Own-goal football
In a 1994 qualifying match for the Caribbean Cup, both Barbados and Grenada attempted to score deliberate own goals – because it was the best strategy available.
Category: Games & sport
Snakes and ladders and nirvana
The classic board game snakes and ladders (or chutes and ladders) began its life as a demonstration of the Jain ascent towards nirvana and beyond.
Extreme geocaching
Geocaching is a recreational treasure hunt, with containers hidden worldwide just waiting to be found. And I do mean worldwide: they can be found at the very bottom of the world, the very top of the world, and even out of this world entirely.
Buffalo racing
Kambala is a race with a difference: the winner may not be decided directly on speed, but rather on how high they can kick up water.
Ski ballet
The 1988 Winter Olympics included three freestyle skiing events as a demonstration sport: moguls, aerials, and ski ballet. Two of these have become official Olympic sports. One has not.
Abnormal normal dice
A pair of Sicherman dice have numbers ranging from 1 to 8 on their faces, but roll two of them together and they produce the same totals as a pair of normal dice.
Victorian carpet train
The Birmingham Dribbler was one of the earliest model train toys. Powered by steam, it leaked water everywhere and caused fires when it fell over.
Mario’s surname
The Nintendo video game character Mario has gone through a number of name changes throughout the years – including, controversially, whether he has a surname or not.
Honorary whites
In apartheid-era South Africa, the government sometimes designated specific people or whole ethnic groups as “honorary whites.” But not everyone accepted it.
First joker
Although playing cards in Europe date back to the 14th century, Samuel Hart printed the first joker in 1863.
The horseback kissing game
The Turkic sport kyz kuu involves a man, a woman, two horses, a kiss, and a whip.
The worst move in chess
Earlier this year, the current World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen deliberately played the worst opening move possible against the American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura… who then deliberately played the worst possible response.
Boycotting New Zealand
In 1976 most African countries boycotted the Olympics because the games would not ban New Zealand.
First Olympic marathon
The first Olympic marathon was pretty wild: an Australian competitor collapsed and then punched a spectator, the third-place runner was disqualified for riding in a carriage, and a woman prevented from entering ran the same course the next day.
Football war
In 1969, Honduras and El Salvador went to war while their football teams faced off in a World Cup qualifier.
Cycling around the world
Between 1894 and 1895 Annie Londonderry cycled around the world – the first woman to do so.
The Generalist Academy 