Children love games – this is no secret. Often in letters from your sponsored child, you’ll hear that your child loves to play a particular game or sport. But what do those games look like?

Here are some major games played in the Asian countries where Mission of Mercy works. To be sure, there are many more games than those we mention below, but this list was formed based on references in letters from sponsored children or in the initial information we receive when a child first registers in our programs:

One oft-mentioned sport is Kabaddi, the national sport of Bangladesh (where it is also known as Ha-Do-Do). In India, Kabaddi has several names: Hu-Tu-Tu in western India, and Chedugudu in southern India, and Kaunbada in northern India. It’s also quite popular in Cambodia, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

The game consists of two teams which each guard their half of a field against the other team’s raider, who must tag as many opposing players as he can before returning to his own team. To defend against this raid, the opposing team will join hands and try to keep the raider from breaking the chain.

It sounds like a cross of tag and Red Rover, but there’s a catch: the raider must do all of this without taking a breath. If he takes a breath before returning to his side (or if the opposing team entangles him long enough to make him take a breath) the raider is out. This isn’t just a child’s game – adult leagues play all kabaddi all over the world. How long do you think you could last as a raider?

Chhiburi is a similar game involving two teams and one important player on each team who must run from the home circle to the opponents without being caught while holding their breath. This game is often played at lunchtime or in the evenings before bed.

Another game in Asia is Guli-Danda (in other countries it may be called dangooli), which is similar to cricket but played with two wooden sticks. The danda is long like a bat, and the guli is shorter with tapered ends, shaped more like a pinecone than a ball. The batter stands at the home base and taps the end of the guli with the danda to make it fly up in the air then tries to hit it as far as she can. If a fielder catches the guli, the batter is out. If no one catches it, the batter continues tapping and hitting until it is caught. The batter receives a point for each danda-length she is from home base.

But not every game involves tagging and running. Carrom is quite popular in India. Sometimes called finger billiards, the game is played on an edged board with four corner pockets. Players flick a heavy quarter-sized disc called a striker to hit the carrom-men, smaller uniform disks that surround the special red disk called the queen.

The goal of Carrom is to pocket your own carrom-men before your opponent pockets his, but before you send your last carrom-men to the pocket, you must pocket the queen. This game is played by adults and children. The game is so popular that a movie called Striker was made where the main character’s passion for the game helps him triumph over his life circumstances.

Do any of these remind you of games you played as a child? Has your sponsored child mentioned a favorite game?