Novelty competitions, in wide variety, may easily be invented to amuse a group of Scouts. The following will suggest many other variations: A short walking match, heel and toe. The distance may vary from twenty to one hundred yards or more. The same competition may be conducted going backward.
Have all the girls take a prone position, face downward, hands and feet in a specified position. On a signal, get up and run to the finishing line. The usual signal is "On your marks," "Get set," "Go." There should be no movement whatever until the final signal "Go." Have the players hop backward or forward in a race. Various combinations of these will readily suggest themselves.
Two or more teams of girls may find much fun in simple passing games. Arrange the teams in line, either seated or standing. Have them pass such an object as a bean bag, ball or stick in a specified way. For instance, if the girls are seated, one behind the other, the bean bag may be passed backward over the right shoulder with one hand, around the back of the last girl, and forward over the left shoulder. The game starts with the bag on the ground in front of the leader, and is finished when the leader replaces it there, after it has passed through the hands of each girl on the team. Be careful to see that there are the same number of girls on each team, and that the lines occupy, when arranged, the same space on the ground. Next let the players pass the bag backward overhead with both hands, and forward in any manner they like.
The following variation will introduce an additional feature that makes the game all the livelier. Let the object be passed back to the last player who then runs forward and takes the place of the leading player, every player in that line moving back one position as this player runs to the front of the line. This is continued until the captain or leader has gone through every place in the line and run back to the front. The team whose captain gets to the front first, wins the game.
Another stage of this game may be played by stretching a cord or rope across in front of the two lines, eight or ten feet high. As each player advances, the bag or ball must be thrown over the rope from the near to the far side, caught, and then thrown back. Any player failing to catch the object must make the throw over again. After she returns to the head of the line, the object is passed back to the last player in the same manner, and the game continues until the captain or leading player has passed through every position in the line, and come back to the front.
A similar game may be played with a basket-ball and basket-ball goals, each girl being required to shoot a goal at one or both ends of the basket-ball court. In the woods or in camp a ring or hoop may be substituted for the basket-ball goal.
Hundreds of such simple games are found in the books on games listed in the Handbook. A few of the more useful and popular games are described below.
Three Deep
Twenty-four or more players form a circle of pairs with space enough between the players (who stand closely one behind the other, facing the center of the circle) to allow the runners to turn and run in all directions. Two players on the outside of the circle and at a distance from each other begin the game. One of these is called the "tagger," the other is "It." She tries to tag "It" before she can secure a place in front of any of the pairs forming the circle. If she succeeds, rôles are changed, the player who has been tagged then becomes the "tagger" and the former "tagger" tries to secure a place in front of some pair. But whenever the runner (the player pursued) has succeeded in getting in front of a pair before being tagged, then the hindmost (the last or third, in the respective rank) must take to her heels and seek to evade the unsuccessful "tagger" who now turns her attention to the new runner. In trying to evade a tagger the successive players may run in any direction, either left or right, outside the circle, but not pass in front of any one rank to another rank in such a manner as to induce wrong starts. A hindmost player may also form in front of his own rank, making the second player in such rank hindmost or "third." The play is always directed against the third or last of a rank, two players being the number limited to each place.
(When classes of players in the beginning are too large the circle may be formed by rows or ranks of threes, instead of twos or pairs.)