Hide-and-Seek
When toys are absent, children have always found simpler ways to extract fun and entertain themselves. A game of searching, hide-and-seek requires an occupiable space. It requires more of its players, however, asking them to: conceal themselves in otherwise visible places, use their resourceful minds, contort their bodies if necessary, and remain silent. According to the “Hide-and-Seek” entry in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, “the game is played differently in various regions,” each place carrying its own specific rules and distinctions. Regardless of where hide-and-seek is played, it carries a balance of agility and mystery at its core.
An old and popular “children’s game” (Tikkanen), hide-and-seek defines the genre of games that traditionally require no materials. In fact, it may have been one of the earliest games of its kind, defined by the Encyclopaedia as being spontaneous, imagination-formed play with a set of rules. Part of the Encylopaedia’s concerted efforts to document topics under this umbrella, hide-and-seek is also one of the first “searching games.” The earliest recorded account of the game, made by Greek rhetorician Julius Pollux, dates back to the 2nd century. Though its ancient title, apodidraskinda, is lost, the game survives in modern Greece under the name kryfto. (Tikkanen) To further develop this ethos, the hide-and-seek entry contains a nineteenth-century German painting of children playing the game (and being found) in a wooded area. With the game’s more specific instructions being inconsistent, the basic formula requires a hider and seeker. The seeker typically counts to a large number, possibly 100, waiting for the hider to conceal themselves nearby. The first player to be found may become the next seeker, and the last found has won the round. Sometimes, the players may agree upon a certain location to serve as a “home base,” a tangible place the hidden may run to in order to evade their discovery (Tikkanen). These seemingly basic instructions outlined at the beginning of the hide-and-seek entry are provided in simple terms. A fair reading level strays away from the weighty English one could associate with a reference book. This may have unintentionally made the entry accessible to young readers – players of the game.
Speaking to continuity, the game has persisted and entertained for generations; it cannot be bought, sold or discarded. It evokes a clear sense of tradition and playing the game is a sort of inheritance (Tikkanen). Never knowing a distinct ethnic group or social class, hide-and-seek could still be considered groundbreaking if it was introduced today. “The game is played throughout the world” (Tikkanen), each version having its own rules that could differ from America’s. Encyclopaedia Britannica lists the title “hide-and-seek” in the countries’ respective languages, including almost every continent. In Europe, the Spanish game is called el escondite, the French game jeu de cache-cache, and the Romanian game de-av-ati ascunselea. In Asia and the Middle East, the Korean game is called sumbaggoggil while the Israeli game is called machboin. In the African country of Nigeria, the game is called oro, played principally by children of the Igbo people. Oro is a “combination of hide-and-seek and tag” (Tikkanen). This version employs the use of a “home base” as well. With such a rich cultural variance, it is extraordinary and almost mysterious how children of many backgrounds have played the same game with no contact to other nations.
In a changing, technologizing world, this sense of raw creative and imaginative play is unmatched. It has not necessarily diminished, but has metamorphosed into something incomparable. Though it is a generalization to comment on the upsurge in children preferring smart devices and screens to actual toys, it is worth noting that this change is unprecedented. In the past, the invention of new toys may have deterred children from “organic” games such as hide and seek, but the latter has always prevailed, seeming as fresh and moldable as it was in nearly two thousand years ago.
Works Cited
Tikkanen, Amy. “Hide-and-seek.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 28
May 2008.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/hide-and-seek-game. Accessed 10 September 2019.
