Jamaican Children's Ring Game "24 Bounces" (Video, Play Instructions, & Lyrics)

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest revision: April 11, 2021 : title change!

This post showcases the Jamaican ring game [circle game] 24 Bounces.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, recreational, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

DISCLAIMER: I have never seen this game played. I've transcribed these lyrics and described its performance from listening to and watching the video. I also used the video publisher's summary comment to help me figure out the last lines of the song.

Additions & corrections are welcome.

* The caption for this video is "She can do the 24 boxes, up and down the 24 boxes".

On April 11, 2021 I read a comment from Ms. W who remembers playing this game and believes the game is "Twenty four Bounces" and not "Boxes". I've therefore changed the title of this post.

Thanks Ms. W for your comment which can be read in this post's discussion thread. 

****
EDITOR'S NOTE ABOUT ADDING COMMENTS ON THIS BLOG
With considerable regret, I have disabled the comment feature on this blog (and on my other blogs except for https://pancocojams.blogspot.com, because of the large number of spam comments that I received on those blogs.

Comments for those blogs can be sent to my email address azizip17 dot com at yahoo dot com for possible inclusion in a specific post on those blogs.

****
FEATURED VIDEO: Jamaican children ring games



Uploaded by ochoriostube on Jun 13, 2009

"She can do the 24 boxes, up and down the 24 boxes"

****
SONG LYRICS - 24 BOUNCES

There she* goes around the ring
Around the ring
Around the ring
And if you see her way over yonder
Tell her you love her
And give her 24 bounces
She can do the 24 bounces
Up and down the 24 bounces

*Change to he [him] when a boy is the middle person.

-snip-
The last two lines suggest that "24 bounces" was the name of a dance steps.

****
PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION

Here's the performance description for the ring game "24 bounces."

The group forms a wide circle [also called "the ring"].

One person is selected to stand in the middle of the circle.

The people forming the circle begin singing while standing in place. They may also clap in time to the song’s beat.

The middle person doesn't sing, but runs or walks around the inside of the circle .

At a specific point in the song, the middle person stands in front of someone who, presumably, he or she randomly picks.

The middle person then does some type of movement which the person she or he is standing in front of has to exactly mimic.*

After this action [or after doing this two times], the middle person exchanges places with the person in the middle, and becomes the new middle person.
-snip-
Alternately, in this Jamaican "24 boxes game", the foot movements that the middle person and the foot movements of the person she (or he) selects  might be a survival of  or similar to Ghana's Ampe game. Here's information about that game from https://www.ottiya.com/magazine/2/playing-and-learning-through-rhythm-and-song-in-ghana/ Playing and Learning through Rhythm and Song in Ghana; June 2, 2019 by Yaba Haffar 
"Ampe

Ubiquitous in the country and played mostly by girls, Ampe is a game of jumping, clapping, and probability, played by two individuals or more, or two teams of an equal number of players. The game is said to have been around for at least two centuries, but its exact history is obscure. The basics of the game are as follows:

Two individuals decide to either represent the ‘same leg’ team or the ‘opposing leg’ team

The two players face each other and clap in unison twice.

Upon the second clap, both players simultaneously jump up twice. Keeping with the rhythm is essential.

On the second landing of the second jump, each player is required to ‘play a leg’, that is, select and put forward either their left or right leg.

If the legs put forward align together (for example, player A’s right foot to player B’s left), the ‘same leg team scores a point; if the legs do not align (for example, player A’s right foot to player B’s right), the ‘opposing leg’ team

This process goes on for as long as agreed from the rules set at the outset of the game by all parties. The winner or winning team then celebrate in style – often with a special combination of song, dance and sometimes friendly taunting of the losers! Ampe can be more complex, extensive, and stylistically played based on the number and personalities of the players involved. In Ampe, every player must contribute to the game. It requires teamwork and good rhythm and serves as a great form of exercise for the young and young at heart."...

****
RELATED LINKS
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2021/03/two-nigerian-childrens-circle-singing.html for a 2021 pancocojams post entitled "A Children's Circle Game From Ghana, West Africa Whose Movements Are Similar To Two African American Circle Games: "Ride The Pony " & "Little Sally Walker Was Walking Down The Street"." These are examples of the same type of "Switching places" games as the Jamaican game "24 boxes". 

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/06/information-about-traditional-ghanaian.html for Part I of a pancocojams series about Ampe. Part II features six videos of that Ghanaian girl's game. 

Also, click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2021/04/jamaican-childrens-ring-game-twenty.html for a version of this post that was published on my pancocojams blog on April 23, 2021. Information about the Dancehall dance "The Willie Bounce" was added to that post.

****
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to the publisher & the children filmed for sharing this Jamaican ring game.

Thank you for visiting zumalayah [zoom-mah-LAH-yah].

Zumalayah showcases videos of dances & singing games done in circles or in lines, and other movement performance arts from African American culture, from African cultures, and from other cultures of the African Diaspora.

Viewer comments are welcome.