Turkish Children's Games

Children's games are great — if it weren't for them, we probably wouldn't be as smart as we are today (I mean, look at the iPad kids). Türkiye, just like every other country, has hundreds of unique games that require no or minimal equipment to play. I cannot cover all games in this article, so I will start with my favorites.

1. Sayışmak — Choosing "it"s in Turkish Children's Games

Many children's games have "it"s, special players that need to be picked before the game starts. In Turkish, this process is called sayışmak (lit. counting one another), and it uses counting-out rhymes, similar to Eenie, Meenie, Minie, Moe. Here are some rhymes I remember from my childhood:

Lyrics	Translation
Portakalı soydum Portakalı soydum, başucuma koydum, Ben bir yalan uydurdum. Duma duma dum, kırmızı mum. Dolapta pekmez, yala yala bitmez.* Ayşecik (cik cik), Fatmacık (cık cık), Sen bu oyundan çık! *Dolapta kız var, sana göre kız var.	I peeled the orange I peeled the orange, I put it on my bedside table, I made up a lie. Duma duma dum, red candle. Molasses in the cupboard, lick it, it won't end. Little Ayşe (little little), little Fatma (little little), You get out of this game! *A girl in the cupboard, a girl who suits you.
O piti piti O piti piti, karamela sepeti, terazi, lastik, cimnastik. Biz size geldik, bitlendik, Hamama gittik temizlendik. (Son dersimiz matematik, Öğretmenimiz otomatik.)	O piti piti O piti piti, basket of caramels, Scale, elastic, gymnastics. We visited you and got lice, We went to a bathhouse and cleaned ourselves. (Our last lesson is Math, Our teacher is automatic.)
Boncuklarım koptu Boncuklarım koptu, toplayamadım. Büyük anam geldi, saklayamadım. Encik, mencik, sana dedim sen çık!	My beaded necklace broke My beaded necklace broke, I couldn't collect (the beads). My grandmother came, I couldn't hide (them). Encik, mencik, I told you to get out!

2. Seksek (Hopscotch)

In seksek, the player has to throw a small pebble (or any other item) into a square of their choice before they start hopping. When hopping forward, they have to avoid stepping on the lines and in the square with their pebble. On their way back, they have to bend down (while standing on one foot) and retrieve their pebble. The same process is repeated for each square. The first player to retrieve their pebble from every square wins.

Photo by Matteo Basile

3. Üçgen (Marbles)

There are many marble games in Türkiye, but I grew up mostly playing üçgen. The game starts out with a triangle drawn on the ground, inside of which each player puts a predetermined number of marbles. The goal of the game is to knock the marbles out of the triangle and add them to your collection.

Children who did not have access to marbles used to play this game with in-shell walnuts (ceviz) instead. Professional walnut players, such as my cousin, would even wrap their walnuts in scotch tape to make them more throwable.

4. Yağ Satarım, Bal Satarım (Duck Duck Goose)

This game is absolutely the same as Duck Duck Goose. The only difference is that the "goose" is picked by dropping tissue paper, cloth, or a rock behind them. The game also comes with a cute (and somewhat tragic) rhyme.

Lyrics	Translation
Yağ satarım, bal satarım, Ustam öldü, ben satarım. Ustamın kürkü sarıdır, Satsam on beş liradır. Zambak, zumbak Dön arkana iyi bak!	I sell oil, I sell honey, My master is dead, (so) I sell (them). My master's fur coat is yellow, If I sold it, it would cost fifteen liras. Lily, lily, Turn around, take a good look behind you!

The lyrics zambak, zumbak may be evidence that the game was originally played by dropping a Madonna lily behing the goose, which is now imitated with white tissue paper.

5. Saklambaç (Hide and Seek)

Here is what makes saklambaç, my favorite childhood game, different from hide and seek:

1. The place where the seeker counts is home base (sobeleme yeri). Apart from hiding well, the hiders can also win by getting to home base without being spotted and shouting Sobe!. This prevents them from becoming seeker in the next round;

2. If a hider is spotted, they still have a chance to save themself by getting to home base before the seeker;

3. The seeker can seek out hiders by:

   1. going up to them until they enter line of sight, making it easier for other hiders to reach home base in the meantime;

   2. calling them out by name and saying where they're hiding. For example, Mehmet, seni gördüm! Kırmızı arabanın arkasındasın! (Mehmet, I saw you! You're behind the red car!);

4. If the seeker mistakes a hider for somebody else, the round automatically ends. All hiders come out of hiding and sing Çanak, çömlek patladı! (Dishes and earthenware pots shattered!). To abuse this rule, hiders often swap clothes or accesorries (yes, it is that competitive).

According to Sevan Nişanyan, Turkish-Armenian etymologist, sobe could stem from the French word sauvé (saved, rescued, liberated). He points out:

It is necessary to investigate how this French expression was adopted into the terminology of Istanbulite children's games.

What were your favorite childhood games? Please share in the comments below so I can include them in the next installment of Turkish Children's Games!