5 Games that Coloured My Childhood

Taking a nostalgic walk down memory lane

Ever since I can remember, there wasn't a day that passed by that I wasn't elbow-deep in a game I played from the day before or I had spontaneously made up at that moment. TV was a great source for fun too but cartoon showtime was limited and so like it or not, I'm sure many of us kids back then had to take the matter into our own hands on what to do with ourselves. 

A very large chunk of my childhood was mostly in the UK although I can still recall the many other games I had while I was living in the quiet neighbourhood of Gombak, Selangor. I list down some of the games that had a big impression on me till today and ones that I vividly remember myself playing for hours with my siblings, friends and next door neighbours' kids.

1. Time Travelling Balcony

When we used to live in our cosy apartment, we had a balcony that was linked to our main living room area and separated by a glass sliding door. When my parents were busy working, we'd play that we were zapping through time in our time-travelling machine in the balcony. Each time the door slide shut, we'd pick a time in the past to travel to. Once we stepped outside again, the living room would became a mad bustling Egyptian market, a swamp with camouflaging blood-hungry dinosaurs or even a present day country.

2. Carboot Sale

On Saturdays and some Sundays where we lived in the UK, there would be "carboot sales" where regular people would gather in a large empty field to set up booths or just open up their car bonnets to sell off items they don't need from home anymore. I don't think we missed those special days to buy things that were mostly still very brand new and at a good bargain. We used to buy tons of books for just 10-20p each, they were so cheap! There were toys, kids clothes, furniture, etc.

As kids, we had a carboot sale game at home too! "Selling" our unwanted stuff between us siblings was fun. We mostly resorted to bartering or swapping our things instead of using our weekly pocket money. That's a very important currency to buy what we wanted on the actual carboot sale day. We still played this game years later after we returned to Malaysia although now that we're adults, we just swap our stuff and that's fine with us.

3. "Driving" in Our Backyard

Our little house in the UK had a tiny backyard. My sisters and I would take out our secondhand tricycles and bikes, books, toys and even sometimes set up our house tent when we were in the mood to play for hours outside. My favourite game was to pretend our bikes and tricycles were real cars and the uneven concrete ground was the road for us to "drive" on. One of us would be chosen to be the highway patrol police and take care of the traffic that went on in our backyard.

Couldn't find a photo of us chilling around. So here's something else!

We'd set up a small school in one corner of our backyard, a shop in another whilst a slightly bigger chunk of space near the red brick walls was our makeshift house.

4. Hand Puppet Shows and Singing Concerts

My parents, especially my mum take a special pride in our puppet shows and mini performance concerts at home. The latter was actually an activity our school did at least twice or thrice a year, and it only makes sense that we made it into a game at home too. 

My mum videotaped our shows with our old camcorder (this was way before smartphones existed and Nokia phones were kings), especially when we had friends staying for sleepovers. We would start off with singing performances by everyone; individual, duets or even a group of us, and then we'd transition to puppet shows with our puppets and soft toys that each had a name we fondly gave them. 

I can't remember where we keep those videos but I'll share some pics that we do have!

5. Outdoor House

In the summer and early autumn, our parents would help bring out our folded playhouse from the store and we'd set it up in our backyard. Usually, we would be outside in the sun all day until we were called inside for lunch and dinner. 

It takes a lot of commitment and imagination to keep the mood to play going, and it's no surprise that sometimes one of us would accidentally dose of inside the playhouse among the cushions and soft toys inside (it was crucial to make the house as homey and real as possible). For snacks, we'd have homemade ice lollies and cheese sticks, or whatever we had from the kitchen.

Now that you've read my childhood games, tell me all about yours! I would love to read about them in the comment section!