Figure 1.--We have limited information on the games played by German children at this time. Some photographs taken in the 1950s suggest that boys in Berlin were playing marbles.

We have limited information on the games played by German children at this time. Some photographs taken in the 1950s suggest that boys in Berlin were playing marbles. Hopefully our German readers will provide us some information on popular German games. Many of the games were games played by other German children. We are guessing that there were also games played just by German children or just in regions of Germany. Our information here is still very limited. Hopefully our German readers will tell us about games they played as children.
Cowboys and Indians

German children like American children played cowboys and Indians. We see some staged photographs, but quite a few German children seem to have had some Native American coistume items. I'm not sure when this interest began, but it seems to have been a popular game by the early 20yh century. We are not yet sure about the late-19th century. We know that Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show was popular in Germany. Books about Native Americans were popular. Amercan boys generally preferred the cow boy end of the game. We get the impression that German boys preferred to Native American end. We see a lot more German boys dressed as Native Americans than cow boys. Even so, Hollywoof cow boy filns were popula in Germny, at least before the NAZIs. (Films in the 1920s were much more internatonal because silent films could be easily distributed in any country, all you had to do was to chznge the text segments.

Hop-scotch

We believe German children played hop-scotch, but have few details. We do not know the German name for hop-scotch or if the hop-scotch games were the same as those in America. As far as we know only girls played hop-scotch.

Horsey

A popular game in the 19th century was horsey. Childrem would pretend to be horse and driver. This might be played with stick horses. Or children might fashion reigns and one or more children would pretend to be the horses and another child would be the driver. Tpy stores even sold play reins. This could be played with a wagon of some kind, but often children played it as a running game without a wagon. After the turn-of-the 20th century, horsey declined in popularity as trucks began to replace horses for transport.

Jacks

We believe German girls played jacks, but have few details. We do not know the German name for jacks or if the jacks games were the same as those in America. As far as we know only girls played jacks.

Marbles

We believe German children played marbles, but have few details. We do not know the German name for marbles or if the marbles games were the same as those in America. As far as we know only boys played marbles.

Ring Games

Children in all countries played ring games. These were commonly played by girls and younger boys. Ring games came in endless varieties. They mightbbe played on schoolplaygrounds, on city sidewalks, or even in the country. We do not yet have details on the ring games German children played, but we have begun collecting imaging of the children playing them. We believe that they are now less common than they once were.

Unknown Games

We have found some images showing German children playing games. In many cases, however, we are not sure just what game they are playing. Perhaps our German readers will recognize some of the games.

Created: November 4, 2002
Last updated: 2:10 AM 10/28/2007