Games and Gaming in Turkey

The number of traditional Turkish children’s games, for instance, is certainly endless. Klaas, who was organizing a small cultural festival in the Netherlands and was hence in search of some “typical Turkish games that can be played with simple means in the open air,” wrote a short post in this regard on the international travelers online forum www.hospitalityclub.com. He got plenty of proposals for eventual games, many of which are known in other countries as well -- with some of the names even being surprisingly similar.

Among the answers was the explanation of a game called “Kör Çebiş” (blind goat), played in Ankara and Muğla, or “Kör Çebis “(blind dog) in Thrace. In colloquial Turkish, it is also called “Körebe.” Here comes the game’s explanation written on the club’s site by a user from Ankara: “It is played by about five to 10 children. At the beginning of the game, one person is chosen to be ‘it,’ and then the eyes of that kid are covered with a kind of blindfold. When the game starts, the person who is ‘it’ -- the blindfolded person -- tries to catch the other kids. If someone is caught, that child becomes the new ‘it’ and the game starts over. Every child in Turkey knows this game!”

That sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Yes, because this game is played all around the world. For instance, it is known as “Blind Bock” in Sweden, “Blinde-buk” in Denmark or “Blinde Kuh” in Germany -- all meaning more or less the same: blind goat or cow.

According to Metin And, who wrote a very understandable essay on the “Aspects and Functions of Turkish Folk Games” at the Turkish online culture portal www.turkishculture.org, the villagers explain the name by saying that the blind man is like a goat with its hair falling over its eyes.

Another game which has many counterparts in the world is surely the Turkish “Uzun Eşek” (long donkey) -- known in Germany and Great Britain also as “Long Horse” -- in which players vault over each other’s stooped backs, thus forming a continuous line. Also popular in Central Anatolia is one game called Dünür Dünür (which can be translated as “mother-in-law, mother-in-law”). It’s English version is “Mother, the Cakes are Burning.” According to And, the idea behind it is the following: “The mother entrusts her children to a maid [or the respective mother-in-law], unaware of the danger that a kidnapper is scheming to abduct all the children, who are then transformed into edibles, or sometimes colored birds, and the mother has to identify them.”

What would a Turkish coffee house be without it’s ‘tavla’ boards?

The second popular category of folk entertainment in Turkey is definitely table games. Have you ever seen a coffee house without gambling tables? Thus, the top-ranking evergreen of typical Turkish games is of course “tavla” (backgammon), a board game for two players in which the playing pieces are moved according to the roll of dice.

“I discovered tavla at the very beginning of my stay in Turkey, and I am still amazed,” says Anne-Maria, a Norwegian exchange student in İstanbul who learned the game with the help of her Turkish roommate.

“It’s simple and easy to learn, but still thrilling until the very end,” she explains, adding that the game balance can change in the last few seconds. Indeed, fights between passionate tavla players continue on whether the game is mainly about luck or strategy.

Mariele, a young German worker, likes tavla because of its “communicative atmosphere,” she says. She practiced her initial Turkish speaking skills while playing tavla. “I had worked for some time in Antalya and at that time arranged myself a tandem partner to study Turkish. This provided a basic topic for communication; we chose to meet while playing tavla and it has worked out very well,” she says.

Another very speedy and strategic two-player game is called Mangala. The objective is to get your counterpart’s stones or pebbles out of small holes in the earth. According to And, this game has been popular in Turkey since the beginnings of the Ottoman Empire. Today, it is particularly famous in some areas of southeast Anatolia, like Gaziantep.

Last but not least is the guessing game “Yüzük Oyunu” (Ring Game). There are 11 coffee cups on a tray, one of which has a ring under it. There are two teams. The first team hides the ring under one of the inverted cups. Their opponents try to guess what cup the ring is hidden under. Points are distributed according to how many tries are needed to find the ring.

A cheap and watered-down version of this game can be found in Turkey’s tourist traps: A guy will sit at a table with three small cups or little hats on it. He shows you he is putting a ring under one of them, then quickly mix them and challenge you to guess where the ring is. Try your luck if you want, but rest assured that these people have enough tricks to make you lose a lot of money and remember that real gambling is strictly forbidden in Turkey and can incur heavy fines.

This has been a small insight into the world of Turkish folk games. If for any reason you need a more extensive list of Turkish folk games, we recommend -- apart from the very enlightening Turkish online culture portal mentioned above -- the Archive of Turkish Oral Narrative located at Texas Technical University. It is available online at http://aton.ttu.edu/turkish_games/index.htm. The whole site is in both Turkish and English and includes a detailed and extensive list of Turkish games, including instructions on how to play them.

Let’s also have a look at games that expats find interesting -- games that revolve around language learning. Try the various online resources, such as www.digitaldialects.com/Turkish or www.transparent.com/games. You don’t need to subscribe, you don’t need to pay, just play! Or try table games. A native of Britain, Dave’s favorite is “Tabu” (taboo), a game in which you have to explain one word while certain words are banned from being used in the explanation.

Beginners can start with the children’s version as it includes a simpler vocabulary. The game can be found at bazaars for around TL 35.

Wait a minute, don’t forget the severe penalties that await the underdogs! Of course, the loser has to pay the high price of appearing as ridiculous as possible. For instance, he or she has to stand on a chair and baa like a goat or bray like a donkey, both regarded as not very intelligent animals in Turkey. A variant would be to have one’s face smeared with paint. And who loses in playing tavla has to put the game board under his arm and walk home.