Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium - Jessie Hubbell Bancroft

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out in response to the name of the animal that he calls.

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      8 to 16 players.

      Out of doors.

      This game is especially adapted to surroundings where a very devious chase may be given, with many opportunities for the runners to go out of sight, double back on their course, etc., as in a village.

      The players are divided into two parties. One of these parties, each member having a piece of chalk, starts out on a run over any route chosen by their leader. Every ten feet the runners must chalk a small arrow somewhere along their path, the object of the hunting party being to overtake these runners, discovering their course by the arrows. No attempt is made to get back to a goal, as in many other games of chase.

      The hunting party at the starting place counts two thousand to give the runners a full start, and then pursues them. The runners will use all possible finesse in making it difficult to find their arrows, although it is a rule of the game that the arrow must be in plain sight, though not necessarily from the point of view of the course taken. It may be marked on the farther side of a post, stone, etc., or at a considerable height, or near the ground, but never under a ledge or where it might not be seen plainly by any one standing in front of it.

      

      The runners will naturally take a course that will eventually bring them back to the starting point, the chasers, however, trying to overtake them before they can accomplish this.

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      20 to 30 players at once.

      Schoolroom.

      This schoolroom game is played with most of the class sitting, being a relay race between alternate rows. The first child in each alternate row, at a signal from the teacher, leaves his seat on the right side, runs forward around his seat and then to the rear, completely encircling his row of seats, until his own is again reached. As soon as he is seated, the child next behind him encircles the row of seats, starting to the front on the right side and running to the rear on the left side. This continues until the last child has encircled the row and regained his seat. The row wins whose last player is first seated. The remaining alternate rows then play, and lastly the two winning rows may compete for the championship.

      The interest may be increased by calling the race an international one, the teacher providing small flags of different nations, or the children may cut and paint these of paper. The first child in each row chooses the country he will represent by the selection of a flag at the beginning of the game. This he places on the rear desk, and it is held aloft by the last player when he regains his seat, indicating that his country has come in first, second, etc., in the automobile race.

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      6 to 18 players.

      Playground; gymnasium.

      A long, narrow strip of ground is needed for this game, divided into three spaces measuring from ten to fifty feet square. The central one of these three spaces is called the barley field. In each of the three stands a couple of players (or more, as hereinafter described). The couple in the center is obliged to link arms; therefore the center place is the most difficult and considered disadvantageous. The couples in the other spaces advance, singly or together, into the barley field, trampling the barley by dancing around the field as much as they can without being caught. These couples need not link arms. When one of these is caught, he must remain inactive in the barley field until his partner is also caught. The couple owning the barley field may not step beyond its limits, nor may the couple being sought take refuge in the field opposite to their own. When the two are caught, they become warders of the barley field, changing places with the previous couple, and any others who have been caught return to their own fields. The game is made interesting by not confining the effort to catching two members of the same couple in succession. Both couples in the adjoining fields should venture far into the barley, taunting the couple who have linked arms by calling "Barley break!" These, in turn, will assist their object by making feints at catching one player and turning suddenly in the opposite direction for another.

      The number of players may be increased by putting three couples in the center (barley field) and two or three couples at each end.

      This game is centuries old and used to be played at harvest time around the stacks in the cornfields.

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      10 to 30 or more players.

      Playground; gymnasium; parlor.

      One player is chosen to be bear, and sits in the center on a stool. The bear chooses a second player to be his keeper. The keeper stands by the bear, each of them holding an end of a short rope about two feet in length and knotted at either end to give a firm hold. The rest of the players stand around in a circle inclosing these two. The object of the players is to tag (baste or buffet) the bear, without themselves being tagged by the bear or his keeper. The players may only attack the bear when the keeper calls "My bear is free!" Should a player strike at the bear before the keeper says this, they change places, the striker becomes bear, the former bear becomes the keeper, and the keeper returns to the ring. The keeper does his best to protect his bear by dodging around him on all sides to prevent the attacks of the players who dodge in from the circle to hit him. Should the keeper or bear tag any player, the same exchange is made; that is, the player tagged becomes bear, the former bear the keeper, and the keeper returns to the ring.

      Should a rope not be conveniently at hand, the game may be played in any of the three following ways: (1) by the bear and his keeper clasping hands; (2) a circle may be drawn around the bear beyond which the keeper may not go; (3) the keeper may be subjected to the general rule of not going more than two steps away from the bear in any direction.

      Where there are more than thirty players, two or more rings should be formed, each having its own bear and keeper.

      This is an old game, popular in many countries. It contains excellent sport, with opportunity for daring, narrow escapes, and much laughter.

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      10 to 30 players.

      Playground; gymnasium.

      A bear pit is formed by the players joining hands in a circle with one in the center as the bear. The bear tries to get out by breaking apart the bars (clasped hands), or by going over or under these barriers. Should he escape, all of the other players give chase, the one catching him becoming bear.

      This is a favorite game with boys, and is not so rough a game as Bull in the Ring, the means of escape for the bear being more varied. He can exercise considerable stratagem by appearing to break through the bars in one place, and suddenly turning and crawling under another, etc.

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      10 to 60 players.

      Schoolroom.

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