Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium by Jessie Hubbell Bancroft (top novels of all time .txt) π
In the arrangement of material there has many times been a strong temptation to classify the games by their historic, geographic, psychologic, or educational interests; by the playing elements contained in them; or by several other possible methods which are of interest chiefly to the academic student; but these have each in turn been discarded in favor of the original intention of making the book preΓ«minently a useful working manual for the player or leader of games.
[Sidenote: Varying modes of play]
The same games are found not only in many different countries and localities, but under different names and with many variations in the form of playing them. This has necessitated a method of an
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Buz. To broil a chicken.
Hen. Where are you going to get the chicken?
Buz. Out of your flock!
The buzzard, who keeps a crouching attitude with face downcast during this dialogue, suddenly rises on the last words and chases the players, who scatter precipitately. When a player is captured, the buzzard brings him back, lays him down, and dresses him for dinner, while the rest of the players group around. The buzzard asks of the captured chicken, "Will you be picked or scraped?" and goes through the motions of picking feathers or scaling fish, as the chicken decides. The buzzard then asks, "Will you be pickled or salted?" "Will you be roasted or stewed?" each time administering to the recumbent chicken the appropriate manipulations. At the end he drags the victim to a corner, and the game goes on with the remainder of the players.
OLD MAN TAG10 to 60 players.
Schoolroom.
The players are in groups of two rows each, which play together. These two rows face away from each other. Thus the first and second row will turn respectively to the right and left, with their feet in the aisles, toward which they then face. This will leave a free aisle between them, in which the "old man" may run about. The third and fourth rows play together, facing away from each other, and leaving a free aisle for their old man or tagger. This will bring the second and third rows with their feet in the same aisle.
For each group one player is selected to be old man or tagger. The teacher gives a signal, whereupon all of the players stand. The object of the game is for the old man to tag any player who is standing. The players may avoid this by sitting whenever the old man approaches them. Should he succeed in tagging any player, that player must remain seated until the end of the game, but any player who sits to escape tagging must rise again as soon as the old man has moved away from his vicinity. The player is considered to have won who longest avoids the old man.
Children are very fond of this game in many grades, and it may be made very lively, the old man dodging rapidly up and down his aisle, and the other players bobbing quickly up and down from their seats.
OLD WOMAN FROM THE WOOD10 to 60 or more players.
Parlor; playground; schoolroom.
The players are divided into two even parties, which face each other from a short distance. One party advances toward the other, remarking, "Here comes an old woman from the wood." The second party answers, "What canst thee do?" whereupon the old woman replies, "Do anything!" The second party then says, "Work away!" whereupon all the players in the first party proceed to imitate some occupation in which an old woman might engage, and which they have previously agreed on among themselves, such as sewing, sweeping, knitting, digging a garden, chopping wood, kneading bread, stirring cake, washing, ironing, etc. The opposite party tries to guess from this pantomime the occupation indicated. Should they guess correctly, they have a turn to perform in the same way. Should they be unable to guess correctly, the first party retires, decides on another action, and returns. This form of the game is generally played by girls. Boys play the same game with different dialogue under the name of "Trades."
When played in a playground or gymnasium, where there is free space for running, a successful guess should be followed by a chase of the actors by the guessing party, any players caught before a designated goal line is reached having to join the party of their captors. The party wins which secures all of the players.
10 to 100 players.
Playground; gymnasium.
Two parallel lines are drawn across the center of the playground, with a space of ten feet between them, which is neutral territory. At a considerable distance beyond each line, and parallel to it, a second line is drawn, the space beyond being a refuge for any players of the party belonging to that side. This second line should preferably be at a considerable distance from the starting line, so as to give plenty of opportunity for a good chase during the game.
The players are divided into two equal parties, which take place one on either side of the neutral territory. Each party chooses a color, light or dark, corresponding to the light or dark side of an oyster shell or some other small object which is used in the game.
A neutral odd player who acts as leader takes his place in the center of the neutral territory and tosses the oyster shell into the air. If there be no such leader available, the parties may choose captains to toss the shell alternately. The shell is allowed to fall on the ground. If the light side falls upward, the light party must turn and run for the goal at the opposite end of the ground, the other party chasing them. Any one captured (tagged) must carry his captor back to his home goal on his back. A party scores one point for each prisoner caught. These may be easily counted, as the prisoners carry their victors home pick-a-back. The party first scoring fifty or one hundred points (according to the number of players) wins the game; or the winners may be determined by the largest score when the game ends.
Because of the carrying home of the victors by the players who are caught, it is advisable that some means be adopted to have opponents of nearly equal size. This is easily done by having the players line up according to size at the opening of the game and assigned alternately to the different sides. In any event, the tall players should be placed opposite each other, and the smaller players vis-a-vis.
This game is from the ancient Greeks, and is said to have arisen from a custom of exiling wrangling political opponents by writing their names on an oyster shell and sending from the city the one whose name fell uppermost when the shell was tossed. Some modern adaptations are here given.
PAR10 to 30 or more players.
Playground; gymnasium.
This is a leapfrog game in which the distance of the back from the jumping line is advanced after each round a "foot and a half," measured in a certain way called a "par." The game starts with the back at a given distance from the line. After each player has "overed," the back places one foot with the outer edge on the line on which he has been standing, puts the heel of the other foot against the instep so that the second foot will be at right angles to the first, and marks a new line at the point where the toes come. The new line is thus the length of one foot in advance of the first line, plus the width of the other foot at the instep. The players then leap again from the starting line, and as the back moves farther away, they add to their leaps each time, as becomes necessary for the greater distance, as follows: (1) leap; (2) hop and leap; (3) hop twice and leap; (4) hop three times and leap; (5) hop, skip, jump, and leap.
Any player failing to "over" changes places with the back.
PARTNER TAG4 to 100 players.
Indoors; out of doors; schoolroom.
All of the players but two hook arms in couples. Of the two who are free, one is It or chaser, and the other the runner. The runner may save himself by locking arms with either member of any couple he chooses. Whenever he does so, the third party of that group becomes runner and must save himself in like manner. If the runner be tagged at any time, he becomes It or chaser; and the chaser becomes runner.
To get the proper sport into this game, the couples should run and twist and resort to any reasonable maneuver to elude the runner, who is liable at any time to lock arms with one of them and so make the other a runner.
For large numbers there should be more than one runner and chaser.
PEBBLE CHASE5 to 30 or more players.
Gymnasium; playground; out of doors.
One player, who is the leader, holds a small pebble between the palms of his hands, while the others stand grouped around him, each with his hands extended, palm to palm. The leader puts his hands between the palms of each player, ostensibly to drop therein the pebble which he holds, as in the game called "Button, button." The player who receives the pebble is chased by the others, and may only be saved by returning to the leader and giving the pebble to him. This chase may begin as soon as the players suspect who has the pebble. Each player should therefore watch intently the hands and faces of the others to detect who gets it, and immediately that he suspects one, start to chase him. It is therefore to the interest of the player who gets the pebble to conceal that fact until the attention of the group is distracted from him, when he may slip away and get a good start before he is detected. He may do this whenever he sees fit, but may not delay after the leader has passed the last pair of hands. The leader will help to conceal the fact of who has the pebble by passing his hands between those of the entire group, even though he should have dropped the pebble into the hands of one of the first players.
If the pebble holder gets back to the leader and gives him the pebble before being tagged, he continues with the group. If the pebble holder is caught before he can get back to the leader, he must pay a forfeit or change places with the leader, whichever method is decided on before the game opens.
In a crowded playground it is well to require that the chasers follow over exactly the same route as the pebble man. Under such conditions, the game is more successful if limited to ten players to a group.
This game is from the modern Greeks. It is found to bear transplanting excellently, being full of interest and sport.
PINCH-O5 to 30 or more players.
Gymnasium; playground.
This is a game of chase, an advancing line (rank) of players turning and fleeing from an odd player in front of them when a signal is given. The players in the advancing line pass a "Pinch" (hand pressure) from one to another along the line, the end players calling out "Pinch!" and "O!" respectively at the start and finish of this performance. The "O" is the signal for the chaser to start. The chaser therefore watches the hands carefully to detect the pressure and know when it is approaching the end; the other players naturally try to conceal this passing of hand pressure, delaying or hastening it to take the chaser unaware.
The player who is It walks backward, being about ten feet in front of the others, who advance slowly forward in a line, holding hands. The player on one end of the line calls "Pinch!" and at once squeezes or pinches the hand of the player standing next. This player slightly presses the hand of the one on his other side, and so on across the line until the pressure is felt by the last player on the opposite end, who at once calls out "O!" Immediately that the "O" is heard, the entire line is liable to be tagged by
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