Bambaram (பம்பரம்)
Contents
Bambaram is yet another traditional game played in TamilNadu and Karnataka also known as Lattu in Urdu. Spinning Tops are used for fun experience in this game. The skill and interest in this game is reducing due to other interests taking priority and also due to unsafe nails along with bullying of younger, smaller, poorer kids. This game is more common among Boys. This game is coming back with safer components and rules.
Components Of Bambaram
• Wooden Top (Coloring is optional – to make it interesting and attractive)
• Pointed Nail for getting the center
• String to get the starting spin (also used for lifting the spinning top)
How To Play
Bambaram has very simple rules. All the players have to go at the same time for the ‘Goes’ – this is the ‘toss’ for the game. The ‘Goes’ process is – at the count of 1, 2, 3 all the players should wind their Bambarams with their ropes, unwind it on the ground to rotate and then pick it up with the rope as quickly as possible. The primary skill on this rely on shortest rope length usage and still make the bamabram to rotate on the ground allowing you to catch it back with the rope
Conditions for losing the toss
• If the Bambaram failed to rotate on its nail on the ground –it is called ‘Mattai’, you lose the toss.
• If you fail to catch the Bambaram through the rope then you lose the toss.
• The last person to finish the ‘Goes’ lose as well.
The player who losses the Toss will keep their bambarams inside the circle drawn on the ground. The rest of the members will have a go at the bambarams inside the circle. The people who managed to finish the toss successfully try to spin their bambaram over the bambarams in the circle trying to break them and/or trying to getting them out of the circle. Each time the spinning bambaram has to be picked up successfully to continue.
Aakkar
If you manage to land your bambaram’s nail on the bambarams inside the circle it would leave a mark – called as ‘Aakkar’. The best player’s Bambaram will have the least number of Aakkars – and as usual it is a matter of prestige. To avoid the main bambaram getting too many Aakkars, players would always keep a spare and called it as ‘Pondatti Bambaram’ (Pondatti means wife in Tamil). Players use the ‘Purushan Bambaram’ (Purushan means Husband in Tamil), to give Aakars to others’ bambarams and use Pondatti Bambaram to receive Aakars from others. Players will take special care of the Purushan Bambaram. They will hand pick the nails from the black smith work shop, sit with him to see that he inserted the nail to their Bambaram without any cracks, and also will do a couple of dry runs to ensure that all is well before paying the blacksmith
Kids will use also crowns of cool drink bottles to decorate the ropes. They will put a hole at the center of the crowns and insert the rope such that the crown would form one end of the rope and the other end will be use to start the winding process.
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