New York Street Games - The Movie

solutchi

Bronxites, Ages 60+, Do you remember "Soluchy"?
When a group of kids gathered together on the street one might yell "Soluchi"! Everybody knew right then that a kid in the group would get playfully taunted or teased by the rest. The "game" would begin by snatching a personal item and tossing it through air, very fast overhead, (similar to volley). The item could be a wallet, a candy bar. a skate key, etc. It was made sure that nothing breakable or fragile was tossed. The owner then used his skills to knock the item down and away from the group. Only when the group decided that the owner had been teased enough, was she or he able to retrieve the item. Another way to play Soluchy was to start the overhead volley with a ball. But this wasn't nearly as much fun as getting a kid to try to retrieve his or her stuff. Please help! What is the correct spelling of "Soluchi"?
I know how we said it, but I can't find the correct spelling anywhere. Thanks. Kate

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Permalink Reply by Snow P. on June 2, 2008 at 7:52am: Yes Kate!
I was blackballed in catholic school for playing Soluchi with a girls St. Martin of Tours School hat! I didn't know how to spell it. What do you think the origin of the word is?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by pattie on October 16, 2008 at 1:35pm: thats funny i do remember we use to say like solugi, i guess it depends on how your accent is , what part of NY your from but i do remember that; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Snow P. on October 16, 2008 at 2:28pm: There was definitely a "g" in the solugi on my block!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Charlene Torrest nee Horowitz on May 11, 2009 at 7:12pm: I agree-it's salugi. a definite g. The game could happen at any time or place. I remember playing it in the Castle Hills Pool.
Charlene; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Steward "Tony" Pacheco on May 12, 2009 at 10:35pm: I thought it was sulluchi; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Roy Mandina on June 29, 2009 at 2:30pm: Hi Kate, i'm only 49 but i remember salugi very well. We mostly played it in the school yard at St. Anthonys school. I hung out at the 16 park on Matilda ave. between 239st. and 240 st. There we played Man Hunt, Hot Peas and Butter, Johnny Rides The Pony, etc, etc. About 15 years ago, the building that I was living in, in the Woodlawn section, had an electrical problem. The poor little lost children of the building had no idea how to have fun without their video games. There was about a dozzen kids sitting in the courtyard of the building. I taught them how to play I Declare War and Round Up. They trully had a ball. The next day, with the electric problem solved, they knocked at my door, and asked me to play with them. I honestly feel bad for the children of today. They don't know what they're missing.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by kate davis on July 5, 2009 at 8:19pm: Hi Roy Mandina! Please send me instructions for I Declare War, Round Up, Hot Peas and Butter, Man Hunt and any others. I'm a lot older than your 49 years but I'm now a volunteer with the Boys and Girl Club and also am in close proximity to kids from about
six to eleven years of age. I'd sure love to teach them some of the games we played as kids growing up in the Bronx. Problem is I've forgotten how to get started and the rules of those. Please help! I wanna get the kids out here away from all those video games too.
Thanks again. Always a Bronx girl Kate in San Diego CA.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kevin Lowry on March 2, 2010 at 4:38pm: In Flushing it was Solugi, but it usually wasn't playful. It was a way for us to pick on somebody (sometimes me). A hat was the favored item to snatch. I've also heard it called "Keep Away". But whatever you call it, if it was your thing that got snatched YOU were not having fun!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Bob Grand on March 5, 2010 at 4:43pm: Hey Kate:
It's been spelled a lot of different ways. In my neighborhood (near Taft H.S.), it was salugi or saloogie, or add an"e" to the end of either of those. Any way you spell it, I don't know what the origin of the word was, but the game was, as Kevin said, fun unless you were the one in the middle.

Be well.

Bob Grand; ▶ Reply to This