How to play
- Participants
- We suggest 6–12 players; the encyclopaedia gives no number.
- Space
- A level area with a clear running lane outside the circle.
- Equipment
- A soft scarf without knots
- Starting formation
- Everyone except the distributor stands in a circle with their hands behind their backs.
- The distributor walks outside the circle and secretly leaves the scarf in one player’s hands.
- The recipient gently taps the neighbour on their right with a hand. This is our adapted starting signal; nobody is struck with the scarf.
- The neighbour runs around the outside and back to their own place. The scarf recipient follows along the same route.
- When the runner returns, everyone stops. Agree beforehand who distributes next; this rotation is an organisational choice.
Ending: One round ends when the runner reaches their original place. Repeat so that willing participants can try different roles.
Documented version: The VLE circle variant uses a blow with the cloth. This activity substitutes a gentle tap and does not incorporate the separate Pakruojis guessing variant.
Names and variants
Žiužis
Learning the sequence
Secret passing, the neighbour on the right and returning to the starting place are the key cues. Walk through the whole route before playing at speed.
Reading the source
VLE describes more than one form of the game. This page is a teaching adaptation of its circle account, not a verbatim record or a reconstruction of the Pakruojis version.