OT: Games We Played as Kids

[RelocatedPatFan]

British Bulldogs
Players would run from end to end of a field while the 'bulldog' attempted to tackle a person. Now both of them were bulldogs. It would repeat until one person was left.

Great for learning to tackle properly (rugby style). Seems as though it's getting outlawed as more and more schools wrap the kids up in cotton wool.

Sounds similar to Kill the Carrier (orit's now politically incorrect name ...)

Basically, one person had the football. You had to tackle to person with the football and if you did, you got to carry the football. No goals, no bounds (usually). Repeat and rinse until too tired or to banged up to play.

Of course one tactic was when someone got too close or wasn't participating, you'd punch the ball into their stomach and tackle them.

 

[aluminum seats]

Sounds similar to Kill the Carrier (orit's now politically incorrect name ...)

Do you mean Smear the Queer? Ah, simpler times...

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

Of course, nothing wrong with a good board game of "Risk". Psychological warfare on a grand scale.

 

[aluminum seats]

Good idea for a thread...remember most of the ones mentioned so far, or some variant. Spud was another one.

 

[dtbrks]

king of the mountain.
monkey in the middle (keep-away).
kick ball

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

When my daughters were little, around the start of the season I'd morph into Juli Adams and wrap them up for huge losses...their introduction to football.

You're never gonna see an NFL QB laughing hysterically like that while he's being chased down by a DE.

Well, maybe in practice.

 

[Deus Irae]

Anyone here ever play speedball/stickball (drawn strikeout box on wall, tennis ball, hockey stick for "bat")? Only the Lord knows how many tennis balls we lost to school and church roofs.

 

[Triumph]

Pocket Pool

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

Interesting, to me, that nobody's mentioned kick the can yet...

You just did!!!!

 

[Gwedd]

Yard darts
Blew up frogs and fish
Shot at each other with pellet guns
Egg wars Halloween night

We used to play Army with our BB guns. We'd wear helmets and goggles/eye protection, BUT... that was about it. I still have a BB under the skin in my right forearm. You always knew when you got hit.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

At recess in elementary school (1970s) foursquare and kickball (pegging the runner allowed) all the time.

 

[patfanken]

Yard darts
Blew up frogs and fish
Shot at each other with pellet guns
Egg wars Halloween night

That explains a a lot.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Sounds similar to Kill the Carrier (orit's now politically incorrect name ...)

Basically, one person had the football. You had to tackle to person with the football and if you did, you got to carry the football. No goals, no bounds (usually). Repeat and rinse until too tired or to banged up to play.

Of course one tactic was when someone got too close or wasn't participating, you'd punch the ball into their stomach and tackle them.

I was about to say, when I was a kid we played that game, but the name was something that definitely wouldn't fly in 2016.

 

[Triumph]

Sticks and bikes.

Basically it took 4 players divided in to 2 man teams. 2 guys were on the bicycle and 2 guys were about 30 yards away on top of a mound of dirt armed with a supply of dead pine branch sticks. The woods were full of them. The sticks were about a foot long and the diameter of the middle of a baseball bat. Heavy sticks got to the target quicker.

On the bike, the first guy peddled as fast as he could. The second guy sat on the seat and was the navigator warning the pilot of incoming projectiles.

The object of the game

The 2 guys on the bike had to make it past the 2 guys throwing sticks without getting hit. If they made it through the gauntlet we changed ends of the field and they were the ones delivering punishment while the other guys tried their luck.

First drop of blood the game was over for a few weeks.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Interesting, to me, that nobody's mentioned kick the can yet...

Or midget tossing....

 

[RobertWeathers]

We used to play Army with our BB guns. We'd wear helmets and goggles/eye protection, BUT... that was about it. I still have a BB under the skin in my right forearm. You always knew when you got hit.

Same here. We wore sunglasses and winter jackets in August. We'd throw firecrackers at each other and pretend they were grenades. Just psycho stuff.

 

[patfanken]

Anyone here ever play speedball/stickball (drawn strikeout box on wall, tennis ball, hockey stick for "bat")? Only the Lord knows how many tennis balls we lost to school and church roofs.

Yeah, it was always called box ball in my iteration and was a big part of every inner city kid's life. I grew up in one of those red brick housing projects with lots of windowless walls. It was perfect. You'd see a dozen games going on all the time. BTW- it was a great game for 8 year olds and we were still playing it in HS. Usually played with 2 kids on a side (pitcher and fielder) caught ground balls were outs as well as flies. Over the head of the fielder was a homer.

Other games the I remember:

flipping baseball cards against the wall, with nearest wins (leaners were the ultimate)

Marbles for keepies

Billy Buck Buck - That was a tough one. One team would line up and interlock hugging each other, while the other team would send individuals to vault on the line and try to break it. You won if all their players leaped and the line held. You lost if the line broke or one of you players didn't stay on the line. I have one indelible memory of that game over 60 years later.

Usually the team anchored on something like a tree or pole. Well I had a particularly good run and well timed hand placement, and vaulted head first right into the tree. Probably my first concussion.

But you are right, you were NEVER in the house after school. You got home, changed into "play clothes" and you were outside doing something. Growing up in a housing project was great as far as I was concerned. If you were with anything less then 8 other kids, you were essentially alone. It was only years later did I find out I was "poor". It came as a surprise because I thought I had never lacked for anything....mostly I guess because you didn't need much to have fun in those days.

 

[Patjew]

Do you mean Smear the Queer? Ah, simpler times...

In RI it was muckle.

I think smear the queer was the name from a little more south.

 

[Deus Irae]

In RI it was muckle.

I think smear the queer was the name from a little more south.

It was smear the queer in southeastern Mass., too.

 

[aluminum seats]

In RI it was muckle.

I think smear the queer was the name from a little more south.

Massachusetts is North of RI, wiseguy