Conference moira::parenting_v3

    The way I remember playing is that you designate an area that is
    "SAFE", where you can't be frozen (and can rest if you need to).  You 
    can run to that area if you are being chased.  If you are frozen 3 
    times you then become IT.  Anyone who isn't frozen can unfreeze you. 
    That is how we use to play.
    
    Kathy 

    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    (I have been reading notes for a while now, and this is my first reply,
    so I hope I don't get too long winded.  I'll try to keep it short.)
    
    I remember this game!  When I was little, I played Freeze Tag just
    about every day with the other kids in my neighborhood.  And then 
    later when I was a playground leader for the summer in my town, Freeze
    Tag was one of the kids' *and leaders'* favorites.
    
    You got the basic jist of the game down so far.  These are the rules we
    used on the playground, and they worked pretty well.
    
    The person who is "it" chases the other players around and tags whoever
    he/she can.  In order to be "unfrozen" or "melted" as the kids said,
    someone else has to crawl under your legs, like a bridge.  The catch is 
    that the person who is "it" can tag the "melter" while he/she is
    crawling under your legs, and then you are both stuck exactly where
    you are.  The "melter" has to stand next to, behind, or in front of the
    "meltee".  The person who is "it" should try to tag as many people in
    this situation as possible.  The person who is "it" loses his status
    when everyone is frozen.  Then the last person to be tagged becomes
    "it".
    
    The game can go on forever, so many times we used more than one person
    at a time to be "it".  This cuts down on the amount of running "it" has
    to do, and makes each round move more quickly.  Another option is to
    limit the time that one person can remain "it".
    
    I hope this helps! Have a great picnic!  You will have to let me know
    how your game turns out.  
    
    _ Mary Beth
    
     p.s. - do you remember these others? Who can forget them.
      T.V. Tag, Dodge Ball, Kick the Can, Steal the Bacon, and Flag
    Football just to name a few
    

    One of the people in our Unit brought in a book on Family Games and in
    the description of tag it says that most of the time the game is ended
    by exhaustion. (Tee Hee)  
    
    I like the idea of a SAFE zone so the kids can rest.  I guess I better 
    brush up on all of these games, eventually my daughter will want to
    play these.
    
    Remember Red Rover Red Rover?
    
    
    Bethany

    Isn't Freeze Tag also known as Statues?  Or was that another, similar
    game...
    
    Also remember Giant Step and Red Light?
    
    (What the heck is Steal the Bacon?!)
    
    Leslie

    Okay, I'll bite, what is Sardines?
    
    Kathy

    Well, I'm fuzzy, underdeveloped and dense on this too, but it's
    basically hide-and-seek turned inside out.  Instead of "it" counting 
    while everyone else hides, "it" hides while everyone else counts to 
    <whatever> with their eyes closed.   if you find "it", you hide _with_ 
    "it".  Eventually everyone is packed into the hiding place like sardines,
    and the last person to find the sardines is the new "it."
    
    Leslie 

    How about SCRAMBLE?  I remember this game - it goes like this:
    
    You need a large plastic ball - the ones they sell in bins for .99.
    The person who is "it", throws the ball into the air while all the
    other players run around.  As soon as the ball is caught by "it"
    everyone has to stop.   "It" also stays in place.  "IT" trys to hit
    the other players with the ball and if successful, they sit and wait.
    "IT" scrambles to get the ball and must stay where it has landed to
    make his/her next shot.  Once all the players are hit, then the first
    person hit becomes "it" next.
    
    Really a lot of fun!
    
    -Patty

did anyone else play Bloody Murder?  It's not as bad as it sounds.  You must
play after dark, because the thrill is in scaring each other to death.

Basically, it's just Hide 'n' Seek, but the point is to scare the person who
is it, which gives you your chance to run for home.  If the IT person catches
you, s/he-IT  can either hide or sit at home and watch everyone else (kibbitz, 
etc) try to scare the new IT person.

    Steal the Bacon is a game played by two teams and a "referee".
    The two teams line up across a line, facing the other team, about 10 yards
    away.  Every person on each person on each of the two teams is given a 
    number beginning with 1, 2, 3, 4..until everyone has a number (each team has
    a 1, 2, 3...etc.) and is lined up in order.
    
    The "referee" places the "bacon", a ball or stick or anything else, in
    between the two teams and then calls out a number.  The two people
    whose number was called, one from each team, run to the center to pick
    up the "bacon".  The first person to reach the "bacon" then runs back
    to his own spot on his/her team's line before the other person tries to
    tag the first person  before he/she gets over his/her team's line and
    into his/her spot.  If the first person makes it back to his/her spot
    without being tagged, his/her team gets a point.  If he/she is tagged,
    the other team gets a point.  Then the "bacon" is returned to the
    middle and another number is called.  The game ends when a team reaches
    a pre-determined number of points, based on how long you want the game
    to go on.
    (a variation is to call more than one number at a time.  This adds a
    little excitement and challenge.)

    Statues is a different game from freeze tag. In statues the person
    who is it swings the other players around by the hand, lets go and
    they have to hold the position they end up in.

    Could you please refresh my memory by outlining the rules for Giant
    Step and Red Light??   thanks  
    

    I'm clearer on Red Light than Giant Step, but here goes.
    
    Red Light - "It" stands at one end of the (long) lawn; players stand on
    the opposite end.  The object is to be the first player to advance
    across the lawn and tag "It."  So... "It" turns around, covers his/her
    eyes, (says "green light"?) and counts to 10 as fast as possible,
    ending with "Red Light!"  While "It" is counting, the players run
    toward "It", but they have to be immobile by the time "It" says "Red
    Light" and turns around.  If "It" catches you moving, you have to go
    back to the beginning.
    
    Giant Step - This sounds dumber and less fair the more I think about
    it, but this is how I think we played.  Same setup with "It" on one end
    and players on the other.  "It" calls on each player individually:
    "Leslie, take 3 baby steps."  The player has to ask, "May I?"--if not,
    and the player starts to do the steps, the player has to go back to the
    beginning.  "It" might say "Yes you may," or "No you may not.  Take 2
    Umbrella Twirls."  (Player still has to ask "May I?")  "It" is supposed
    to maintain players in roughly the same state of advancement on the
    field [  :')   ] -- in other words, you can't give all the giant steps
    to your best friend.
    
    Help, there must be a way for the players to even the score (aside from
    trying to sneak forward while "It" isn't looking)!  I remember that in
    both games, especially as we got older, we could be sent back for the
    slightest motion ("yes you were, you were LAUGHING").
    
    Leslie ("I was not, it was a sneeze...")  

If that's Giant Step, we called it "Mother, May I ?".  The one who was
'IT' was actually 'Mother' in this game.  We had all kinds of different
steps: umbrella twirls and banana something or others.  Whew what a long
time ago . . .my memory is rather foggy on it too, but it seems like it
was the same as Leslie W. said, 'cept we asked "Mother, may I ?".  And
in retrospect it does seem silly and probably unfair, though I remember
that we had fun playing it.  Seems to me you could make the person go 
backwards too, "Leslie, take one giant step backwards." ;-)

Leslie

    Yup, I remember taking steps backward too.  And I *thought* I
    remembered banana(mumblesomething) steps... I think you slide out one
    foot as far as you can without falling over, then slide the other one
    up to position.  Do you have to go back to the beginning if you fall
    over (dizzy from Umbrella twirls, f'rinstance)?  Can you remember any
    of the other steps (this is going to bug me for DAYS!)?
    
    Leslie W (you can call me Yesrie)

    
    I remember red light but our phrase was slightly different.  'IT' would
    turn around and say "Red light, Green light, 1, 2, 3" and then would
    turn around and see if anyone was still moving.  Anyone caught running
    has to return to the beginning.  The first one to reach 'it' while
    'its' back is turned wins.
    
    

    RE: .15
    
    That is the way we use to play it too!
    
    Kathy