School yard games

[Heather74]

Re: School yard games

Good old pitch and toss. Banned at our school.

[andria]

Re: School yard games

yeah we used to do that too, very nrly concussed meself once or twice lol. always used to nick me nan's pop socks. I can't remember the name either.

[PWC1973]

Re: School yard games

We used to play Army,now I know this sound's like the Peter kay sketch but it's true.
Me and my mates would start off with a few of us shouting "Who's playing Army" "Who's playing Army" and so on,until we had mostly all the boys together.Then we would split into two the German's and the English and we would make gun's out of stick's and use invisible hand granades........

With sound's like BRRRRRRRR AH BRRRRRRRR AH and WHIZZZZZZZZ BANG.
BOOSH AND DRRRRRR AH DRRRRR AH.........

[Cal]

Re: School yard games

We used to play Army,now I know this sound's like the Peter kay sketch but it's true.
Me and my mates would start off with a few of us shouting "Who's playing Army" "Who's playing Army" and so on,until we had mostly all the boys together.Then we would split into two the German's and the English and we would make gun's out of stick's and use invisible hand granades........

With sound's like BRRRRRRRR AH BRRRRRRRR AH and WHIZZZZZZZZ BANG.
BOOSH AND DRRRRRR AH DRRRRR AH.........

i hope true to history that the british won everytime

[PWC1973]

Re: School yard games

Of course Cal.....
But that's when the real fight's broke out FIGHT,FIGHT,FIGHT,FIGHT........

[Mulletino]

Re: School yard games

In our school, your "faction" was determined by the colour of your Parka (or Snorkel depending upon vintage) if you had a "green" one you were British, if your coat was "blue" you were a German. My original Parka (soft material, furry line on hood) was green, but when i got a Snorkel (the silly coats that made it impossible to cross roads when raining) it was Blue. So I had to change faction, I wasn't too happy with being a German either although I did get to practice all the German phrases i'd learnt from "Commando" comics:

"Got in himmel"
"englander schweinhund"
"achtung achtung spitfire daka daka daka"
and of course "AAIIIEEEEEEE"



We used to also walk in a line chanting "who wants to play <insert game name here>" sometimes adding "no girls" to the end as a reprise to the girls for saying "no boys" on their chants. As you walked around the playground the line got bigger until you decided it was big enough for a decent game, any late comers would be slightly humiliated while we all pretended to take our time deciding if they could join or not.

We played the usuals, War, British bulldog (banned), Tincan tommy, what's the time Mr Wolf, sticky glue, hopscotch, marbles, Top Trumps, conkers, penny up the wall, football with a tennis ball, toy cars, then after 1977 Star Wars also became a favourite.

These all became far more fun in the Summer when we were allowed to play on the school field which meant you could die more dramatically in War without hurting yourself on the concrete. Ah the smell of freshly cut grass!

As I was at junior/infant school during the big dry summers we had in the 70s, I remember the dried up cracked ground on the field. When I see similar ground now (not too difficult in the water shortage here) it momentarily takes me back to then and makes me smile.

Good old days.

[Moomin Dave...]

Re: School yard games

At school, apart from 'British Bulldog 1-2-3', which got banned because people kept getting hurt

Yep, same ol' story for me mate. Another one to get banned from my primary school was 'The A-Team' - our headmaster even held an 'emergency assembly' to lay down the law, the next person caught jumping off the top of the prefabs onto some unsuspecting whippersnapper whilst shouting 'pity the fool' would be sent home without question!

Another popular schoolyard game was 'Miner's and Picket's', which basically consisted of virtually the whole year kicking the living daylights out of eachother and occasionally shouting 'scab' at one another! Nice, eh?

[HG]

Re: School yard games

Another popular schoolyard game was 'Miner's and Picket's', which basically consisted of virtually the whole year kicking the living daylights out of eachother and occasionally shouting 'scab' at one another! Nice, eh?

Lol we had that too, nowt like a good ruck in the name of fun

[joybee]

Re: School yard games

We had a flight of steps from the playground to the entrance and there happened to be seven steps. So we devised a game - top step was Sunday bottom step was Saturday. A caller shouted the name of a day and you had to jump to the appropriate one - both up and down.
It was great - until someone jumped from Sunday to Friday, slipped and broke a leg !! For some strange reason the steps were put out of bounds unless entering or leaving the building after that

[Bren41882]

Re: School yard games

some of my favs were hopscotch, duck duck goose,
red rover, red light green light, mother may I, jump rope,thetherball,four squares, various versions of tag

[SG1973]

Re: School yard games

Bren, can you explain the rules of that Marco Polo game that's played in USA please? I've seen it on TV shows but never understood exactly how's played.

Is it always played in a swimming pool and why is it called Marco Polo?

Cheers

[Bren41882]

Re: School yard games

It's called Marco Polo after the famous exploror of the same name. It's usally played in a swimming pool. You need 2 or more players one player closes his or her eyes and yells marco and the other kids yell polo. Whovever yelled Marco has to find the other kids with his eyes closed. You yell Marco and Polo till someone is found then that person has to find the others wit thier eyes closed. It's kind of like playing tag with your eyes closed in a swimming pool. We also played it with our eyes opened when playing with opened eyes we called it shark cause who ever was chaseing you was the shark and everyone else were the fish.

[SG1973]

Re: School yard games

Cheers Bren, I thought that was it but wasn't sure. I take it the ones shouting Polo are not allowed to move.

But why specifically Marco Polo? Why not Christopher Columbus or Captain Cook? What significance is Marco Polo's name to the game? Is it just because he was an explorer and you're trying to "find" the other players?

[Bren41882]

Re: School yard games

The one shouting polo could move if they wanted to. As fot the mane I think it's called that cause he was an explorer and it's easy for kids to say.

[designgirl]

Re: School yard games

talking bout playground games,what about british bulldog,where there were loads of kids and u called one to run to the otherside of playground and if he made it the others ran,but if you caught him you were both on and had to call someone else until they made it across.

This was banned when I was at Primary School - too many kids getting hurt. A friend of mine tripped and fell and had the most awful bloody eye - it was hideous. Was a shame though, was a great game. How and when did it arrive in Australia, no idea, although I would presume it was way before 1976 when I started school....