Requiring solid thinking and problem-solving capacity, brainstorming games have a long tradition in Mongolia. These kinds of oral games are popular among people even today and contribute to developing creative thinking. Here are some examples of these types of games: How Can You Cross The River? One person wants to get grass, a sheep, and […]
Mongulai
Beaking The Chain
Breaking the chain and Dropping a handkerchief game has become known among Mongolians since around 1960s and mainly school children play them during their break time. Two groups of children stand hand-in-hand, resembling a chain at a distance of five meters from each other. Someone on one side shouts, “Break the golden chain!,” and another […]
Mobile Games (Mongolian Hobby-Horse Riding)
From a very young age, Mongolian children in nomadic societies grow up involved in the everyday herding activities of their families, such as stopping lambs and calves from going to pasture, keeping lambs away from their mothers during milking, and learning the practice of herding animals based on actual practice. Before riding horses, Mongolian children […]
Disentangling Games
One of the Mongolian traditional games is the disentangling game. Without a doubt, this must have been originated from a nomadic livestock breeder’s livelihood as a demand to untie and disentangle difficult knots, ties, and entangled things. Consequently, parents took much care to train their kids to learn how to disentangle things and created a […]
Shagai – Mongolian Anklebone Game
Shagai (Anklebone) games are an important part of Mongolian traditional games. There are myriad kinds of anklebone games which attract both children and adults. Researchers identified 80 variations of Mongolian ankle bone games, such as “Catch Ankle Bones”, “Flick Anklebones”, “Horse Race”, “Wrestling”, “Set Four Difficult”, “Calculation”, “Guessing”, “Comply Four Colours”, “Construct A Star”, “Cat […]
Finger Games
Finger games hold an important position among the popular Mongolian traditional games. The diversity of finger games found include “Finding Middle Finger”, “Sümber Mountain”, creating shadow images by finger movements in front of a light, “Dembeedekh” (a finger-guessing game with singing),and “Khuruudakh” (a game of sticking out a finger), and so on. Having no need for […]
Word Games (Tongue-Twisters)
During the long winters, livestock herder’s children play word games indoors. Word games are highly important for teaching the players proper expression, rich vocabulary and understanding the deep meanings of the words and developing creative thinking. Word games have endless diversity, such as quizzes, tongue-twisters, breath expanding expressions, humorous verses, and quizzing contests. Breath Expansion […]
Stone Toys And Games
The most popular materials from which to make Mongolian traditional games are different types of stones varied by colour, size, and shape. Assembling a Ger Game Since ancient times, Mongolian children have played the game in which they assemble a ger. Players collect stones with different colours, sizes, and shapes and assemble a ger by […]
Mongolian Games And Toys
Mongolians have a rich tradition of games and toys. There are many different types of Mongolian traditional games. According to historical records, the ancestors of the Mongols, the Hünnü people, played games like “Blown rumen shooting” or “Rabbit Hunting” (in which riders carry a blown rumen fastened with a string while others shoot at it […]