Buck buck
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| Players | 4 or more |
|---|---|
| Age range | 14 and up |
| Setup time | 2 minutes |
| Playing time | no limit |
| Random chance | Low |
| Skills required | Running, Jumping, Balance, Strength |
Buck Buck (also known as "Johnny on a Pony", "Matupaki", "Chinchilagua" or "Lapte gros") is a popular team game that has been played for many years, particularly at large social gatherings (such as concerts), fraternity events where many willing players of different sizes can be found, or at band camps.
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[edit] Rules
The group divides into two teams. One member of the first team bends over and wraps his/her arms around a tree or similar object (like a very big person in body mass), the next member bends over and hugs the first one around the waist, and the remaining members do the same one after the other to form a "horse". The other team takes turns shouting "buck buck number 1 (2, 3,...) coming!", then with a running start, jumping onto the back of the "horse". Each team member stays on the horse while subsequent jumpers accumulate.
Rules may vary, but generally the objective of the jumping team is to collapse or "break" the horse without any jumping teammembers touching the ground after they land on the horse, and the objective of the horse team is to get a member of the jumping team to touch the ground before their team is collapsed under the jumping team. The winning team gets to jump in the next round. Collapses can be especially stressful for the horse team because it is important that the jumping team keep their feet, and all parts of their bodies, away from the ground at all times until the horse is decisively collapsed. So as the horse team starts going down, the jumping team must ride the other team all the way to the ground to avoid losing, thus doing nothing which eases the weight driving the collapse of their opposing team under them. One of the most common mistakes riders make is to start jumping off when they feel the horse collapsing under them, when instead, that's especially the time all riders should be focusing on good balance, helping to hold teammates together, and keeping everybody's feet from touching the ground. A good hard collapse of the horse team with the riders staying in position the whole way down also has the benefit of making the horse team a weaker opponent when they must again form the next horse team.
[edit] Strategy
Strong and heavy team members are obviously valuable. There is some strategy involved in forming the horse (deciding where to place weaker players in the line), as well as choosing the order of jumpers (sending some good jumpers first to get as far forward as possible, others last because they may have to jump atop a heap of previous jumpers).
An ideal jump should land with as much impact as possible, preferably on the smallest and weakest parts of the horse, but balanced and steady enough to avoid toppling a previous jumper. The rules may allow jumpers to move forward, backward, and/or bounce up and down on the horse after landing; this can further weaken the horse, but also risks toppling a previous jumper if the jumpers are imbalanced.
If a jumper (especially a large one) lands on a particularly weak, small, or vulnerable part of the horse, it can be useful for subsequent jumpers to try to concentrate their landings by as many people as they can, concentrating on that spot, stacking vertically as necessary.
If a jumper lands on the first couple of team members of the horse team early in the match, following jumpers should attempt to "leapfrog" up and over the earlier jumper. This allows subsequent jumpers to land further and harder on unsuspecting horse team members further forward, possibly causing a quick loss of balance and possibly a quick collapse in only a couple of landings.
Jumpers must be reminded that their responsibility while on the horse is to not lose their balance and to keep their feet up at all times to ensure they do not touch the ground in any way. Sometimes jumpers think the horse is collapsing when it really isn't and put their feet down, losing the round for their team. It is when they feel the horse starting to collapse that it is most important for all riders to hold their feet up off the ground and keep from touching the ground until they are absolutely sure the horse is down. A well-ridden collapse of the horse by the riding team also helps to weaken their opponents for subsequent rounds.
With large teams (more than 10 players), the horse team may be limited to 6-10 players (a different subset each round), while the jumping team is unlimited. This helps to prevent ties, where the horse doesn't collapse and the jumping team doesn't fall off; with a smaller horse, the jumping team will generally end up sending enough jumpers to either win or lose.
[edit] Tournaments
Buck Buck is popular for playing where there are several teams competing (such as college fraternities) because it is well-suited to a round-robin tournament. Teams normally play each other in best-of-three sets, randomly choosing which team jumps in the first round. At the end of the tournament, two overall winners are chosen: the winning jumping team (the team that collapsed the most horses during the tournament) and the winning horse team (the team that avoided collapse the most times during the tournament).
Well known large or regularly held Buck Buck tournaments:
June 29-July 4: Cornerstone Festival, Bushnell, IL
Memorial Day, Deer River Minnesota.
[edit] Cultural References
Bill Cosby's 1967 album Revenge includes a track "Buck, Buck" [sic] in which he describes playing the game as a child. He mentions that in his hometown of Philadelphia it was called "Buck Buck," while in New York City it was known as "Johnny on the Pony [sic]". This track introduces Fat Albert, "the baddest Buck Buck breaker in the world," who "weighed 2,000 pounds" and was the basis for the hit cartoon series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. The same story, in a slightly different form, is also included in Cosby's book Childhood.
Names of similar games around the world:
Greece: Μακριά γαϊδούρα (makria gaidoura — long jenny)
Israel: Sus Arokh/ Khamor Arokh
Korea: Matupaki
Mexico: Burro Bala / Caballito de Bronce/ Chinchilagua/ tamalitos a la olla
Russia: Slon Слоны
Turkey: Uzun Eşşek
Venezuela: Tombola!
Chile: Caballito de Bronce
South Africa: Bok-Bok
Romania: Lapte gros
