Football Pencil
I teach Eitan a game I played in grade school - table football. The objective is to scoot the paper 'football' across the table getting a piece over the edge - seven points. If the 'ball' goes over the side, the opponent gets a crack at a field goal - 3 points. A field goal scored through the opponents upheld fingers (goal posts) while the 'kick' a flick of the middle finger. In fifth and sixth grade we spent hours doing this instead of .. school. Could this explain something? Another popular game was 'pencil' where the objective to break the other's instrument. This was done by 'cocking' the wood, held in one hand and pulled back the other, then bringing it down with a loud crack upon contact. Every pencil a different challenge: a No. 2 the bread-and-butter of the game but then there was "the chubby" (an over-sized wood surprisingly weak given its size) and the No. 2.5 (stronger lead and a bit firmer in the center). We broke hundreds of pencils on the bus ride to school or on the playground or back of the class. The teachers hated it of course - but what could they do? Destructive little dudes were we.
