A very popular party game played in Japan mostly during summer and outside, especially at beaches - a trip to the beach is not complete without a round of suikawari.

The word translates quite literally as watermelon splitting ("suika" means watermelon, "wari" is a nominalized form of the verb waru, "to split").

And this is how you play it:

  • The watermelon is placed on the ground
  • Each player in turn is blindfolded and given a stick (often a bokken)
  • He or she is disoriented by spinning.
  • The player then tries to find and split the watermelon, helped (or hindered) by shouted hints from the others
  • Everyone gets only a single whack at a time
  • When someone finally manages to split open the melon, everyone gets a share

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