Does anyone know the rules - if there are any - to the 'game' of 'Bok-bok' played in South Africa.

Question

Bok-bok is a very dangerous game in which the words 'Bok-bok staan styf, hoeveel vingers op jou lyf' are chanted. It's banned in schools as it can result in broken backs as well as limbs, teeth and noses.

Answer 1

Courtesy  Jim Storrar at the site below:

"Bok-Bok" the explanation for which is.... Leap frog.  Whilst the opening sequence of play superficially resembles leapfrog, all other similarities end there.

The rather endearing term.... "Leap Frog" implies some sort of benign children's' game, free from violence and not of a highly competitive nature.   Nothing could be further from the truth.

Bok-Bok is a very ancient game, played in Roman times. The cry at the opening of the game was;   ... Bucca Bucca quot sunt hic? The game is similar to the English Public School game called ...    High (Hey) Coackalorum. They shout   "Stand rigid, how many fingers on your body"?   In Kenya, the opening cry was.... "Bok-Bok, staan styf. Hoeveel vingers op jou lyf?”  

There is a painting by Breughel of children's games in which the game is illustrated.    Anyway, enough of all that pedantry, as it was only a game, much enjoyed by South Africans, Boeties, young Sikh men and Rugby players.

There are rules, the most important of which was that all rules were there to be broken. If there was a referee and they were usually Hors de Combat or on the blind side of play; they were supposed to adjudge:-  that misdemeanours such as .. eye gouging, kidney punching, rib breaking, hair pulling and rearranging of the cosmatokkers with the skilful back heel kick as  .... foul  play. The penalty suffered by the offending team was to endure the gruelling mauling that was the automatic consequence of being the bucking (notice care in spelling)  or Bokking team.

Years ago, I tried to explain how the game was played, to the blokes in our Pub Tug o' War team, as I felt it might make our training sessions more interesting.  The general consensus afterwards,  ... never again, far too rough.  I hasten to add that it would be tedious if not incomprehensible to even begin to explain the intricacies of the game through this medium.

Further to all this stuff about Bok-Bok, I can add a little bit more about scoring and strategy, which may not have been universal but were fairly consistent.

Scoring

Once a member of the running team was committed to and had started his run, he was not allowed to stop, restart or miss the target, any of these was counted as falling off and therefore the running team were "out".

If any part of any runners' body touched the ground once aboard the Bokking team, that was counted as falling off.

Sometimes, by agreement, the runners would defer from landing fists first on the down team.

The Bokking team had to remain connected otherwise a break was counted as a collapse.

The rearmost chap of the down team had to remain motionless until the first  runner was actually on the move.

There was no limit on the number of runners that could be sent in one go, however, teamwork and some pretty fancy footwork was needed to get more than one bloke up in the air at once, as any confusion could stop the run and make your team "out".

Strategy

Normally, in the Bokking team, the end guy would be the toughest and tallest in the team, as he took the brunt of the attack and his height would disadvantage the smaller and less athletic runners.  The heaviest and most sturdy guys would be in the middle, as inevitably this was were most of the runners concentrated their forces  and the smaller guys would be up at the front out of harm's way.  

The Bokking and swerving was extremely tiring and increased the risk of becoming disconnected, instructions came from the guy at the  front and the chap at the back who were the only guys who could see what was going on,  as to the most opportune moments to move and thus conserve energy.  

The runners would usually send their heaviest guy first, as part of a shock and awe tactic, provided he was athletic and nimble enough to be able to change direction on the run and make that initial big leap and then scramble down the backs to make room for his team mates.

Without the weight of any runners on board, the Bokkers were at their most mobile at this time.  As long as they could jump high enough, the alternative strategy was to get all the smaller guys on first as they were agile enough to make their way up to the front and most vulnerable part of the Bokking team

Naturally, none of the above mattered a d**n, if the game degenerated into a no rules, no holds barred affair, which was the norm.  Great fun was had by all.   Occasionally, the shout of "Bok- Bok" would ring out and every chap in the vicinity would turn up for a mass game which was organized chaos but a helluva lota laughs.

Answer 2

many rules