What types of special moves do you remember using when you played four square as a kid?

Mostly ninjitsu. Nowadays just judo.

how would you specifically use that while playing the game..?

What do you mean? How the heck do you play? Ninjas win at hopscotch, four square and tether ball all day long.
Really though, we would draw feet circles you had to stand in. That was fun.

The Shoryuken. Used it always when I was about to lose. Well, almost always.
Sometimes I used a simple spinning neck snap.
(for the record, I have no Idea what “four square” is)

I don’t remember having specific “moves” as much as specific “rules” that the person in the #1 square could declare or forbid, such as bobbling okay, catching for 2 seconds ok (if playing with little kids, usually), one bounce ok, spiking forbidden, etc.

For those who don’t know/remember the game: you draw a big square on the ground, and divide it into four smaller squares, numbered 1 through 4. A new player entered at #4 and the goal was to get to #1 and stay there as long as possible. It was kinda/sorta like volleyball without a net. A player would bounce or throw the ball to another player’s square, and the player in that square had to slap/throw/bounce it to another player’s square. If a player missed a ball that was clearly “his”, that player was out, and everyone in a square lower than the out player moved up one square. If there was a line of people waiting to play, the person at the head of the line became the new #4.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Square

@Mritty it was amusing reading the rules. I don’t remember half of those, and I am sure we didn’t play by them. The move I used a lot was hitting a skidder, in which the ball seems to move straight across, but without rolling. If you could make or return a skidder, you were damn good.

I think Four Square was a game that was simply invented by kids in a playground, and spread. There were never any “official” rules that anyone followed with any consistency. Different groups of friends in the same city/neighborhood used their own rules.

Suicide.

We didn’t really have any when we played, except super bouncing the ball way high up in the air so that it was virtually impossible to return.

@mangeons I think we called that a “cherry bomb” at my school.

@Carly Yeah, that’s what it was called! I couldn’t remember the name, haha.

@mangeons, @Carly we called that a “grasshopper” at my elementary school

We also played that the “king” could impose any rule before the start of the round (like “grasshoppers only”). Everybody hated “black magic” because you had to spin completely around and clap your hands before you touched the ball. It would cause a lot of arguments over whether or not the king was being fair.

@phaedryx Yeah, we had a “king” too, it was whoever was in the “A” spot in the game. It switched around as people got out, and whoever was “king” at the time could call out different rules. There was another one called “bus stop”, where all the players had to put a foot in the middle and the last one to do it was out.

I haven’t played four square in ages, it was so fun!