Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium Part 4

The players are divided into two or more groups of like numbers which compete against each other. The different groups line up in single file behind a starting line drawn on the ground. Directly in front of each team, at the opposite end of the running s.p.a.ce (which should be from twenty to fifty feet long), are drawn two circles, each three feet in diameter, and placed side by side, with rims touching. In one of the circles of each pair three Indian clubs are placed.

On a signal, number one of each file runs forward and with one hand only, changes the clubs from one circle to the other. Each club must be made to stand, and none must touch the outline of the circle. As soon as each player finishes this, he runs back to his file, touches the next player on the hand, and pa.s.ses off, back of the line. The second player should be waiting for this "touch-off" with toe on the starting line and hand outstretched.

This second player, on receiving the touch-off, runs forward to the circles and changes the clubs from the second ring back to the first, observing the same rules of procedure. Each player, in turn does this, the file winning whose last player is first to dash over the starting line on his return.

This is a very popular game for athletic contests, especially for younger girls. When used in this way, an especially careful observation should be kept for fouls by official judges. One foul is scored against a team for (_a_) each time a runner starts over the line without the "touch-off"; (_b_) each time both hands are in play at once in changing the clubs; (_c_) each club that is not replaced after falling; (_d_) each club that is left standing anywhere but within the circle for which it was intended. When played thus, according to strict athletic rules, the teams win in the order of finis.h.i.+ng plus the smallest score on fouls. Thus, if team A finishes first with six fouls, team B finishes second with four fouls, and team C finishes third with no fouls, team C wins, being given first place, team B second place, and team A third place.

Teams Order of Finis.h.i.+ng Number of Fouls Order of Winning A 1 6 3 B 2 4 2 C 3 0 1

ANIMAL BLIND MAN'S BUFF

_10 to 30 or more players._

_Parlor; gymnasium; playground._

One player is blindfolded and stands in the center of a circle with a wand, stick, or cane in his hand. The other players dance around him in circle until he taps three times on the floor with his cane, when they must stand still. The blind man thereupon points his cane at some player, who must take the opposite end of the cane in his hand. The blind man then commands him to make a noise like some animal, such as a cat, dog, cow, sheep, lion, donkey, duck, parrot. From this the blind man tries to guess the name of the player. If the guess be correct, they change places. If wrong, the game is repeated with the same blind man.

The players should try to disguise their natural tones as much as possible when imitating the animals, and much sport may be had through the imitation. Players may also disguise their height, to deceive the blind man, by bending their knees to seem shorter or rising on toes to seem taller.

Where there are thirty or more players, two blind men should be placed in the center.

There is much sport in this game for either children or adults or both together. The author has known it to be the occasion for great merriment under all three circ.u.mstances.

ANIMAL CHASE

_10 to 30 or more players._

_Playground; gymnasium._

Two pens are marked off in distant corners of the playground. One player, called the chaser, stands at one side of one of these pens.

The other players stand within the pen that is nearest the chaser. All of the players in the pen are named for different animals, there being several players of each kind. Thus there may be a considerable number each of bears, deer, foxes, etc. The chaser calls the name of any animal he chooses as a signal for the players to run. For instance, he may call "Bears!" whereupon all of the players who represent bears must run across to the other pen, the chaser trying to catch them.

Any player caught before reaching the opposite pen changes places with the chaser.

The particular point of difference between this and some other similar chasing games is that the chaser may not know just which of the players in the pen will start out in response to the name of the animal that he calls.

ARROW CHASE

_8 to 16 players._

_Out of doors._

This game is especially adapted to surroundings where a very devious chase may be given, with many opportunities for the runners to go out of sight, double back on their course, etc., as in a village.

The players are divided into two parties. One of these parties, each member having a piece of chalk, starts out on a run over any route chosen by their leader. Every ten feet the runners must chalk a small arrow somewhere along their path, the object of the hunting party being to overtake these runners, discovering their course by the arrows. No attempt is made to get back to a goal, as in many other games of chase.

The hunting party at the starting place counts two thousand to give the runners a full start, and then pursues them. The runners will use all possible finesse in making it difficult to find their arrows, although it is a rule of the game that the arrow must be in plain sight, though not necessarily from the point of view of the course taken. It may be marked on the farther side of a post, stone, etc., or at a considerable height, or near the ground, but never under a ledge or where it might not be seen plainly by any one standing in front of it.

The runners will naturally take a course that will eventually bring them back to the starting point, the chasers, however, trying to overtake them before they can accomplish this.

AUTOMOBILE RACE

_20 to 30 players at once._

_Schoolroom._

This schoolroom game is played with most of the cla.s.s sitting, being a relay race between alternate rows. The first child in each alternate row, at a signal from the teacher, leaves his seat on the right side, runs forward around his seat and then to the rear, completely encircling his row of seats, until his own is again reached. As soon as he is seated, the child next behind him encircles the row of seats, starting to the front on the right side and running to the rear on the left side. This continues until the last child has encircled the row and regained his seat. The row wins whose last player is first seated.

The remaining alternate rows then play, and lastly the two winning rows may compete for the champions.h.i.+p.

The interest may be increased by calling the race an international one, the teacher providing small flags of different nations, or the children may cut and paint these of paper. The first child in each row chooses the country he will represent by the selection of a flag at the beginning of the game. This he places on the rear desk, and it is held aloft by the last player when he regains his seat, indicating that his country has come in first, second, etc., in the automobile race.

BARLEY BREAK

_6 to 18 players._

_Playground; gymnasium._

A long, narrow strip of ground is needed for this game, divided into three s.p.a.ces measuring from ten to fifty feet square. The central one of these three s.p.a.ces is called the barley field. In each of the three stands a couple of players (or more, as hereinafter described). The couple in the center is obliged to link arms; therefore the center place is the most difficult and considered disadvantageous. The couples in the other s.p.a.ces advance, singly or together, into the barley field, trampling the barley by dancing around the field as much as they can without being caught. These couples need not link arms.

When one of these is caught, he must remain inactive in the barley field until his partner is also caught. The couple owning the barley field may not step beyond its limits, nor may the couple being sought take refuge in the field opposite to their own. When the two are caught, they become warders of the barley field, changing places with the previous couple, and any others who have been caught return to their own fields. The game is made interesting by not confining the effort to catching two members of the same couple in succession. Both couples in the adjoining fields should venture far into the barley, taunting the couple who have linked arms by calling "Barley break!"

These, in turn, will a.s.sist their object by making feints at catching one player and turning suddenly in the opposite direction for another.

The number of players may be increased by putting three couples in the center (barley field) and two or three couples at each end.

This game is centuries old and used to be played at harvest time around the stacks in the cornfields.

BASTE THE BEAR

_10 to 30 or more players._

_Playground; gymnasium; parlor._