This is a capital game as here developed with the feature of scoring, and may be made very popular.
COCK STRIDE
3 to 15 players.
Playground; gymnasium.
This game is usually played with boys' caps, but knotted handkerchiefs or balls of crumpled paper may be used. One player is the cock; he is blindfolded and stands in a stride position with his feet wide apart sideways. The other players stand in turn at a point five to ten feet behind him, and throw their caps forward as far as possible between his legs. After the caps are all thrown, each player moves forward and stands beside his own cap. The cock then crawls on all fours, still blindfolded, until he reaches a cap. The player whose cap is first touched at once becomes an object of chase by the other players, who are at liberty to "pommel" him when he is captured. He then becomes cock for the next round of the game.
CROSSING THE BROOK
5 to 60 or more players.
Playground; gymnasium; schoolroom.
This game is a great favorite with little children. A place representing a brook is marked off by two lines on the ground. For little children in the first year of school (about six years old) this may start with a width of two feet. The players ran in groups and try to jump across the brook. Those who succeed turn around and jump back with a standing jump instead of a running jump. On either of these jumps the player who does not cross the line representing the bank gets into the water and must run home for dry stockings, being thereafter out of the game. The successful jumpers are led to wider and wider places in the brook to jump (a new line being drawn to increase the distance), until the widest point is reached at which any player can jump successfully. This player is considered the winner.
This game is printed by kind permission of the Alumni Association of the Boston Normal School of Gymnastics, from the book One Hundred and Fifty Gymnastic Games.