Bige

PIGA

The essence of the game:

The wooden club is vertically placed into the pre-marked circle and wooden peg (piga, piskôr) is placed on it. The first player (bouncer) bangs him with stick called čibak so that the peg (piga) flies as far as possible and other players (catchers) after firing, they will try to catch him and then throw back into the marked circle. When someone succeeds, they take on the role of bouncer.

Parameters (playground, accessories):

• Outdoor playground of any size (football field, meadow, pasture) depending on the number of players
• Approximately one meter long stick (club), on which a wooden peg (piga) is placed
• Piga – 15-20 cm long wooden peg (cut on both sides into spikes, one side is sharper)
• Stick (čibak) – about a meter long for firing piga

Rules:

• The wooden club is inserted into the center of the circle (marked in advance, e.g.stones or drawn into the ground) with a diameter of about 2 meters.
• Player place piga on top of the club. A player who acts as a bouncer (this is drawn) from anywhere (can stand in or out of the circle) fires (can from below – then the pin flies further or from above – then the piga flies in a rotating motion) wooden peg (piga) with a wooden stick (čibak). Other players try to catch a wooden peg (piga) in the air or after falling on the ground.
• The catchers stand further from the circle in the same direction as the wooden peg, so that they can catch it as soon as possible.
• The player who catches the piga must throw it back to the marked circle from the place where he caught it as soon as possible.
• The bouncer tries to use the stick (čibak) to prevent the piga from being thrown into the ring. If he succeeds, the catcher can try to throw the peg into the circle again (the catcher has three attempts).
• If the catcher fails to throw the piga into the circle even once, he will be eliminated from the game.
• If the catcher manages to complete the task (throws the piga into the circle), he takes over the role of the bouncer.

Variation of rules:

• In several places, instead of stabbing a stick into the ground, they placed a wooden peg on / through a hole in the ground and the bouncer threw it from there by picking it up with a stick (čibak) and bouncing it in the air as far as possible.
• It was also common to prepare two wooden pegs (pigas), which were placed on top of each other on the ground and fired the upper peg so that they hit on its sharper end from above with a stick (čibak), then bounced it in the air as far as possible. Bouncer had three attempts for firing piga in the air – if he failed, he was exchanged with another player.
• It also happened that instead of a stick, players used a log, which they placed in the middle of the circle and placed a piga on it. In addition, in some places they did not stick a stick into the ground, but placed it on the ground in the middle of the circle and placed a piga crosswise so that one sharper end pointed  into the air so that it could be hit from below.
• In some cases (for example, when the piga flew very far) the catcher could ask permission to approach the circle from the bouncer, who determined how many steps the catcher could take towards the circle. The bouncer often – jokingly – set so many steps to „approach” that the catcher crossed to the other side of the circle. In addition, members of a team whose players already knew each other did not allow skilled players to approach, but allowed the weaker to take a few steps.
• In some cases they played on the dropout, sometimes on points, but in some cases also on the distance, so the winner was the one who managed to hit the pig as far as possible.

Additional information:

According to gained informantion, this game was a very popular game 30-50 years ago. It was played at every social gathering in nature. There were also minor injuries during the game, so they had to be careful when playing.

GAME CONTEXT

Origin, distribution, history:

There are no reliable sources for the origin of the game.

As for the expansion of the game, they played it mainly in Malohont and Novohrad, but also in other places, areas inhabited by Hungarians, as evidenced we can see the fact that several of its names are known (biga, bige, pike, brige, brincka, peca, etc.) and also rules variations.

Who and where (did) they play?

It is a game that was played on community occasions in nature, at the barbecue, at village festivities, on the football field, on the meadow, wherever there were the necessary tools and there was enough space for a larger number of players.

The age of the players is not decisive, they were also played by children, teenagers and adults. According to gained information, the game could be played by anyone who knew how to hit or throw a wooden peg with a stick.

Further variations:

In several places (e.g. in Transylvania), instead of a stick stuck in the ground, they placed a wooden peg (piga) through a hole in the ground and from there it was necessary to plow and fire it in the air.

This was also common (e.g. at Gemer) where they used two wooden pegs, which they placed crosswise on the ground, and fired the upper peg so that they striked  its sharper end from above with a stick, then bounced it in the air as far as possible.

Additional infromation:

METHODS USED:

• independent collection of team games: with the help of interviews, questionnaires (rules, game description, game variants)
• collection in public collections: museums, archives, libraries, etc. examination of archives
• collection by studying existing game collections and volumes
• collecting not only text but also images, possibly movies, etc.