Games are one of the largest categories of human entertainment, dating back centuries to the earliest civilizations. Different cultures have their own traditional games that are very meaningful to the people who play them. Much of Sequoia’s diverse student body enjoys these games and wish to shed light on their importance.  

Vietnamese: Bầu cua cá cọp

Senior Britney Nguyen is Vietnamese and co-president of the Asian Student Union. She describes the Vietnamese game, Bầu cua cá cọp.

 “Vietnam has a really big gambling culture. And for Lunar New Year especially, that’s usually when [we] play traditional Vietnamese games,” Nguyen said. “We usually put in a dollar or two to play and whoever wins gets the entire “bank”. That way there’s incentive to play.”

According to Board Game Geek, the three dice in Bầu cua cá cọp feature the different animals, and a mat has a picture of each animal as well. A bet is placed on which animal will be rolled, and any people who are correct take three times the đồng they bet as well as their original bet. A dealer rolls the dice and handles a central pool where any đồng not earned is kept.

Filipino: Tinikling

Senior and co-president of Asian Student Union, Hannah Delizo is Filipino and enjoys the game Tinikling.

 “[It’s] kind of like a dance.There are two sticks on the floor and there are people on either side of those sticks. And then you’d have to go across the sticks,” Delizo said. “I’ve played it and I had to do it in PE one time, in middle school.”

According to Culture Trip, Tinikling has multiple stories of origin, but they agree about the time and place when and where the game originated; the Spanish colonial area, in an island in the Visayas, Palo, Leyte. One version of the story comes from dodging Spanish punishment, while the other states that the dance came from the movements of the tikling bird. In the game, two poles about six to 12 feet long are tapped twice against the ground in two beats and then once together as a third beat. These poles are held by two sitting people, referred to as “clickers” or “clappers”. The dancers must avoid the poles using the rhythm, which increases in speed as the dance continues. When the tempo is quickest, they leave the vicinity of the poles.

Nguyen and Delizo are only two of many students who are brought closer to their cultures through these games.

“It’s really fun to celebrate, especially since I’m born in the US and I rarely go to Vietnam,” Nguyen says. “It’s really exciting and fulfilling to be able to celebrate traditional games in the US with other people that I know.”

Delizo feels her Filipino identity and other Asian identities are not well represented in her area, but playing traditional games allows the Asian community to celebrate their unique cultures.

“It’s kind of hard to get representation just in this area,” Delizo said. “There’s just not that many [Filipino people] in this area so it’s just nice to have those traditions to keep up Asian Pride.”

Latinx:

Another prominent culture in Sequoia is Latinx culture. This culture is expressed through traditions, food, holidays, and even games. Sequoia’s student body is 56% o Latinx, according to Sequoia’s demographics,so it is important to highlight the unique games of Latinx cultures.  For example, Cinco is a game played in Guatemala and other Spanish-speaking countries. The game is played with marbles in a circle or triangle drawn on the ground. 

“The purpose of the game is trying to knock each other’s marbles out of the circle, the last one standing wins” Hade Curup, a Guatemalan-American Junior at Sequoia, said.

Curup notes that games like Cinco are aspects of Latinx culture that are often not represented.​​“Our culture isn’t often represented in games and just in the world in general so [it’s nice to just have something to claim as our own,” Curup said. Curup adds that the game was taught to him by his family. 

“It [Cinco] is also something that my parents have taught me about their culture,” Curup said.  

Jewish: Dreidel

Religion is also a very important aspect of people’s identity. There are many religions present at Sequoia, such as Judaism. Judaism has a very rich culture, including the game, Dreidel. Dreidel is a four-sided spinning top, played during the Jewish holiday, Hanukkah. The game starts with having to put one game piece in the “pot” before playing.

 “People use buttons or Gelt, which is chocolate in the shape of coins,” WInter Licht, a freshman at Sequoia, said. “Depending on what side the dreidel lands on, you do x with your coins.”. 

The game itself also has a lot of symbolism and meaning to the Jewish community.

 “It’s also another representation of the stress and struggles we had to go through to get to Israel” Licht said. 

Traditional games in different cultures are among the best ways to unite communities.

“It’s meaningful because it brings people together,” Licht said.