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NOSTALGIA:
Self-made Games of the Past



How to Play 'Cat bil-Ballun'




English translation : Cat and mouse with the football

When Invented : 1987 (aged about 13yrs)

Who invented it : I and my best friend Noel

Players needed : At least 3, the more the better, up to about 10

Items needed : Football

Description :

This is one of the most amusing, exciting, and funny games that we used to play in the street. It was invented by me and one of my best friends Noel when we 13yrs old. We had a small area in front of our house (See photo below), about 30m x 30m where it was quiet and free of cars. This playing area is shown in the self-made diagram and photo below...



Click to enlarge
Diagramtic Map of the playing area (click to enlarge further!)


Photo of the playing area (Telephone box and pole where removed)

Photo of the playing area today (telephone box, tree and pole are now removed)


The game was played in the yellow-shaded area. The players can stay anywhere but only in this area. One of the players will be the cat while the others the mice. The cat will be in possession of the ball and he should try to kick the ball and hit any of the other mice (players). If this is achieved, the last player hit by the ball will then be the cat.

The scope of the game is that the players avoid one of the following things (faul)!

1) The ball goes out of play
In other words , the player in possesion of the ball (or the last person the ball hit) must avoid that the ball goes out of area

2) The player himself goes out of area (one cannot push another outside)

3) The ball hits any player's arms (voluntarily or involuntarily!)

4) The ball falls behind the walls shown (#3 and #8)



If one of these fauls happens, then the player responsible for the faul will get a point, and who scores 5 or 10 points (decided before the game) will go out of game. So the player must try to avoid getting point while make the others to get them.

The ball is always played by foot, with the following 2 exceptions:

i) When the ball or the player goes out, he must play the ball with his hand like an outball in football

ii) When the player touches the ball with his hand, he can put the ball in game with his hands from anywhere in the field, but he can also run holding the ball after a player until he throws it away. Hence in such a situation the cat can run after mice with the ball until he throws it.

The scenario of the game is not as it may seem, hence the cat with the ball is trying to hit a mice, who are running away as far as possible Instead the mice (especially if they are experienced and adventerous!) can just go near the cat and try to shoot the ball on him so that if the ball hits the cat and goes out of play, the faul is counted on the cat (the last player the ball had touched).

The wall (#3) was the most enjoyable part that the mice like to stay. The cat kicks the ball and the mice usually jump to avoid being hit.The jump is enhanced by the help of the 1m high wall. So the ball can instead hits the wall and it can end up out of play, hence inrease a point to the cat. However it can happen that the ball hit a leg of one of the mice and ends out of play, and so the mouse will get a point. By rule, one cannot climb and rest on the wall.

Although the game sounds to be silly and stupid, a good player needs to have skills in ball possession, experience (where to go), good reflexes, runs fast, good aiming and timing, and good in tricks, For example the cat pretend to shoot the ball, the mice in front of him will automatically fooled to jump, and then the cat actually shoot the ball when the fooled mice is landing back down, hence he cannot dodge the ball!.

The game trains you a lot in ball possession, kick aiming and general timing. In the game you cannot foul or push or hold, so it was very safe and clean game. The only bad thing is that sometimes the cat shoots hard the ball on some wimpy mice and hurt himself. - Not recommended for girls!!!

The more the players, the more fun it was and the more long the game. We could spend 2 or 3 hours playing, because it was a very unpredictable game, and you are guarenteed that there will be lots of laughter and funny situations. I, Noel and Brian were the most good at it.

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