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There are many children's games that are played throughout many parts of the world. Do the following games exist in Spanish-speaking countries, and, if so, what are they called? (I found many of these on the Wikipedia list of children's games)

  • Arm wrestling
  • Cops and robbers
  • Dodge ball
  • Duck, duck, goose
  • Four square
  • Hide-and-seek
  • Hopscotch
  • Jacks
  • Jump rope
  • Kickball
  • Leapfrog
  • Musical chairs
  • Marbles
  • Red light, green light
  • Red rover
  • Rock, paper, scissors
  • Simon says
  • Tag
  • Thumb war
  • Tic-Tac-Toe
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3 Answers

up vote 5 down vote accepted

I'm afraid a lot of the names for this games are very local, I'm from Mallorca (Spain) and that's how I call them:

  • Arm wrestling: Hacer un pulso/pulso
  • Cops and robers: Policias y ladrones (a variant of Tag when a "police" catch you you turn into one so every time there's more people doing the catching)
  • Dodge ball:Mato
  • Duck, duck, goose: I played but I can't rememeber the name in spanish (in catalan we called it "comprau peix"/buy some fish as the first sentence of the song)
  • Four square: Cuatro esquinas (not very popular around here)
  • Hide-and-seek: Escondite
  • Hopscotch: Piso
  • Jacks:I think we played a variation called "cinco piedrecitas" but we play with little stones and no ball.
  • Jump rope: Saltar a la comba.
  • Kickball: I don't think that's played around here.
  • Leapfrog: Piola
  • Musical chairs: Las sillitas or El juego de las sillas
  • Marbles: Canicas
  • Red light, green light: Patito inglés. The "curator" has to say "un, dos, tres, patito inglés" as fast or slow as they want and during that time the others players can move.
  • Red rover: I remember the game but I can't remember the name
  • Rock, paper, scissors: piedra, papel, tijera.
  • Simon says:Simón dice
  • Tag: Pilla-pilla
  • Thumb war: Pulso de pulgares/Pulso chino
  • Tic-Tac-Toe: Tres en raya.
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The names may vary, in Perú Dodge ball is also know as "Mata gente", thumb war as "Gallito", cops and robers as "poliladro" – César Jan 8 '12 at 19:45
tic-tac-toe as "michi" – César Jan 8 '12 at 19:51
up vote 4 down vote

As Laura said, names for children's games tend to be very localized. Here is how they are called in and around Buenos Aires.

  • Arm wrestling
    • pulseada
  • Cops and robbers
    • poliladron
  • Dodge ball
    • the variant Wikipedia calls prisonball is called quemado or delegado
  • Duck, duck, goose
    • the variant called rag tag is called huevo podrido
  • Four square
    • never played it
  • Hide-and-seek
    • escondida
  • Hopscotch
    • rayuela
  • Jacks
    • a slightly different game is called payana or tinenti
  • Jump rope
    • saltar la soga
  • Kickball
    • never played it
  • Leapfrog
    • rango
  • Musical chairs
    • juego de las sillas
  • Marbles
    • bolitas
  • Red light, green light
    • las estatuas
  • Red rover
    • no idea, never played it
  • Rock, paper, scissors
    • piedra, papel o tijera
  • Simon says
    • can't remember, I'm pretty sure there wasn't any Simon involved
  • Tag
    • mancha
  • Thumb war
    • pulseada china
  • Tic-Tac-Toe
    • ta-te-tí
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I've played Simon says simply as Simón dice but it could just be a direct translation. (I comment this answer as I'm from Buenos Aires too) – Petruza Jan 10 '12 at 3:03
"Antón pirulero" has some slight resemblance to "Simon says". – leonbloy Jan 11 '12 at 15:42
Note: I rollbacked AlejoNext's and Javi's edits because they introduced terms foreign to the geographical area my answer is about. – angus Jan 15 '12 at 18:40
up vote 2 down vote

I have some of the missing ones:

  • Duck Duck Goose
    • "De tin marin de dopin gue"
  • Leapfrog
    • "Brincaranas"
  • Musical Chairs
    • "El sin silla"
  • Tag
    • "Tu las trais"
  • Thumb war
    • "Enanos Luchadores"
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How do you make bullets in the editor? – Fortunato Jan 9 '12 at 22:35
Asterisk at the beginning of a line, and then a space. – Petruza Jan 10 '12 at 3:04
@Fortunato: Added the bullets. – jrdioko Jan 12 '12 at 4:49

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