What are some games you played in the street as a child that you don't see kids play anymore?
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ucme (
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January 29th, 2010
When I was a kid, outside was one big playground. Me & my mates would play with just about anything as long as it was harmless…. well ok not always!! We’d always be outside having an adventure or two. Only returning home when we were hungry. What “games” did you get up to that are rarely if ever played by todays kids?
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I don’t know if kids still play these or not, but I personally haven’t seen it played that often, if at all since I was a kid.
Four Square
Hide & Seek
Red Light, Green Light
Dodgeball
@erichw1504 For your answer I feel I should thank,but I wonder who Ratchet or Clank?
Hide n Seek
hopscotch
soapbox derby
We used to put on our rollerblades are go over the speed bumps as fast as we could lol! Good times :)
4 square.
I still see kids playing hopscotch and hide and seek.
@ucme Haha, that rhyme was intentional, right? You can thank us both, since Clank helped me remember Red Light, Green Light.
We also used to throw coins against a wall, and whoever was closest to the wall kept all the money. But, that is gambling, not really playing I guess? LOL.
Does Backyard Baseball count, since it wasn’t played in the street?
Stickball
Stoop ball
Ringalevio
How many ants can you kill with a magnifying glass?
I rarely see kids outside anymore.
@mowens That’s true. Why play outside when you have the internet and video games?
Mother May I?
jump rope
Freeze tag
Statues
Smoke pot… oh wait, that’s not a game.
I used to draw a bunch of streets in chalk and ride my bike around like it was a city.
I even had my own parking spot in the driveway.
4-Square
Dodgeball
Kickball
The best.
Hide and Seek was the biggest one.
Red Rover
Red Light Green Light
Maul Ball
We also used to play something called Buck-Buck. I don’t know if that was something other kids played or something one of my brothers made up. One kid would hold onto a pole and one at a time the others would pile on his back until he fell down. The last one on would be the next on the bottom. It is amazing no one was seriously hurt. But it was fun.
@stump We had that too. It was sometimes called “buck-buck” and sometimes called “Johnny on the Pony.”
@janbb I am glad other kids hurt each other in the same way:)
Catch a girl, get a girl; catch a boy, get a toy. Hmm, I still play that! Catching the boy part, that is….
We had a permanent volleyball set-up across the street, at a neighbors. We’d all play, and lift the net up if a car came. We’d also volley tennis balls on the street.
Hopscotch- we had about 10 different hopscotch variations that we’d chalk out.
My daughters would draw on the sidewalk with chalk, several houses in either direction. They’d also play with the garden hose, and water balloons. Mother May I? Statues.
I lived on a dirt road that a car would go down every 5 hours if that often. Me and my brother would draw a line in the road and he would be one country and I would be the other we had to establish laws and various other things for our country. Yes, we were very nerdy children, but we had fun.
My buddy and I use to chuck rocks at this kids house who we didn’t like. It was fun and all until his father started chasing after us.
does anyone remember kerb-ball? – you stand either side of the road and chuck a football at eachother trying to hit the kerb, – cannie remember the rest of the rules but it whiled away the hours and was better than stealing cars!
In Scotland we called it Kribbie.
Oh, and Marbles.
And jacks (jumping jacks)
and Conkers. not allowed to play it now becausae of health and safety!! Pah!
I lived in a small rural town and we didn’t play in the streets as much as we did in the woods (and on the railroad trestle, but don’t tell anybody! We had a large vacant field for our football/baseball field, and would build snow forts and have snowball fights.
Nothing. I see kids in the park across the road playing the same stuff I did 30 years ago, including 4-Square.
We played Hide and Seek, freeze tag, and baseball (using a frisbee and a broomstick).
I still see kids playing football, which is great.
Calvinball.
I just don’t see many kids playing in the street anymore.
Fox and the hound (like hide and seek but at night)
catching lightning bugs
softball in the road
Badminton, bean bag toss, cowboys and indians, kick ball, lawn darts, tether ball, street hockey, croquet. The only game they play in our streets or yards is basketball. I sometimes see some children riding bikes or scooters.
They apparently go to the mall, where there is a play area, or the parks. In the summer most of the kids are in their swimming pools every day.
@the100thmonkey – that’s the one! oops sorry, I missed your post. Doh! That’ll teach me!
so fancy a game then?
Chicky-melly (That’s what we called it in Scotland anyway)
I used to play it with my pals – for the life of me could’nt remember what it was called so had to look it up! lol
It involves knocking on the front door of (or ringing the doorbell of) a victim, then running away before the door can be answered. The game has been played since the 19th century apparently.
Name variations:
* Belletje trekken Netherlands
* Ding-Dong Shawn Strohosky!
* Chicky-melly (Scotland)
* Knock and run
* Knock-down Ginger
* Ginger knocking
* Knock-up Ginger
* Knock-a-door-run
* Knock-a-door-dash (North-west England)
* Knock, knock Ginger
* Ring-a-door Ginger
* Cherry Knocking
* Ding dong ditch
* Ring and Run (Poland/Germany/Canada)
* Knick-knocking
* Knocking days
* Knocky Neighbours Napper
* Rib Door Run Lochee/Hilltown
* Ding dong dash Italy
* Knicky Knicky Nine Doors
* Nicky Nicky Nine Door (Southern Ontario)
* Knock Down Ginger (London)
* Doorbell Ditch (Western United States)
* Knocker Knocker (Wales)
* Bellfast Sweden
* Knock Off Ginger
* Ring the Bell and Run like Hell (New York)
* Dong and Dash (Michigan)
* Ring Raje (Argentina)[3]
* Knocky-nine-doors (England – North East)
* Ringepigg (Norway)
* Doorbell Dixie (Delaware)
* Knock Knock Run (Georgia)
* Bell Bajake Bhago (India)
* Tommy Knockers (Texas)
* Knock Knock, Zoom Zoom (Southern United States)
* Rin-Rin Raja (Chile)
Plus a variation on it – Knicky, knicky, nine door
“Run By” Running down a street knocking on as many doors as possible and waiting to see all the neighbors come out at one time.
* knicky, knocky, nine door
* knicky, knicky, nine door (Canada)
* knocky nine door (North East England)
* knocky nine doors
* knicky, knocky, nino
* Boby Knocking (Swansea)
To be fair, this isn’t played much round here now because of house-rage and our tolerance ofr this kind of “prank” is practically gone IMO
@scotsbloke – In Milwaukee, we called it doorbell ditch.
Unfortunately for the prankee, occasionally, they opened the door to a box filled with dog poop as well. We were naughty children, indeed.
I don’t see any kids now doing any double-dutch. I also miss teatherball! That was a good time. Now its all about the PSP and the DS! For all you parents i’m sure its hard to get the kids out of the houses with all these high tech gaming devices now.
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