[MidwestGirl]

Black top four square!! Ultimate recess game. Simple yet endlessly entertaining, all that was needed was chalk, a rubber ball, and some kids. When the ball is bounced into your square you must then bounce it back out without hitting twice in your own square, otherwise you are out. Every time a player gets out, the rest rotate and an alternate enters. The goal was to become and maintain the position of King for the duration of recess. Incorporating cool moves was the best, including but not limited to; bouncing the ball sky high with a “baby bomb”; bouncing the ball unexpectedly low to the ground for a “midget”; through the legs like “Michael Jordan”; and anything else our young minds could come up with. Where playground ended and asphalt began, the game of four square was there.

 

[BauersMom]

I love this game. We actually have it spray painted on our driveway.

 

[Labs4life]

OMG! A game without wires and a controller! Is this game played OUTDOORS?

<thud>

I'm calling the 1800 abuse hotline. There are bogey men and germs and everything. What if the kids get thirsty and drink from a garden hose? Where's my germX and helmet. this is an outrage!


all kidding aside, I loved dodge ball and chicken fights. Chicken fights was the game where one kid was up on the shoulders of another kid and the object was to make the other guys fall. We would have up to a dozen chicken fighters at once.

 

[joflake]

Never heard of it.

 

[MidwestGirl]

Never heard of it.

WHAT?

 

[Clanceycanuck]

Never heard of it either. Red Rover was big for us

 

[Buckyball]

Love it!

 

[MidwestGirl]

Never heard of it either. Red Rover was big for us

another great game!!

 

[BucksMom]

OMG! A game without wires and a controller! Is this game played OUTDOORS?

<thud>

I'm calling the 1800 abuse hotline. There are bogey men and germs and everything. What if the kids get thirsty and drink from a garden hose? Where's my germX and helmet. this is an outrage!


all kidding aside, I loved dodge ball and chicken fights. Chicken fights was the game where one kid was up on the shoulders of another kid and the object was to make the other guys fall. We would have up to a dozen chicken fighters at once.

Chicken fights!!!! Yes, me and my brother where Champs!!! He was lean and wirey and i was little and could cling my legs around his armpits!! Too bad we don't see kids playing goofy games like that anymore huh? Does that fall into the "somebody looses an eye" catagory?

 

[dweck]

I never heard of it either. But we played those nice quiet games like Free the Pit and Buck-Buck... you know, the ones where it wasn't worth the effort unless someone ended up in the ER.

 

[joflake]

Never heard of yours either, Dan. But we played duck, duck, goose, and duck on a rock, tag of course. Oh and in the summer when it was dark with moonlight, we played tramp on shadow.

 

[MidwestGirl]

I never heard of it either. But we played those nice quiet games like Free the Pit and Buck-Buck... you know, the ones where it wasn't worth the effort unless someone ended up in the ER.

I don't know those either.

 

[JollyMolly]

You guys have never heard of 4 square? WOW!! Loved this game as a kid. My kids play it all the time at recess and at home use sidewalk chalk to play. 4 square was so hard core when I was a kid that when it rained we taped off a section of the classroom floor.

 

[joflake]

We had hopscotch with chalk on the sidewalk, but not that one.

 

[Labs4life]

Chicken fights!!!! Yes, me and my brother where Champs!!! He was lean and wirey and i was little and could cling my legs around his armpits!! Too bad we don't see kids playing goofy games like that anymore huh? Does that fall into the "somebody looses an eye" catagory?

Uh oh! My best friend and I were champs! there can only be one champion! We need to settle this!

I think if parents saw 10 chicken fighters today they'd call the cops! I don't think I've seen it played in 30 years.

 

[dweck]

Buck-Buck, as (accurately) described in Wiki:

The group divides into two teams. One member of the first team bends over and wraps his/her arms around a tree or similar object (like a very big person in body mass), the next member bends over and hugs the first one around the waist, and the remaining members do the same one after the other to form a "horse". The other team takes turns shouting "buck buck number 1 (2, 3,...) coming!", then with a running start, jumping onto the back of the "horse". Each team member stays on the horse while subsequent jumpers accumulate. Buck Buck is also a well known game at Memorial Day Gatherings, for example in Deer River Minnesota.

Rules may vary, but generally the objective of the jumping team is to collapse or "break" the horse without any jumping teammembers touching the ground after they land on the horse, and the objective of the horse team is to get a member of the jumping team to touch the ground before their team is collapsed under the jumping team. The winning team gets to jump in the next round. Collapses can be especially stressful for the horse team because it is important that the jumping team keep their feet, and all parts of their bodies, away from the ground at all times until the horse is decisively collapsed. So as the horse team starts going down, the jumping team must ride the other team all the way to the ground to avoid losing, thus doing nothing which eases the weight driving the collapse of their opposing team under them. One of the most common mistakes riders make is to start jumping off when they feel the horse collapsing under them, when instead, that's especially the time all riders should be focusing on good balance, helping to hold teammates together, and keeping everybody's feet from touching the ground. A good hard collapse of the horse team with the riders staying in position the whole way down also has the benefit of making the horse team a weaker opponent when they must again form the next horse team.

 

[dweck]

Oh, and chicken fights? We used to do them in the swimming pool!

 

[Melissa]

I never knew Four Square as a kid, but Riley does. Funny.

 

[dweck]

Again from Wiki -- We never called this Capture the Flag, as our version involved no flags. Just the capture of other teammates and the ability to free them.

Oh. And to add to the possibility of being creamed, we'd play this w/both teams on bikes!

Capture the flag is played on some sort of playing field. Whether indoor or outdoor, the field is divided into two halves, known as territories. Players comprise two teams, one for each territory. Each side has a "flag" which is most often a piece of fabric, but can be any object small enough to be easily carried by a person. The flags are generally placed in a visibly obvious location at the rear of a teams territory. The object of the game is for players to make their way into the opposing team's territory, grab the flag and return with it to their own territory without being tagged. The flag is defended mainly by tagging opposing players who attempt to take it. Within their own territory players are "safe", meaning that they cannot be tagged by opposing players. Once they cross in to the opposing teams territory they are vulnerable.

In another, more difficult version, the flag is hidden in a place where it can only be seen from one angle. It also might have some challenge involved. For example, the flag could be hidden in the leaves up in a tall tree, and the players have to see the flag, then knock it out.

Different versions of Capture the Flag have different rules both for handling the flag and for what happens to tagged players. A player who is tagged may be eliminated from the game entirely, be forced to join the opposing team, or be placed temporarily in "jail." The jail is a predesignated area of the group's territory which exists for holding tagged players. It is usually located a good distance from the flag in order to minimize the possibility of simultaneous flag grabs and jail breaks. While tagged players may be confined to jail for a limited, predetermined time, the most common form of the game involves the option for a "jailbreak." In this version, players who are tagged remain in jail indefinitely. However, players from their own team may free them from jail by means of a jailbreak. Jailbreaks are accomplished by a player running from their own territory into the enemy's jail. Such action may, depending on the rules, free all jailed players or simply those who are physically touched by the one performing the jailbreak.

 

[Retriever Mama]

We were big on flashlight tag during the summer...but mostly we played Star Wars. I got to be princess leia. I kicked stormtrooper butt.