This one's for the ladies

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MaJena@reddit

We used to call this "jumpsies" and would interlock elastic bands to make a chain/loop!

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TapeFlip187@reddit

Ok I've seen so many people say this and I've been embarrassed to ask but I cant take it anymore - when you make it from elastic bands, how do you close the loop? 🫣

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MaJena@reddit

i don't even remember! maybe tied it off and knotted at the ends?

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TapeFlip187@reddit

I'm sure it was something like that I just had to ask lol

I remember trying to close a couple jelly bracelets i had linked like that (instead of looping side by side) and was like 'wait WHAT. ok there must be a trick to this..' but I got frustrated immediately and gave up😭

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toodledootootootoo@reddit

We also called it jumpies! I was so good at this game!! My uncle worked in a garment factory and would bring us underwear elastic rolls. Those were the best!!

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Feisty-Lifeguard-550@reddit

Yes , loved this game

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jitterfish@reddit

This would be the in thing, then jump rope, then marbles, then gutter ball and back to elastics. I remember it getting banned at one point (and marbles too).

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Charming-Insurance@reddit

Why banned!?!?! 😱😱

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TapeFlip187@reddit

Marbles got banned at my school bc you got to keep the ones you won and it was "gambling". (Basically, sore losers and their whiny parents threw tantrums and that was the school's grounds for shutting it down)

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meegaweega@reddit

My 81 year old mother was her school's Marble Queen back in the 1950s and 60s 👑

The boys would be a sookybubba about her winning their marbles and would show up at mum's house after school, with their mother, to cry about it until mum gave them back just to get rid of them.

Mum's still proudly displaying her marble collections in old glass milk bottles up on the kitchen window sill to look all backlit and awesome.

Goodonya mum 🥰👍

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TapeFlip187@reddit

Ok, that is amazing. Those are one of the few things I would consider actual treasures vs the many, many "treasures" parents tend to save to pass down, haha.

Good for her!

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jitterfish@reddit

Yeah as someone else said marbles were because winner kept them. Elastics was because two people broke their arm in quick succession.

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Charming-Insurance@reddit

Wow. Thankfully that didn’t happen at my schools. At least when I was a kid.

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Historical-Smirk1024@reddit

Don't remember doing this, but does anyone remember tinikling? Two people hold long bamboo poles that they move in/out in a pattern. One or two other people would jump between the poles, sort of like double dutch jumping. Lots of fun, but seemed like a weird thing for Midwestern elementary students to learn.

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TapeFlip187@reddit

Ok, my 65yr old mother just Yelled that she knows what this is, is "hella good at it" and she'll "do it right now" 🫩

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meegaweega@reddit

Go mum, go! 😄

Get her mates over for a game.

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TapeFlip187@reddit

I would Love to see that actually. She is in pretty good shape haha..

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CraftLass@reddit

It was featured on the sitcom The Middle! Really funny episode, Sue has to learn it in gym class and sucks, great physical comedy ensues.

And that show is all about sharing the midwest, so I guess it tracks. Only place I have ever seen it (northeastern myself). Found it an odd thing but neat to see that it has accuracy.

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DowntownSurvey6568@reddit

I saw something like this done by Filipino dancers.

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hikeitaway123@reddit

Yes! Reminds me…..Does anyone remember what the finger string game was like this?

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coldoldduck@reddit

My friends and I were obsessed with the finger string version!

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hikeitaway123@reddit

Me too!

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katnap4866@reddit

Cat’s cradle?

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GoldberryoTulgeyWood@reddit

But for your feet!

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snakeayez@reddit

I am late 60s born GenX and don't recognize this. I'm from Midwest

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repomonkey@reddit

Midwest, what?

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snakeayez@reddit

Midwest USA. Kansas

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padall@reddit

Really? It's Chinese Jump Rope. I loved it... It was so much fun. We played it at home and at school.

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snakeayez@reddit

Yeah this is like the first reference in a long while that I haven't gotten. I'm gonna ask my wife (later 70s GenX) tomorrow.

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CraftLass@reddit

Yeah, I notice a lot of Europeans know it, I''m mid-70s from the NYC metro area and this is the first time I have seen or heard of this. But it might have been around, just not at my schools or in my neighborhood. Life was still pretty darn local in many ways, wasn't it?

Sounds like a more static version of double dutch? Which is what we got really into in elementary school.

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the_other_50_percent@reddit

MA, it was big. Also a single big jump rope, and double dutch for a few of the most coordinated.

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Original_Rent7677@reddit

This was so popular at school in New Zealand.

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TheNolaCatLady@reddit

American here and I have never seen this game.

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not_bonnakins@reddit

Canadian and also confused about what I am looking at.

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TheNolaCatLady@reddit

Maybe this game was kept secret from us North Americans.

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MaJena@reddit

it was big in the suburbs of 1980s Toronto.

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meegaweega@reddit

Australian here, we fkn looooved playing "elastics"

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TheNolaCatLady@reddit

I'm going to have to see if I can find a video of this on YouTube. I'm wondering how it was played.

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meegaweega@reddit

Here's an instructional video from a kiwi (Aotearoa / New Zealand)

https://youtu.be/ag9Ou0YpD0o

Stoked to see kids playing elastics. First time I've seen anyone play it in decades 🤩

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TheNolaCatLady@reddit

Ok, I just watched a YouTube video and it's the first time I've ever seen this game played. I grew up in the 70's & 80's and it's not a game we played here.

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Intelligent_Salad_70@reddit

Why was it removed by moderator?

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GenX-ModTeam@reddit

If you have a question or concern, contact the mod team directly and do not post in the sub.

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Remarkable_Class824@reddit

Whoa! Xennial, here—I can't believe how many Xers are asking what this is. Was it regional? Californian—we called it Chinese jump rope.

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Technical_Button7095@reddit

I've never seen it- midwesterner....

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onlymostlydead@reddit

54yo from the PNW (Seattle area specifically) and it was all over school with the same name.

We also had a large number of Vietnamese refugees who brought a similar game with them that was popular too, but can't for the life of me remember anything about it.

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Remarkable_Class824@reddit

Thanks to everyone who replied. 😄 I kept scrolling and didn't see any answers calling it Chinese jump rope. After I answered, I saw more responses from others calling it the same. I assumed it originated in China, thus the name, but questioned it's popularity/reach when so many said they didn't know.

A time was HAD playing it, either way! 🤪

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beegsyboo@reddit

I played it when I lived in Hawaii

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AntheaBrainhooke@reddit

I played it in New Zealand

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Informal_Visit2574@reddit

I played it in Australia

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padall@reddit

Well, I'm from NY, all the way on the other side of the country, and we played it all the time, too. 😆

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Decline_of_Humanity@reddit

I've seen the girls playing this in Connecticut.

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baadkitteekittee@reddit

💯 %. California girl here and I can confirm that she is right about it being called Chinese jump rope ⤴️ don't know why

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GenX-ModTeam@reddit

Moratorium - Some posts may be removed due to temporary moratoriums on its content.

Currently, photos of Redditors are not permitted.

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padall@reddit

In, out, side, side, on, in, out

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unicornsparkle86@reddit

Came here to say this! For us it was “side by side”

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the_other_50_percent@reddit

“Side to side” for us

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YouMustBeJoking888@reddit

In my neck of the woods it was called Chinese Jumprope. No idea why, but it was fun as hell.

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0209061@reddit

We use to say/shout/sing:
England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales Inside, outside, inside, on!

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stinkyswife@reddit

French Skipping (west midlands, england)

My friend and I were really good at this.

England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales. Inside, outside, puppy dogs' tails!

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chawchat@reddit

The girls played this at recess in my school time and that was in the late seventies, early eighties in The Netherlands. The called it "elastieken" and I never understood what exactly they were doing.

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PRC_Spy@reddit

They used to rope the boys in too, so I remember it well.

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Edexote@reddit

Elastics play in Portugal. Only girls played it.

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Ahg082860@reddit

I’m 65, never seen this before.

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unicornsparkle86@reddit

55 here. This was our entire recess game.

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NotEasilyConfused@reddit

53, same. Someone .... please explain WTH this is.

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science_nerdd@reddit

“Chinese jump rope” a large springy elastic rope/band. You could play like these girls and do a mix of hopscotch and jump rope, or use your fingers to do cats cradle.

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sparkGun2020@reddit

"French skipping" though I don't know where the name came from

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CompetitiveSoil7901@reddit

Yep I do remember this . Now that I think about it was about rules and how freaking good we were about it lol and we the kids made the rules and everyone understood.

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SimpleVegetable5715@reddit

We spent more time trying to trip each other than actually playing the game. Like I spent more time drawing the hopscotch. I just realized, I didn’t know it was the last time I would jump rope or hop scotch. My knees now could never.

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Emotional-Section981@reddit

Called it elastics in England

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AntheaBrainhooke@reddit

Elastics! OMG I sucked so hard at that game!

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ErisianSaint@reddit

Me, too.

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LauraLand27@reddit

Core memory unlocked

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RedditWidow@reddit

Chinese jump rope and Chinese jacks were crazy popular at my elementary school circa 1980

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DannyA88@reddit

Had genX bros and sis' .. this a red rover thing or like a sack race?..

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TapeFlip187@reddit

It's kind of like jump rope hopscotch? Two people hold the rope and one person is the jumper. The cord is elastic and moved up to increase difficulty rather than a rope moving faster. You jump a combo between the ropes then land on them.

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thatstwatshesays@reddit

Thank you for this! I played it every single day for a stretch, but I’m wracking my brain as to how it was played. Memories unlocked 🥹

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DannyA88@reddit

Thank you for your help lol.. im going to look this up and have my nieces and nephews play this at next fam party to see if borthers and sisters interject.

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TapeFlip187@reddit

I grew up hearing it called "Chinese Jumprope" (it actually originated in China, it's not just a horrifying olde tyme nickname) but I've never really looked it up to see if it has a real name. It's pretty fun haha.

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DannyA88@reddit

I was adopted.. id like to report back tmwith my findings lol.

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Snoo14546@reddit

In out side by side in out in on and out !!!

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7eregrine@reddit

I cannot be the only one that has no idea what this is..

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TapeFlip187@reddit

Really? It's 100s of years old.

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StarDewbie@reddit

Chinese jump rope!

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whirlydad@reddit

That's not the preferred nomenclature, Dude.

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TapeFlip187@reddit

But it's Chinese? And you jump the rope?

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ExaminationFancy@reddit

That’s what everyone called it back in the day.

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304libco@reddit

I mean, that’s what it said on the box that came in

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304libco@reddit

Out of curiosity, I googled it and it’s a Chinese game.

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SpaceAdventures3D@reddit

Chinese jump rope.does seem to the common name. The game can be traced back to China. It's not derogatory.

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Firm_Confusion_1692@reddit

Really! So insulting! The nerve of this guy, he needs a ban. Lol

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KookyComfortable6709@reddit

We called it that too.

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benibigboi@reddit

That's what we called it.

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hernwoodlake@reddit

In Out Side Side In On Out Scoopsies

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beegsyboo@reddit

Helllllll yah

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beegsyboo@reddit

10, 20, 30, 40.... Sooo.good. Chinese jumprope. This and double dutch.

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Intelligent_Salad_70@reddit

In the UK we called it french skipping, we were obsessed!!!

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glorieuse@reddit

And in Québec we called it "to play elastic" (jouer à l'élastique).

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housevil@reddit

TF is this?

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Impressive-Health670@reddit

You missed out on yours of playground fun and the occasional ankle chafing! 😜

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ExaminationFancy@reddit

Chinese Jump Rope!

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cherryberry0611@reddit

We used so many rubber bands to make these lol

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tango421@reddit

I’m a guy and I do. I was quite flexible due to martial arts training as a kid. My male and female cousins played this too, we were all in the same class.

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