Thread: Городки

I'm interested in the game of городки; I did a presentation on Soviet sports a few years ago and came across it. I know that it certainly doesn't rival, say, soccer in popularity, but I wasn't sure if it had died off for all practical purposes or not. Please leave the appropriate answer and leave any comments you may have. Thanks!

Last time I played it was when I was a kid.
So - never.

You were such a good soviet!

I think this game is pretty much dead, although I would expect that most of Russians of at least my generation and older know what it is (was). I played it a few times when I was a kid...

I SAW old men playing gorodki when I was six and I liked it a lot, but never played it myself.

Wow, this is really dissappointing, but I can't say altogether shocking. It's such an interesting sounding game, although it does sound like it would attract older men (ie Russian horseshoes). I was hoping someone on MR was a champion городки hurler...

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

I SAW old men playing gorodki when I was six and I liked it a lot, but never played it myself.

Apparently seeing Городки is like seeing that super-rare bird of which only 5 exist in the whole world!

There's a gorodki court near my home. It's tremendosly expensive. It's more expensive than billiard and bouling. However, I always hear bangs while passing by it which means that people still like to play.

dare i ask.. what exactly is gorodki?

judging from the context clues... its a game where u throw things at other things. It sounds kinda boring to me.

Originally Posted by basurero

dare i ask.. what exactly is gorodki?

In four words: bowling with big sticks.

Originally Posted by mishau_

There's a gorodki court near my home. It's tremendosly expensive. It's more expensive than billiard and bouling. However, I always hear bangs while passing by it which means that people still like to play.

Good to know! Kind of sad that it's so expensive though -- and I think bowling was actually pretty expensive in StPb, so that's alarming. If you don't mind my asking, what city was this in -- Moscow?

what city was this in -- Moscow?

you're right, it was there.

here are some more information
http://www.gorodki.com.ru/

http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%93%D0% ... 0%BA%D0%B8

In four words: bowling with big sticks.

Cripes! It proves to be a mixture of baseball and bowling

Originally Posted by mishau_

here are some more information
http://www.gorodki.com.ru/
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%93%D0% ... 0%BA%D0%B8

Thanks for the links. Judging from them, it's no wonder people are somewhat hesistant to play -- it's almost 3.000 R to buy a set! That's pretty steep.

Although, the wikipedia article had a priceless phrase in the English translation: "The last one is Finnish and literally translates as "killing the priest"."

Originally Posted by Barmaley

Thanks for the links. Judging from them, it's no wonder people are somewhat hesistant to play -- it's almost 3.000 R to buy a set! That's pretty steep.

Obviously you've never bought golf clubs, a bowling ball, or hockey equipment.

It's like Jenga except played with logs!

Or maybe like dominoes and tinkertoys combined, I'm not sure...

Lincoln Logs?

Originally Posted by BlackMage

Obviously you've never bought golf clubs, a bowling ball, or hockey equipment.

Ah, but I have -- that's what yard sales are for. I love my wooden drivers...
I think though, that this is a far more serious price for the average Russian. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is a pretty hefty price (a bit over $100 US) for a game, and unless you have a fair bit of wealth, you probably aren't going blow your hard earned денги on it.