Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium Part 67

A fifteen-minute game should be divided into at least three periods, the teacher signaling for a rest at the end of each five minutes.

This game is admirable for the parlor, and may also be played in the gymnasium or playground.

This game was originated by Mr. Max Liebgold of New York City, and received the prize offered by Mrs. Henry Siegel in the compet.i.tion for schoolroom games conducted by the Girls' Branch of the Public Schools Athletic League of New York City in 1906.

The game is here published by the kind permission of the author, and of the Girls' Branch, and of Messrs. A. G. Spalding & Brothers, who publish the handbook in which the game first appeared.

BALL PUSS

_3 to 30 or more players._

_Playground; gymnasium; schoolroom._

_Gas ball; basket ball; hand ball; bean bag._

This is a form of ball tag. In it each player chooses a home or corner, as in Puss in the Corner, or Home Tag. When played out of doors, trees may be used for this purpose; in a gymnasium, pillars or different pieces of apparatus; in the schoolroom, the corners of the room, the front and rear corner desks, the teacher's desk, the radiator, or any other objective points. The players who are so stationed beckon to each other to exchange places, and as they run from one place to another the one who is It tries to hit them with the ball. Any one so hit changes places with the one who is It.

As in all ball-tag games, either a ball or bean bag may be used. If played in the schoolroom, a light gas ball should be used; elsewhere, anything from a light-weight hand ball to a basket ball would be suitable. Hard b.a.l.l.s should be avoided.

Where there are many playing, it is advisable to have two or three who take the part of thrower or Puss (It), in which case there will be two or three b.a.l.l.s or bean bags in play at the same time, and the game is made more rapid.

BALL STAND

(Burley Whush)

_5 to 20 players._

_Out of doors; gymnasium._

_Hand ball; tennis ball._

This game is started by tossing a ball against a wall or on the roof of a house from which it may roll back. The players all stand in a group or row, from ten to twenty feet from the wall. One of the number is chosen as thrower and tosses the ball as indicated, at the same moment calling the name of one of the other players. This player must dash forward and catch the ball before it strikes the ground, while at the same moment all of the other players run as far away as possible.

Should the one called succeed in catching the ball, the players come back and the thrower throws again, calling the name of some other player. Should the one whose name is called fail, however, to catch the ball, he calls out "Stand!" upon which the others must stop in their flight. The ball man then picks up the ball, and from where he stands throws it in his turn at one of the players. Any player so hit calls out "Hit!" and becomes at once the ball man. The other players immediately run again without returning to the wall, but stop as soon as the one hit calls "Stand!" which he must do upon picking up the ball.

This is continued until the ball fails to hit one of the players, when all return to the original starting place, where the last thrower of the ball throws it against the wall and the game begins again.

The players in their flight, the object of which of course is to diminish the chances of being hit by the ball, may run behind any obstacle, such as a bush or around the corner of a house, but in any such case must extend a hand so it shall be visible beyond this obstacle, that the ball man may still have an opportunity to hit them.

BALL TAG

_3 to 60 players._

_Playground; gymnasium; schoolroom._

_Gas ball; bean bag; basket ball; hand ball._

There are several forms of ball tag, each quite distinctive, and all interesting and making good games. A soft ball or bean bag should be used in all of these games, or with older players a basket ball or other large, comparatively light-weight ball.

The players scatter promiscuously. One player, who is It, tries to hit one of the other players with a ball or bean bag. Any player thus. .h.i.t becomes It and must try to tag others in the same way. When a player fails to hit one for whom he aims, the thrower must pick up his own ball or bag, except in the schoolroom, where the seats and desks interfere with this. There any adjacent player may pick up the ball and throw it back to the one who is It. Players may dodge in any way, as by stooping, jumping, or the usual sideways movements.

Where there are many playing, it is advisable to have two or three who take the part of thrower or It, in which case there will be two or three b.a.l.l.s or bean bags in play at the same time, and the game is much more rapid.

If played in the schoolroom, a light gas ball or bean bag should be used. Elsewhere, anything from a light-weight hand ball to a basket ball would be suitable. Hard b.a.l.l.s should be avoided.

BASKET BALL DISTANCE THROW

_10 to 30 or more players._

_Playground; gymnasium._

_Basket ball._

This is an interesting and simple athletic event, as well as a good game. It is especially useful for players drilling on the handling of the basket ball or shotput, and is a good subst.i.tute for shotput for girls.

A full circle six feet in diameter is drawn on the ground. A heavy line is drawn across its center, which serves as a throwing line. The player stands in the circle and throws the basket ball from this throwing line toward other lines drawn in the throwing s.p.a.ce as specified below, the ball scoring according to its landing in relation to these other lines.

[Ill.u.s.tration diagram: BASKET BALL DISTANCE THROW]

The lines drawn across the throwing s.p.a.ce must be parallel with the throwing line in the circle. For players below the seventh year of the elementary school course (below twelve years of age) these three lines should be respectively twelve, eighteen, and twenty-seven feet from the forward edge of the circle. For players from the seventh and eighth year of the school course (that is, thirteen and fourteen years of age) these three lines should be respectively fifteen, twenty-one, and thirty-one feet from the forward edge of the circle. These measurements are for girls. For boys the longer distance given between lines will be found generally advisable, and they may even be increased.

The players are divided into competing teams, the players of each team throwing in rapid succession. Each player has but one turn, unless the ball should strike some obstacle before touching the ground, when another trial is allowed. A thrower must at the start stand in the circle and toe the throwing line, drawn across the center of the circle; in completing the throw he must not fall or step forward over the outer line of the circle in front of him. If at any part of the throw, from its start to finish, the thrower be out of the circle, it is considered a foul and does not score, the number of players in the team being counted as one less when the total or average is figured.

The best form for throwing is that described for Battle Ball.

For each throw to the first line (the twelve or fifteen foot line) or any point between it and the next line, a team scores one point. For each throw to the second line (the eighteen or twenty-one foot line), or between it and the next line, a team scores three points. For each throw to or beyond the third line (the twenty-seven or thirty-one foot line) a team scores five points. The team averaging or adding the largest score wins first place in the event. If the number of players be not even, the score is decided by an average instead of by adding.

Where several groups or teams are competing, if there be a judge for each team and floor s.p.a.ce for more than one diagram, two or more teams should throw at once.

BATTLE BALL

_6 to 12 players._

_Playground; gymnasium._

_Basket ball; Indian clubs._