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There are numerous games where the race, in one way or another, is an important part. The games can be initially classified into those where the objective is the race itself and others where the race is a further component. In any event, it should be noted that even in the case of the races as such, they often lose their competitive meaning and become mere entertaining pastimes.

The speed contest is a game found in all nearly all surveyed locations. Boys are usually, but not exclusively, the ones taking part. In general, races are organised to see who runs faster from a starting point to a pre-agreed finish; that may be a street, a house, a certain stone of a wall, a tree, etc.

One original racing game is called “shoe pile scramble”. All the players, who can be many and of different sex, need to remove their shoes and leave them in a pile. They then line up on the starting a line a short distance away. Once the signal is given, each one runs to get their shoes, put them on and race back to the starting line. The first one to do so wins.

This section includes all those where running is the most important aspect even though it takes different forms in the various games, as can be seen in the detailed description of each of them. They sometimes involve running to the other players; that will often not be sufficient and they will have to touch or catch their playmates and there will even been times where the participants have to sprint at great speed to avoid being caught.