10 Examples of Paradoxical Games

The paradoxical games They are a type of sports activities whose participation rules are characterized by being illogical, ambiguous or ambivalent, such as not having a defined rival side during the game or, in any case, allowing the exchange of roles between allies and adversaries. For example: the stain, burned, the hiding place.

Unlike ordinary games, paradoxical games lack a structured and fixed dynamic throughout their duration, replacing it with a motor interactions network through which the participants interact according to their whim. Thus, who until recently was our ally can cease to be, or can be simultaneously to our opponent.

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Types of games

The games are playful situations and generally physical, in which people participate and commonly face an established dynamic, purely for the purpose of recreation. The latter does not mean that games do not fulfill important social or educational roles.

There are numerous classifications of existing games, taking into account the formal logic of the game and the rules, precisely, that said logic imposes. Thus, the motor situations that a game involves can be of the following types:

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Examples of paradoxical games

1. Cycling. This sport, which consists of a bicycle race involving numerous participants, many of them who can cooperate by giving relays, but not thus could reach the goal together: only one will be able to defeat the final. But this does not mean that there are clearly defined sides, nor that they cease to be opponents by briefly cooperating.
2. X2. This game requires a ball or any mobile object, which the players must pass while they count aloud: "one", "X", "two". Whoever has the turn to count the “two” must throw the object to any other teammate of their choice: if hits, he will win a point, if instead that partner saves the ball without dropping it, a point will be deducted from pitcher. Whoever gets the most points will win. If any player drops the object before he can throw it, he will also lose a point and the sequence will be restarted.
3. Rings and corners. Four plastic rings are placed making a square on the ground, separated from each other by two or more meters. In each one a player will be located, while another will go in the middle, without a ring. At the signal, each player must try to change to another ring of his choice, so that one remains on the outside again and, logically, now occupies the center position. This will be repeated successively, faster and faster, and no player will be able to stay on the same ring.
4. The stain. The classic game of chasing, in which there are two positions: the chaser (only one) and the chased (as many as they wish), but that will be exchanged as the persecutor touches one of the persecuted. Then the "stain" will be transmitted to him and he will become part of the persecuted, thus fluctuating each player between the two sides according to the times in which he is touched.
5. Viruses, doctors and patients. There are three teams, as the name suggests, each with a mission different from the others: virus They will try to infect the patients, the patients will try to be cured by the doctors and the latter will try to eliminate the viruses. The captured players, of whatever team they are, will go to a “jail” space, until they enter it a player from the opposing team: a virus for the doctors, a doctor for the patients and a patient for the virus. The team that sends all the team members to chase to jail will win, or failing that, whoever is closest to it when the time is up.
6. Contact ball. This game will require a ball, which the players will pass through the air, and which will be used to touch (not throw it) at any other player, paralyzing him in place with his legs spread, until he can get hold of the ball. Thus, without teams, the paralyzed and the free will alternate between the alliance and the opposition, as the playing time passes. When this is exhausted, the paralyzed will come out and the game will resume until only one remains.
7. Burned. The players are divided into two opposing teams, each behind a line on the ground that they will not be able to cross. Between line and line there will be at least two meters of separation and there will be a ball, with which they must try to "burn", that is, hit a member of the opposing team who will then become part of the own self. If the ball misses or is saved, it may be used by the opposing team in the same way. Thus, the team that keeps all the players will win.
8. Ducks to water. A circle is drawn on the ground and the players stand inside, all facing into the ground. The objective of the game is to push the other players with their body and back until they are out of the circle, which cannot be done without some kind of temporary pact between the players, which will be destined to be broken, since whoever remains last within the circle.
9. The thread cutter. It is a variant of the spot, the game of chase. There will be a persecutor, who will choose a victim to publicly persecute. Then, it will run in a straight line towards it, until someone crosses or "cuts" the thread of said straight line, thus going on to occupy the role of being pursued. This will happen every time someone gets in the way or until the pursuer catches up with someone, who will then become a new pursuer and so on.
10. Hideout. Another classic childhood game, in which a randomly chosen player must count to 100 looking at the wall, while the others hide. Once the figure is reached, the solitary player must search for and find his companions, and run to the wall first to give them away. On the other hand, if someone touches the wall before him, he will be freed on his own. Thus, the first to be reported will assume the role of the accountant in the next round and the game will restart. The interesting thing, in addition, in this game, is to see the temporary alliances that can happen between the freed players and those who are still hiding, or even between them and the counter.

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