Korean Variety Show Games, Part 3.

Once again I’m writing about more Korean games that you might have seen on Korean variety shows. To catch up on which games I’ve already discussed you can check out part 1, part 2, and individual posts on favorites such as Alkkagi, Ddakji, Jegi Chagi, and more. Some games require more, or less, equipment and for now I’ve focusing on those that can be played at home or in the park with minimal effort.

One such game is a variation of, or related to, Leap Frog, a game I played in the school playground when I was a child. It Korea it is called Mal Dduk Back Gi, and the aim is not to leap over the other person, but to land on them with enough force to break the ‘chain’ of players on the opposing team. This game is played in other countries, and perhaps, even in the UK, and it just wasn’t popular at my school. Teams can be of up to about half a dozen players and it is a game for 2 teams. One team sets up with a player with his back against something solid such as a wall or tree, and the remaining players on that team bend over and tuck their heads up against the butt of the player in front of them trying to press their shoulders as close as possible to avoid neck injury. These players, often known as horses, must hold tight and to a certain extent lean in and push themselves forward (this is why the upright player must have his back against something solid) to form a strong platform which the other team will attempt to break.

The opposing team must now run and leap onto the backs of the first team scooting forward to allow enough room for all the team to land on the backs of the ‘horses’.

The horse team wins if they withstand the leaping of the riders, or if the riders fall off, or if the whole team cannot fit, because they haven’t all scooted far enough forward. The ‘riding’ team wins if they collapse, or break apart the ‘horse’ team.

You can see this game played on XMan and other variety shows, although usually it is played by younger people and so doesn’t appear very often. If you look closely at the Big Bang MV We Like To Party, you can see them playing this game at around the 45 second mark. I know I’ve seen it played by other idol groups, but I can’t track down any images. (If you know of any please feel free to share in the comments, thanks.)

Both Leap Frog as well as a game that looks remarkably like Mal Dduk Back Gi can be seen in a 16th century European painting by Pieter Bruegel. According to accounts from the time a very similar game was played in medieval France, where it was known as ‘cheval fondu’ (skinny horse),  Germany, where it was called ‘faule brucke’ (rotten bridge), Sweden, and Hungary, but I still don’t know its’ name in English.

Although this game looks like a lot of fun, it like many other active games, should be played using caution and common sense.

 

A favorite game of almost all Kpop fans has to be the ‘paper’ kissing game. There’s no shortage of videos online showing various idol groups participating in this most suggestive and cringe-worthy of games.

For those new to Kpop idol ‘fanservice’ the members often must play games and perform cute tricks to please their fans, and this game is probably the most popular, with few groups managing to escape having to play this at least once in their career. You can watch multiple groups play this game though fan compilations or watch just your favorites. Over time the paper has gotten thinner, (I used to play a version of this game with playing cards quite a few years ago), and they are even using thin plastic sheets as well.

Now I’ve gone and distracted myself, and may have to take a break to watch a few compilation videos.

Have a great day everyone.

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