In this game sometimes a good captain may win even when he has an inferior team. For instance, if he sees all the boys are pulling their hardest, the captain of the other side sees that his opponents are leaning back too much, that is they are trusting to their weight rather than to their strength. He gives the signal to slacken, when down go the enemy, and are then dragged over the line with the greatest ease. If the enemy begins to be tired a united and sudden tug will generally bring them upright, and once moved, the victory is easily gained. No knots are to be allowed on the rope, nor is the game won, unless the whole side has been dragged over the line.
Fight for the Flag.—A game played from a mound, and any number may play. Each party chooses a captain, and having done this, divide themselves into attackers and defenders. The defending party provide themselves with a small flag, which is fixed on a staff on the top of the mound, and then arrange themselves round it so as to defend it from the attacks of their opponents, who advance towards the hillock, and try to throw down those who oppose them. Those who are so thrown on either side, are called “dead men,” and must lie quiet till the game is finished. This happens either when all the attacking party are dead, or when the flag has been carried off by one of them. The player who carries off the flag is called the knight, and is chosen captain for the next game.
Hop-Scotch.—A game played by hopping on one foot and kicking an oyster-shell or piece of tile or stone from one compartment to the other, without placing the lifted foot, except in one case, upon the ground, and without allowing the shell or tile to rest on any of the lines. A diagram is first drawn consisting of twelve compartments, each being numbered, and at its further end the picture of a plum pudding with knife and fork. In commencing the game, the players take their stand at the place marked by A, and throw for innings. He who can go nearest to the plum in the centre of the pudding, plays first.
The winner begins by throwing his shell into No. 1; he then hops into the space, and kicks the tile out to A; he next throws the tile into No. 2, kicks it from No. 2 to No. 1, and thence out. He then throws it into No. 3, kicks it from 3 to 2, from 2 to 1, and out. He next throws it into No. 4, kicks it from 4 to 3, from 3 to 2, from 2 to 1, and out; and so he goes on till he has passed the cross and comes to No. 7, when he is allowed to rest, by standing with one foot in No. 6 and the other in No. 7; but he must go on hopping before he kicks the tile home. He then passes through the beds 8, 9, 10 and 11, as he did those of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc., and so on, till he gets to plum pudding, when he may rest, and placing his tile on the plum, he is required, while standing on one foot, to kick it with such force as to send it through all the other beds to A at one kick. If one player throws his tile into the wrong compartment, or when he is kicking it out, he loses his innings, as he does also if the tile or his foot at any time rests on a line, or if he kicks his tile out of the diagram.
We give also diagrams for simpler forms of the game.
Turnpike.—Although turnpike-keepers upon the roads have long since been abolished, there is no reason why the game of turnpike, played with hoops, should be played no longer. Any number of boys may play, but we will suppose there are six. One should have a hoop and the others will then be turnpike-keepers. These take two stones or two bricks and place them about two inches apart upon the ground. We may call each pair of stones or bricks the toll-bar, and each toll-bar should be some distance from the others. It is the task of the boy with the hoop to pass between the stones without touching them, and if he goes through the five then he turns and comes through them again from the other side, and so on until he fails. If he touches a toll-bar then the keeper of the bar takes that hoop, and he who had hitherto been driving the hoop becomes the keeper of that particular toll-bar at which he failed. If the hoop driver touches his hoop with his hands, or allows it to fall he must give it to the nearest toll-bar keeper and take his place while the toll-bar keeper becomes a hoop driver. Each keeper must stand upon that side of his toll-gate which is towards the right hand of the hoop driver, so that when the hoop driver returns he must cross to the other side of his toll-bar. If he is on the wrong side the hoop driver need not trouble to pass through his toll-bar at all. If the boys prefer it there may be more hoop drivers and fewer toll-bar keepers.
Posting.—Places called posting-stations are formed at regular intervals in a large circle or oval, and at each place a player takes his stand. Every player, except the hoop driver, has charge of one of these stations. Suppose there are seven players—A, B, C, D, E, F, and G, and that G holds the hoop. The other six players having taken their places, G starts from the station belonging to F, and drives the hoop towards A, who waits, with hoop-stick in hand, ready to relieve G of his hoop. G stops at the posting-station, while A runs the hoop to B, who takes charge of it, and delivers it to C. C trundles the hoop to D; D takes it to E; E to F, and F conveys it to the first player, G. In this way the game continues, until all the players have worked round the circle five or six times. The game is rendered more boisterous by increasing the numbers of players, and having two or three hoop drivers. Do not touch the hoop with your hands, and do not let the hoop fall.
Fox.—One player is called Fox, and he has a den where none of the players may annoy him. The other players arm themselves with knotted handkerchiefs, and wait for Reynard’s appearance. He is also armed with a knotted handkerchief, and hops out of his den. When he is out, the other players attack him with their handkerchiefs, and he endeavours to strike one of them without putting down his other foot. If he puts down his foot he has to run back as fast as he can, without the right to strike the other players, who flog him the whole way. If, however, he succeeds in striking one without losing his balance, the one so struck becomes Fox; and, as he has both feet down, is thrashed to his den.
Drop Ball.—A line must be drawn three feet from the wall at which this game of ball is to be played. The player must kneel outside this line, and never cross it; if the ball falls inside the line it is reckoned a miss. Each time the player throws up the ball and catches it it counts a point. There are many ways of playing this game.