As allover, rich or poor, children play a wide variety of games, they are by nature inquisitive and inventive and no less than anywhere else than in Bodstonia.
It would be long and exhaustive to relate all the games played but a few examples of the most popular ones will be illustrated here.
The first game is one involving horseshoes and is called, perhaps not suprisingly,
Horseshoes. A post is driven into the ground. Players throw their horseshoes, usually 3 per player, at this post from a set distance. Points are scored for those that encircle the post, lower points are given for shoes that lean on or touch the post.
A similar game involving throwing is called "
Huzzlecap" and uses coins, when they were available. The goal is to "capture" pennies by tossing your coin to land on top of your opponent's. This game is considered a form of gambling and is frowned upon by the adult Bodstonians.
A common toy used by all children, more so the younger ones, is one called
"Catch the hobbit". This involves a stick, at one end of which is a small cup and a ball which is joined to the stick by means of a string. The object is to flip the ball and try to catch it in the cup.
Another is the spinning top. This is either one driven by simply turning it with the hand or wrapping a string around the top handle.
The aim of the game is to keep the top spinning longer than any other, using a small whip to aid in this end.
Jackstraws is a game played by the Native children and taught to Bodstonian youngsters. Native children play the game using grass or reed straws whereas Bodstonian children use coloured wooden sticks. The object of the game is to drop a bundle of sticks -- usually 31 -- and pick them up, one at a time, without moving another stick in the process. The child with the most sticks at the end is the winner
Of course, a great favourite among the female youngsters of Bodstonia are thier dolls. These come in a large range of variations, from the simple rough rag doll of the lower orders to the specially made dolls of the richer children with porcelain heads and hands.
To the right we can see examples of girls dolls with their owners.
"Hoop" is another game played by both sexes. It is basic in it´s nature but highly popular. A simple wooden hoop is "whipped" along by the means of a small stick,
"Hoop" races being common.
Boys, and indeed a great number of the older Bodstonian males have an interest in collecting and "wargaming" with sets of toy soldiers. These are usually made out of lead which can make them an expensive item but skilled craftsmen are able to produce wooden toys soldiers, and most fathers will whittle a few such figures for his son during the long winter nights.
Among the most expensive of toys are
"Automatons" These wind up tinplate toys are quite amazing to behold, some of the most expensive performing several actions...even walking, issuing noises and some even produce smoke !!!
Here we see an "automaton" of a poor gentleman being assaulted by a mythical beast, the "tigre"
Lastly, the
Rocking horse. As with the dolls, these can be either very ornate, realistic paintwork, and having saddles, bridles etc or basic wooden representations of the equine creature.
There are of course a great many other games played by the children of Bodstonia, those involving balls, those with cards and a great many more. As written at the begining of this small treatise on childrens Toys and Games, children are similar the world over. If you, in your part of the world see a child happily at play with marbles, a skipping rope or banging a small toy drum, then it is of guarantee that they will at some point play the very same in Bodstonia.
