Playground Games

[Mogs]

I'm in the office today and myself and some colleagues have just finished a conversation on what playground games, we used to play at school.

I just thought I would find out what games did people on the forum used to play at school.

My favorite was Red Rover

Rules were

Each team started with an equal number of players in a long line

Team A would Chant Red Rover, Red Rover we want NAME OF PLAYER on Team B over.

That person would then that person would run and try and break though the barrier of arms.

If they made it through the would go back to the team they came from, if they failed to break through then they would join the other side.

[mumra]

Is that the same as British Bulldog? There was always an urban myth floating around that it was banned nationally but we always carried on thinking we were uber cool/dare devil like for playing something that was not allowed.

[mockney piers]

Isn't that Kabbadi?

[Brendan]

We had one called ?King Stingers? which involved throwing a (sometimes cricket/ sometimes tennis) ball at each other. You would start with one person ?on? who had to try to hit the other players with the ball. As they were hit they would join his team. Until there was just one poor bugger running around with a whole playground full of kids trying to hit him with the ball (that was what you got for winning). It was great fun!

I went to school in South Africa. Did you have the same game in Blighty?

[Mogs]

Yes, we called that poison ball

[Jah Lush]

British Bulldog, yeah I remember that one and rounders too but I played football. I was obsessed with football, wanted to be a footballer and nearly was until I discovered sex and drugs and rock & roll. Used to go to school early play football until school started, then every break time and then after school until it got dark. Happy days.

[ratty]

Brendan that one was called Kinger down in Gods Country on the South Coast. British Bulldog with added violence was also a big fave too!

When we were really young we used to play "Please Mr Crocodile" and "What's the time Mr Wolf" which as I remember were virtually the same game and involved creeping up on someone who then had to turn round and catch ya!

Ahhh yesterday!

[Mogs]

I've just thought of another that seems a bit odd as I grew up in Wales.

It was called London

Basically 1 person was IT. And had to face the wall and chant the letter L O N D O N - and shout London

Turn around and catch any one who was moving.

The others had to get from the start point upto where the person who was IT.

Not one of the best coming to think of it now.

Also choosing who was going to be IT was always a challenge.

[mockney piers]

Ip dip dog s**t you are not it.

That or bunny rabbit.

We played british bulldog, but can't for the life of me remember the rules.

Something called stuck in the mud whereby if you got tagged you had to stand legs akimbo, and un tagged people could dive through your legs and unstick you.

Ting-tang-tommy as sort of cross between tag and hide and seek.

[ratty]

Stuck in the mud was a fave, as was Om Pom 1-2-3; a variation on hide and seek where people not only had to hide, but had to get to "home" without getting tagged!

Used to play this in the local grave yard as big tombs made excellent hiding places.

Ahh the cries of OM POM 1-2-3 SAVE ALL!

[mockney piers]

Ting-tang-tommy save all. Same game, I remember hearing that this game has more regional name variations than any other.

[Brendan]

Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!

I think we all played that one. Always drew a good crowd. Seemed to be banned at my school though and caused some consternation amongst the teachers.

In running red rover you chanted "running red rover" etc. What did you chant when you called it British Bulldog? We used both names but I can't remember if there was an alternative chant.

[Jah Lush]

Can't remember chanting anything during British Bulldog, mind you it's a long time since a played that. But whenever a fight erupted, which was frequently it was "Bundle."

[Keef]

British Bulldog started with one person in the middle, and everyone having to get past him. s/he would tag as many as s/he could as they rushed by, and those people would end up in the middle, until you had all but one in the middle, and the poor old "one" had to basically run the gauntlet to get to the other side... They would of course get beaten down and stamped on!!! That's the way we played it anyway.

Kabadi was classic!

In secondary school we had a very violent version of cops n' robbers where one team would run of and hide, and the other team would hunt them down and physically drag/carry/beat them back to base... Great game, but cracked my first rib playing it (and I played rugby for the school.... soft game next to cops n' robbers!!!).

A good game was "Patball"... Players would stand in a line by a wall, and a tennis ball would be "patted" diagonally from hand to ground, and bounce off the wall then the next person had to hit it... Was a really good game, especially when you employed great moves like the "low cut", the pat ball equivalent of a slam dunk! >:D<

[Jah Lush]

Just remembered - penny up the wall, also played cards, Black Jack mostly.

[Keef]

Ah Blackjack..... That is all we ever did in GCSE History lessons! >:D

[Mogs]

We used to shout British Bulldog in a kind of Captain Caveman type way

[Annasfield]

Marbles.... I haven't lost mine - Not yet at least!

[citizenED]

Keef, "Patball" is alive and kickin in schools today. In our school, Bulldog was for boys, Red Rover, mainly for girls. I loved both!

citizen

[TillieTrotter]

Erm..........kiss chase!!

Knuckles, penny up, british bulldog, tin tan tommy.

The memories are rushing in. I remember getting a black eye playing British bulldog.

[citizenED]

We used to play "Rollerball" which, inspired by the film, was a violent version of tag. Ah, happy days...!

Tillie, knuckles was fun...er, not.

citizen

[TillieTrotter]

I know what you mean Citizen, you had to be a toughie!!::o

[Keef]

We played a similar thing to knuckles, but it involved having your hand mutilated by a combination of slaps, pinches (for which one boy I knew actually grew his nails so as to do max damage!), punches and something else.... I lost once, and my hand was literally cut and bruised.... But you had to suck it up and take it (6)