Pithoo – Famous Punjabi

A folk game which many of us have grown up playing is Pithoo or Pithoo garam . The game of Pithoo can be played amongst 10 people or even more. Two teams compete against each other much like many other games .The number of players in each time can be any where from two and more depending upon the number of kids show up to the village ground. Pithoo one of the games which is still a big craze in villages of Punjab . There is no special equipment required for this game except a soft rubber ball and few flat disc stones.One of the team is given a chance to be a striker and the other is called fielder team. The captain members of both the teams stand facing each other at a distance of 10 to 15 feet, and the ball being placed between them, respective team members make queue and line up behind their respective team captain. Pithoo is ready to start now.The captain of the striker team tries to hit the stone tower with the ball with a direct hit, If the ball does not hits the stones and is caught by any of the opposite team member after a single bounce, the captain is marked out of the game and have to sit outside the field and wait till his team has finished their turn. This way each member tries of the striker team and if is marked out have to sit outside the field, till all members are out, then the opposite team gets to be the striker team. The interesting part, which is the main fun, happens when the ball hits the stone tower. The stones scatter on the ground and everybody can be seen running around the field. At this time the striker team members try to fix the stone tower back without getting hit by the ball. The job of the fielder team is to hit the ball to as many members of the striker team before the striker team members can buildup the stone tower back up. You could easily see a lot of co-ordination and teamwork being exercised during this chaos by both teams as both the teams strives hard. This chaos ends if members of striker team are unable to build the stone tower back up and get hit by the ball or they successfully build the tower. If the tower is built back, the striker team can accumulate points or can also call any one member of their team from outside of the field is any one was sent out. Once all the members of the striker team are out, then the opposite team gets a chance to be the striker and the game starts again.