Playground Games: What Did You Play?

[Dralix]

From the "People's Republic of Santa Monica" thread

Originally posted by Simon Darkshade


Exactly. You got it in one word - nuts.

They do this to tag, or "chasey" as it was known in my day. Heavens knows what they would make of "slaps", "mercy", "brandy" or any of the games of my childhood. Let alone the biscuit game.

Maybe I'm just too old, or too young, or too Canadian, but I have no idea what any of these games are (not talking aboot tag here ) except maybe "mercy." If memory serves we played a game called mercy. You basically touched your fists together (kind of like two boxers touching gloves) and then would rap the other on back of the hand. You continued doing this until you missed, then it was the other's turn. First one to cry "mercy" lost.

But that was really more of a classroom game. In the playground we would usually play soccer, football, British Bulldog, or a game we called "fumble" which was throwing a tennis ball against the school wall and then trying to catch it. If you dropped it, you were out. Then there were variations that involved giving a letter each time you dropped the ball, to spell out the name of a certain orifice of the body ...

Anyone else care to share their playground games?

 

[knowltok2]

Mercy for us was interlocking finger and attempting to bend the other kid's hand back until they said "mercy" from the pain.

We played soccer, basketball, tetherball, kickball (Baseball, except you kick a big ball. Point is that it doesn't require a glove, bat, etc.), Smear the Q****, and one bounce fly.

One bounce fly was where a person kicked a ball up in the air and we had either to catch it on the fly or in one bounce. Then whoever caught it got to kick it.

Tag we played more in the pool (Not at school since we didn't have one). The game is infinitely better with a ball that you can wing at someone else's head.

 

[Simon Darkshade]

Originally posted by Dralix
Maybe I'm just too old, or too young, or too Canadian, but I have no idea what any of these games are (not talking aboot tag here ) except maybe "mercy." If memory serves we played a game called mercy. You basically touched your fists together (kind of like two boxers touching gloves) and then would rap the other on back of the hand. You continued doing this until you missed, then it was the other's turn. First one to cry "mercy" lost.

But that was really more of a classroom game. In the playground we would usually play soccer, football, British Bulldog, or a game we called "fumble" which was throwing a tennis ball against the school wall and then trying to catch it. If you dropped it, you were out. Then there were variations that involved giving a letter each time you dropped the ball, to spell out the name of a certain orifice of the body ...

Anyone else care to share their playground games?

Probably too Canadian, as one was employing Aussie vernacular.

"Mercy" was basically a game of inflicting great amounts of physical pain, either through the method outlined by my minion, or any other way that came to mind.

"Slaps" was played by holding out the hands palms together and then slapping the other blokes hands, whilst he tried to avoid this. You miss, and it is their turn. Alternately, it involved taking turns slapping one another, or punching.

"Brandy" was throwing a ball and tagging some one with it. Nice and violent.

Football and cricket were also staples, in various forms.

Smoking and bullying were also popular playground games, with the latter consisting of bullying the younger boys, and smoking consisting of trying to find somewhere to have a smoke and not get caught.

Sitting around being sullen and adolescent was something that was popular.

 

[drake]

Don't forget the ever popular bloody knuckles game where the kids hit each other knuckles as hard as they can.....

Kickball however was the most popular activity at my elementary school. Its like a game of baseball/softball, except the ball is rolled on the ground and kicked instead of being thrown and hit with a bat. Always an entertaining game.

 

[Rodgers]

We also played "slaps" and an even worse version called "knuckles" - I think you can work that one out yourselves.We had a game with a different name (cant remember) which was basically "brandy". Damn that gonna bug me for a while now! Football and cricket very popular as usual.

Loads of our games were violent - cops and robbers especially (quite a bit of "police brutality" went on there!). Others were -

a) Tunnel of Death - a person was selected at random to pass through the ToD which was basically a long line of stools forming a tunnel - weaker boys or girls sat on the stools to give it some rigidity and the nominated person was forced to crawl through while being kicked pretty hard by everyone else as he went through.

b) "1,2,3...Done Ya!" - this was a bit like hide and seek but with a starting post - when he had finished counting, the seeker did his usual thing. When you were found it then became a race back to the post - if you got there and managed to say "1,2,3 Done Ya" before the seeker you were NOT it in the next round. Other hiders could make their run to the post while the seeker was elsewhere - the last hider who got "Done" by the seeker was "it" in the next round. The race to the post usually turned into a wrestling match if close. That had to be the best game ever!

c) British Bulldog and another one that involved getting into a big circle all holding hands and kind of catapulting each other into the middle (poor description but it's a bit hard to remeber now) - lots of bruises from that one!

For a while we used to get boys and force them into this doorway (about 3ft square) and make them fight each other - quite a few "hard men" went down to "softies" who rose to the occasion when the chips were down. Sometimes we'd put 2 or 3 "softies" in against one real "hard man".

So, all this talk of playground games harming children for life MUST be a load of nonsense

 

[NY Hoya]

Kickball, Football (American), Smear the Queer, Dodgeball

 

[Richard III]

The school I was at was so fake and upper-crust Brit that we actually played conkers in grade 7. I had one nail-polish hardened beast that accumulated a score of 42.

Any UK dwellers know what I'm talking about?

Also, a lot of militaresque kids games in playgrounds that looked like fortifications. Another example of the military industrial complex training children for their high-profit warmaking .

 

[Rodgers]

Oh I forgot "3 pegs" - you balance 3 clothes pegs against the foot of a wall (in the shape of a football goal) and throw a tennis ball at it - winner was the first to get all 3 pegs to fall to the ground.

 

[philippe]

I know this game:How far will YOU go?
There was this huge pillar and you had to run with it at high speed and you had to stop just before you run against the pillar.I had fun with it and other poeple broken noses

 

[Dralix]

Originally posted by Simon Darkshade
"Slaps" was played by holding out the hands palms together and then slapping the other blokes hands, whilst he tried to avoid this. You miss, and it is their turn. Alternately, it involved taking turns slapping one another, or punching.

We did this one as well, as an alternative to the knuckle variety I described earlier

EDIT: I should say "the knuckle variety I described very poorly earlier." Others did a much better job.

 

[Becka]

When I was in elementary school, the boys used to chase us around the playground. Occasionally, they caught us and of course the only natural thing to do would be to take us back to the large piece of play equipment (don't remember what it's called, not a jungle gym,) and take us under there (it kind of had a shady area underneath it) and leave the weakest guy there to keep us from escaping. Then when the little leader of their group ran off the play or find more girls, we'd knock the little guy down and run away. And if they little guy resisted, we'd tell the teacher.

Ok, not quite a game, but that's what we did.

 

[drake]

Tunnel of Death?
That isnt a game, thats abuse

Why would anyone ever agree to go into the TOD???

 

[Simon Darkshade]

What is "Smear the Queer"? Engaging in a campaign of impugning the reputation of those who bat for the other side?

 

[Rodgers]

Ah but you'll never beat "knicker spotting" - I think the name says it all.

This game probably had the greatest impact of all on future development

 

[Simon Darkshade]

Originally posted by Rodgers
Ah but you'll never beat "knicker spotting" - I think the name says it all.

This game probably had the greatest impact of all on future development

No, don't know it.
The name suggests it would have been hard to play at an all male school.

 

[Rodgers]

"Why would anyone ever agree to go into the TOD???"

Well the participants were fairly releuctant but once you'd been through it you were keen to do it to others yourself!

 

[NY Hoya]

Originally posted by Simon Darkshade
What is "Smear the Queer"? Engaging in a campaign of impugning the reputation of those who bat for the other side?

It's a game with a ball which is thrown into the air. The kid who catches the ball becomes the "Queer" and is then chased by all the other kids. When they catch the Queer, they beat the crap out of him and he will eventually let go of the ball. Someone else picks up the ball and becomes the new Queer and the game goes on. The game doesn't make much sense, and we usually just used it to pick on the kids we didn't like rather than play by the rules.

 

[Rodgers]

Sounds a bit like tunnel of death really

 

[TubaGuy]

Smeer the Queer was a classic at my school, until it was banned for it's name and the number of kids getting hurt. We still played it in an area were teachers did go much but it's alot of fun. We played the usual to tetherball, alot of soccer, football, kickball, tag, cops and robbers (remember this was before making a gun with your fingers got you kicked out of school), when I was younger and in daycare we played ninja turtles alot.

 

[MuddyOne]

Kickball, 4-square, tetherball, king of the hill, dodgeball, a different variety of bloody knuckles- a comb was rested on the back of the hand and dragged across the knuckles- very similar to slaps otherwise. Another game where people would hold hands and one person would rush the group and try to breakthrough. I forget what its called though.