by Paul Tukey
The Only Place for Quoits
Sporting goods stores in the United States routinely sold metal stakes and rings for quoits until the 1920s, when George May from Akron, Ohio, made national headlines for his prowess in horseshoes. May’s ability to hit ringers with up to 60 percent of his shots, according to newspaper accounts, fired up the nation’s interest in horseshoes and pushed quoits out of the public consciousness. Today, the only official rings for quoits in the United States are forged by Amish workers in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
THE KING SAYS NO
Although he came to power as a boy in 1377, King Richard II left his mark on game history when he banned the playing of quoits and other games in England because he considered them to be a distraction from the important work of daily life. Though by all accounts it was seldom observed, the ban remained in place for nearly five centuries until Queen Victoria officially lifted it in 1845.
In England, quoits pitches are often located behind the village pub.
Karl Smith founded one of the nation’s largest quoits tournaments on his lawn in East Coventry Township, just outside of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, in 1990. His turf features 10 sets of pits ready to accommodate up to 30 teams and more than 100 players. The U.S. Quoiting Association runs the National Quoit Tour with cash prizes of about $12,000. Virtually all the nation’s best players live near Pottstown, where the game retains one of its few pockets of widespread popularity in the United States.
Often one of the first outdoor games introduced to very young children, Red Light, Green Light and its international variations are a wonderful way to induce laughter and introduce mild competition to the backyard or playground. A modicum of adult supervision can be useful at first, but then stand back and let the little minds take their first crack at group leadership and conflict resolution. It’s amazing what happens.
ALSO KNOWN AS
Grandmother’s Footsteps, Peep Behind the Curtain, Statues, Sly Fox
Rules & Strategy
In the classic version, one player, in some cases a teacher or adult, takes the role of the “cop” while all other players line up a reason able distance away. Their goal is to run up and touch the cop without him or her ever seeing the other players move.
THE SETUP
BASIC IDEA
Players try to tag the “cop,” whose back is turned, freezing in place when he or she turns around
PLAYING AREA
Any surface will do
EQUIPMENT
None required, though chairs and clothing can be added
AGES
3 to 10
PLAYERS
At least 3, but the more the merrier
To begin, the cop faces away from the players, with eyes closed, and hollers out “green light.”
At any point, the cop can holler out “red light” and spin quickly around.
Any players who the cop sees still moving are told to go back to the starting line or may even be eliminated from that round. Because it relies on the honor system, the issue of whether a player is still moving is always subject to debate.
The “green light,” “red light” commands continue until one player reaches and touches the cop. In most cases, that player then plays the role of cop for the next game; however, it can also be agreed on in advance that all players will take a turn playing cop.
It’s easy to make the game a bit more complex. For example, place one or two chairs on the lawn with the rule that a player must sit in a chair before he or she is eligible to touch the cop. Scatter articles of clothing, such as hats, gloves, and/or coats, around the lawn for players to put on before they can advance.
Other fun variations can include additional commands by the cop, such as “green light hop,” in which case all the players have to advance forward by hopping instead of running, or “green light skip,” or “green light left foot,” after which the players hop forward on just the left feet. These variations help keep this simple game interesting for older children.
In England, where this game is known as Grandmother’s Footsteps, the “it” player typically says a nursery rhyme before turning around. In some cases, the player is allowed to do this under his or her breath so other players can’t hear it.
RED MEANS STOP
The standard of “green means go” and “red means stop” began in 1868, when the first traffic light was installed in London. The gas fixture reportedly exploded less than a year later, injuring the constable who was manning the manual controls.
This design for the first street crossing lights in London was modeled on railway signals.
Perhaps no game in this book evokes more conflicting, yet indelible, memories among those of us above a certain age than Red Rover. This game, which was a staple activity at playgrounds around the world for at least two centuries, is now at the epicenter of the debate about how much parents and caregivers should attempt to protect children from themselves.
ALSO KNOWN AS
Bullrush, Forcing the City Gates, Hana Ichi Monme, Octopus Tag
The issue is that this good, clean, fun game is somewhat violent at its core. The teams stand facing each other hand-in-hand in two human chains, and when one team calls out “Red Rover, Red Rover, send Johnny over,” Johnny charges full speed toward the other team. Success is when he breaks the chain by overpowering two players from the opposing team, forcing them to lose their grip on each other. Imagine if Johnny is, say, 150 pounds and the two players trying to keep him from breaking through weigh a combined total of 150 pounds.
THE SETUP
BASIC IDEA
Players link hands to form two lines; opposing players try to break through the line one at a time
PLAYING AREA
The softer the playing surface, the better, because players do fall down.
EQUIPMENT
Absolutely nothing
AGES
5–10 works best; older, heavier children may be more prone to injury
PLAYERS
At least 3 per side; the more, the better
That’s where the potential for injury comes in and that’s why, at many schools from coast to coast, Red Rover is no longer allowed on the playground. To some adults, Red Rover is nothing more than tackle football without a ball and pads; to others, the loss of Red Rover symbolizes an overly mandated and regulated childhood.
How to Play
The group is divided into two lines that face each other from some distance apart.
By mutual agreement, one team goes first, calling for an opposing player to charge their line.
If Johnny does break through the chain, or “octopus,” he chooses one person from the opposing team to take back with him to join his original team.
If Johnny fails to break through, he becomes part of the opposing team and joins the chain at the point where he tried to break through.
This process of “Red Rover, Red Rover, send (name) over” continues back and forth until all the players form only one chain.
A few supervisory adult safety checks will maximize the fun and minimize the injuries: 1) players in the chain should hold only hands and not lock wrists and arms. The locking technique can cause more serious injury; 2) all players should be about the same size; and 3) players should not be allowed to raise their joined hands above chest height so that runners are not “clotheslined” at the neck and jolted to the ground.
Because all the players are on the same team at the end, fans of the game stress that everybody wins. The purists feel that this should easily satisfy the caregivers who believe sports and games are all about participation and not about the scoreboard.
This game also teaches great teamwork and consideration, because a winning team captain will know to pair a stronger, larger player next to a weaker, smaller player for support. An important adage in life and business is that a team is only as strong as its weakest player; this game reinforces the concept of team cooperation from a young age.
A More Peaceful Versi
on
The Japanese play a nonviolent form of Red Rover, called Hana Ichi Monme. Rather than sending someone over to physically break the chain, the children sing a song in unison. When the song ends, the team captains compete in a janken, a version of Rock, Paper, Scissors. The winner goes back to his or her team, which huddles to determine which player to select from the other team. The game ends when all the players wind up in one line.
SEND RED ROVER OVER
No one seems to know for certain where the name Red Rover originated, except that in the days before widespread construction of bridges in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a red rover was the name for a shuttle boat in the river. Red rovers were also nurses who would bring aid to both sides in a conflict, sort of a historical precursor to the Red Cross.
A classic example of how children can turn anything into a contest, sack races have been around, in all likelihood, for as long as humans have made sacks — about 20,000 years, according to archeologists. Sack races can be contested with the participants carrying the sacks over their shoulders, or more popularly, wearing the sack over one or both of their legs and hopping or crab-walking to the finish line.
ALSO KNOWN AS
Gunny Sack Race, Potato Sack Race, Three-Legged Race
The most fun races of all, guaranteed, are the ones requiring teamwork, such as the three-legged race, or relays with multiple players but only one sack per team. If you’ve ever tried to pull a sack on or off quickly in the middle of a race, you know how silly things can get.
THE SETUP
BASIC IDEA
Climb in a sack and hop to the finish line
PLAYING AREA
Soft ground to break the inevitable falls
EQUIPMENT
Potato or grain sacks, pillowcases, or large, heavyweight plastic bags
AGES
5 and up
PLAYERS
2 or more
A company in Virginia (see Resources, page 202) sells traditional burlap bags in sets of four, eight, or twelve and publishes a set of formal rules for sack races. Other companies have supplanted the burlap with vinyl or plastic and have even sewn handles on the bags for better ease of maneuvering, an innovation at which the purists would surely scoff!
A Sack of Coal
The tiny English village of Gawthorpe spawned a variation of the sack race in a pub where three coal miners were boasting about who could run up a hill fastest with a 50-kilogram (110-pound) sack of coal on his back. In 2013, the World Coal Carrying Championship will celebrate its 50th anniversary sponsored by the Westgate Brewery.
How to Play
A simple sack race is fairly straightforward: The players stand in their bags, hold up the sides with their hands, and try to hop or waddle to the finish line faster than the other players. In the three-legged version of this race, two players share a bag and each puts one leg inside the bag and one leg outside. The challenge in this race is to coordinate leg movements with the other player without falling. Practicing in advance is strongly advised!
VARSITY SACK RACING
In the late 1800s, sack races were included in most collegiate track and field meets, and international sack races were conducted in St. Louis, Missouri, during the 1904 World’s Fair, although they did not count as an official event for the third summer Olympics held concurrently with the fair.
On May 1, 1929, Johnny Finn of Brooklyn, New York, set the world record in the 100yard sack race in 14.4 seconds.
≪FLASHBACK VICTORIA≪
Ah, burlap potato sacks! Every kid should experience the simple joy. It’s a great game to play with a lot of kids at once.
When you were little, the sack would practically devour you, but what fun! To win required great athleticism and cardiovascular fitness, but the most fun part was the sack relays, where you had to strip out of your own sack and then help get your partner into it. Sometimes we’d fall down from laughing so hard.
Variation: Relay Races
In relay races, the sack handoff becomes a critical factor. One teammate must shed the bag and assist his or her teammate in getting the bag on quickly. In a three-legged relay, which requires a minimum of four participants per team, getting two players out of a sack and two other players into the same sack usually brings moments of hilarity.
For a truly fun but far more complicated version of the race, teams of three or more people connect like a human sack chain. Three players require two sacks; a team of five would require four sacks, and so forth. Racing requires coordination of movement among several people, making the camaraderie far more significant than the race outcome.
The burlap used to make the classic potato sack is made from fibers of the fast-growing jute plant. A large-leafed species native to Bangladesh and India, it is seeded in standing water during the monsoon season each year.
A game unlike any other in this book, scavenger hunt engages the intellect at least as much as physical prowess. Identifying and finding items, either hidden or in plain view, can be an exhilarating experience when multiple players and teams are competing against each other and/or the clock. Extra challenges, from compass and map reading to botanical identification of plants, can turn the average backyard into a life sciences laboratory where the real experiment is how to have the most fun while learning new things.
ALSO KNOWN AS
Hot and Cold, I Spy, Map & Compass, Treasure Hunt
Anything Goes
With no clearly defined right or wrong way to play, players and organizers of scavenger hunts can let their imaginations run free. For example, a hunt might include public performances: hide a microphone wrapped in an instruction sheet that commands players to sing “Mary Had a Little Lamb” before proceeding to the next item.
THE SETUP
BASIC IDEA
Find items on a list — the possibilities are endless
PLAYING AREA
Can be played anywhere, including urban neighborhoods
EQUIPMENT
Can be existing items in the yard or items hidden by adults
AGES
5 and up
PLAYERS
Any number
Or each team might use a digital camera or cell phone to photograph their findings, especially if the items are not meant to be moved or collected. Older kids can play at night with a flashlight, which always adds a level of intrigue and fun.
Rules. Scavenger hunts can be played in almost infinite ways.
In timed contests, individual players or whole teams can be assigned categories such as trees, flowers, seeds, or a set of objects of a certain color or shape. Identifying and finding the most of each category in a set period of time leads to a winner.
For scavenger hunts in which identical lists of items are involved, it can be fun to have opposing team members conceal the items; the hiding becomes just as enjoyable as the seeking.
Some scavenger hunts might have no list at all; the instructions can simply be to collect the 10 most interesting items you can find and then let an appointed judge determine the winner. In these days of heightened environmental awareness, the game can be a race to collect the most trash or recyclable items.
Hand-drawn maps are always fun to include in a scavenger hunt. The addition of a map helps children understand spatial relationships and develop a sense of direction such as left or right, east or west. Excitement invariably builds as teams approach the final treasure, which can be a special prize or just the bragging rights associated with winning.
Variation: Hot and Cold
In the game of Hot and Cold, the hider — often a parent or caregiver — aids the seekers with verbal clues as to the whereabouts of the treasure. “Warm” means that he or she is getting close; “cold” conveys heading in the wrong direction. For younger children, it’s fun to turn this into a vocabulary game with more descriptive adjectives. “Searing,” for example, means the hunter is practically touching the object; “frigid” means not even close. This game can also introduce
new languages. In French, “froid” means cold and “chaud” means hot. In Spanish, it’s “frio” and “caliente,” and in, say, Croatian, cold is “hladan” and hot is “vruce.”
Variation: Nature Hunt
Use a scavenger hunt to teach children about plants in the most fun way possible. All it takes is a quick jaunt around the yard to compile a list of items — oak leaf, maple leaf, dandelion flower, strawberry blossom, moss, fern, lichen — for the kids to collect.
For really young children, you can draw a quick picture or map, or print out photographs so they can match the items. As the children get older, the maps and items can become more complicated. For example, not just an oak leaf, but a pin oak leaf, which is far more narrow and pointed than a white oak leaf, or not just any fern, but a Christmas fern, with evergreen fronds in a classic tree shape.
Find a What?
Probably the most famous scavenger hunt in the United States and one of the largest in the world was founded in 1987 by five University of Chicago students. The subject of two documentary films, the four-day “Scav Hunt” involves scouring North America for a predetermined list of more than 300 items, public performances, and a road trip of up to 1,000 miles that begins at the Reynolds Club along 57th Street in the Windy City. Among the more unusual items to have made the list, and been found and brought to campus, are a piping hot, fully glazed ham, a painting on velvet titled “Dogs Playing Dungeons and Dragons,” a Stradivarius violin (extra points for a cello), and a live armadillo.
