Crocodile Your Water:
The name of the game suggests that it contains some games about crocodiles and water. The game is played with more than 3 players. So, let’s see what the game is about and how to play it.
This game requires a place where there are high places and some low places. The game will be played in the middle courtyard of the houses and on the verandah around it. The game can be played in a small area of a field or in an open space by making a circle, or by setting some stones to make the high places.
In this game, the yard in the middle of the house can be called water. The high places, such as the stones in the fields, the verandah in the house is called a place.
The kids have to get together in one place first to play this game. Once together, the thief or crocodile is selected. All players stand in a circle to decide who will be the thief or the crocodile, and one player counts 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 50, 60, 60, 60, 60, 100 among the players standing in a circle. The player who is pointed 100 is removed. Then again, 10 to 100 is counted and in this way the player who stays after everyone is removed becomes the thief or the crocodile.
According to the rules of the game, the crocodile in the water that is in the yard or in the lower area. The rest of the players stay on the higher area. The other players stand encircling the thief. After all this, the game starts. This game is mostly a touch game.
There are other rules for crocodiles. The crocodile can only touch other players in the water or in low places. He cannot climb the higher places to touch the players.
In this game, the players on the ground put their feet in the water and back saying:
The crocodile is in the water,
The water is muddy
You cannot catch us
You're are tired.
Some players even say:
The crocodile is in the water
The crocodile is in the water
In this way, they tease the crocodile and force him to jump and catch them. Saying these, the other members jump from one high place to another by going through the water. As per the rules, the players from higher position can enter the lower position to shift to another higher place but the crocodile cannot go to any higher place.
While passing to another higher place, in case a player is touched by the crocodile when he is in water, he becomes the crocodile. The previous thief or crocodile takes his position on the higher place. If the game is being played in a field and the crocodile touches the player on the stones, then nothing happens to that player. But if the player is touched before he steps on the higher place, or even when one foot is on the lower place, he becomes the crocodile. In this way the game continues.
In this game, it is mandatory for the players of the higher place to enter the water. If playing on a field, shifting from one stone to another is necessary. If a player stays at a higher place for quite a long time, he mandatorily becomes the crocodile.
This game is also known as Kumbhira paani(crocodile water), Pahada paani( mountain and water) or Jaala sthala( land and water) in some regions of Odisha.