6 More Childhood Games Singapore Kids Played: Block Catching, Pepsi Cola 123, Zha

The running games: block catching, Pepsi Cola 123, ice and freeze

Block catching was the whole HDB block as the arena: stairwells, lift lobbies, the corridor on the ninth floor where someone's grandmother would shout. It was catching with the vertical dimension added, and it was, in the post's words, the best thing before phones existed. Our part 1, the void deck games, covers what happened when it rained.

Pepsi Cola 123: everyone stands in a circle, jumps apart on "123", then takes turns lunging one step to stamp on someone's foot. Too much skin contact for a ten year old, as the post put it. Ice and freeze was catching where the caught kid stood frozen until a teammate crawled through their legs, and it was best during PE because the teacher counted it as exercise.

Zha, ice pops and chopsticks

Zha is the one that needs no equipment and no explanation, only the chant. Zha die zha die zha die. If you said it in your head with the rhythm, you played it. Two people, hands out, and a rule set that changed from school to school.

The 20 cent ice pops came in a long plastic sleeve from a makcik selling out of her flat, milo and sarsi being the flavours worth the walk. Chopsticks was the finger game on the sofa, and the eternal argument was whether you were allowed to split when you were down to two fingers. The post's answer: is it even legal.