The notion of whirligig arose from pirn , an onomatopoeia that refers to the turning of something. A small top that is usually prism -shaped is called a whirligig. It is worth mentioning that the toy generally called balero , which consists of a handle and a ball tied by a rope to the first, is also called pirinola in some regions.
The whirligig has an extension that allows you to rotate it with your fingers. This top can present words , phrases or numbers that are used to develop different games . Two other names by which perinola is known are pirindola and pirinola .
By having inscriptions on its sides, the whirligig makes it possible to play by appealing to chance . The person spinning the whirligig cannot know which side will face up once the object stops, so the inscription that is displayed when the movement is stopped depends on luck.
A common game is played with a whirligig that has six faces or sides. They can read “Take one” , “Take two” , “Take everything” , “Pone one” , “Pone two” or “Everyone puts” (or similar expressions).
The players receive the same amount of chips or coins and form the initial pot by contributing one chip each. Then, in a round, each participant must spin the whirligig. Depending on the instruction given according to the legend, the various players must take or put down chips. The winner is the one who keeps the pot or the largest number of chips.
As mentioned in the previous paragraph, an initial pot is formed with the bets made by each player, although this aspect of the whirligig game is optional. Another characteristic that we should point out is that it is not necessarily a group game, but can also be enjoyed by a single person, as well as solitaire and certain dice games.
Using the whirligig requires a certain degree of skill and practice, which is usually more difficult to achieve for the little ones given that their motor skills are still in full development. Although it is not an extremely difficult action, it is true that to achieve the turn we must take into account several issues:
* First of all, we must place the whirligig perpendicular to the surface on which we want to rotate it, that is, at an angle of 90 degrees with respect to it;
* to prevent the rubbing of our fingers from slowing down the movement of the whirligig, it is recommended to hold it only by its handle, without touching the part of your body on which the drawn faces are located;
* The movement we must make with our fingers to make it spin must be very fast, and we must release it as soon as possible. It is also advisable not to rotate the entire hand, but simply move the fingers (thumb and index finger) in opposite directions and let these opposing forces do their work.
While it is possible to release the whirligig a certain distance from the surface, this is not recommended for beginning players as it may cause the spin to be altered. Another point to take into account is the presence of cracks or obstacles that could interrupt the movement of the whirligig; The ideal is to play on a smooth table with plenty of clear space.
A dreide , on the other hand, is a four-sided whirligig used to play during Hanukkah , a Jewish holiday. This whirligig has four letters of the Hebrew alphabet (nun, gimel, hei and shin) and allows children to win or lose candy depending on the result of the spin.