone has been assigned to a team, the tug of war begins! This game teaches teamwork and its importance.

Hide and Seek

This game, as the name implies, involves going to hide and another finding you out. It teaches kids to be more observant and heightens their investigative skills. It was also a great and hilarious way for parents to get rid of their kids for a while. They would tell them to go hide while they find a nice spot to sleep while the kids wait to be found. 

After Round One

I loved and hated this game equally, it had that uncanny nature of moving from basic to intense in a matter of minutes and let me just say; “I went through shege,” playing this game! 

It is similar to the rock paper scissors game. It involves hands and number play and can be played by two or more individuals. Everyone picks a unique number, and then uses hand gestures to represent random numbers while singing the “after round one” chorus. 

At the end of the song, we’ll sum up the numbers and if the total equals your unique number, then you’re in luck! You’ll drop off the game while the other participants continue until there’s one person left. That one person is the “scapegoat!” 

As rough as this game may seem, it enhanced our hand-eye coordination, helped improve arithmetic and predictive skills. Might I add that one unreal advantage is to increase one’s tolerance for pain and criticism (because you might leave the game crying if you are not careful).

The list of games we played back in the day is endless but what’s more intriguing is that in retrospect, these games were quite beneficial. I dare say even more than the modern day video games and stuff, do you agree with me?

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Kanyinsola Nwaizu
Kanyinsola Nwaizu

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