Childhood games of the past

I played a lot of outdoor games, much more than indoor games. Red rover, red rover was a favorite and involved running which I was good at. Also baseball was fun. We jumped rope a lot and played the man from uncle and spy games. When I was older we played various card games like whist and cribbage. I wonder if red rover red rover still exists I haven't thought of this in almost sixty years.
 
Most of our games were played outdoors, as my generation was always outside playing. Indoor games as a child were War, Rummy, Sorry, Monopoly (until it became viscous), and my parents put an end to us playing it anymore. My son still has a closet full of games from his early GenX days.
 
Capture the Flag was another game we use the play outside.
I didn't play that but my kids and the neighborhood children when they were all grade school played that around our house. Lots of fun!

Another one from (younger) grade school I remember (and HATED b/c I was so bad at it, lol) was "Steal the Bacon"-- anyone else play that?
 
Two games I hated playing at school were Red Rover and Dodgeball.

I'd end up a game of Red Rover feeling like my wrists were broken and the school bullies just loved throwing the ball as hard as they could at the other players in dodgeball.

Drop-the-Handkerchief wasn't bad. Duck-Duck-Goose was fun. Simon Says was a cinch, if you paid attention.

Remember the game "Telephone"?

I'd usually end up getting hit in the head during a volleyball game, but it was fairly hard to get hurt while playing Ring-Toss. I was so bad at softball, I'd get put far out in left field where I wouldn't cause any problems and I could spend my time looking for 4-leaf clovers.
 
For active games, I can remember playing Freeze Tag and in gym class a game apparently similar to Dodge Ball called “Bombardment.” It was sadomasochistic as you both inflicted and received pain as you tried to hit your peers with rubber kickballs that could sting or hurt, dependent on which portion of the anatomy they impacted and the force behind the throw. I laughed until I cried at this video as it brought back “memories…”

 
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I bought a vintage set of Pick up Stix, wooden ones. The ones produced today are made of plastic and they're hard to play with. They were *da bomb* when I was in 5th grade; we played them every day.

Nobody will play with me, though. I have to play with them by myself.

We also played Jacks a lot but that game was banned at my house after my dad stepped on one with his bare foot.
"Ouch"
 
When I was little I played hopscotch, Jacks. and all the usual stuff available at the time but my favourite was Cowboy and Indians. I have older brothers who loved the westerns and had a collection of the wild west annuals. I loved them too and read about a sharp shooter called Annie Oakley.
Apparently she used to shoot cigarettes from the lips of her husband on stage and of course I had to try it.

Got my brother some cigarette sweets sold at the time and I tried to shoot it out of his mouth with my water pistol, never got the hang of it and he got a drenching every time. Lol.

Then we put on plays and the neighbourhood kids paid a penny to see us do our thing. When my Mother found out about money changing hands, she called a halt to it and instead let us have cookies for those who attended.
Had a lot of fun and a glorious childhood.
 
Remember "Blind Man's Bluff" or was it "Buff"?

Everybody would scatter and have to stay still, one person would be blindfolded, and he had to try to find the others. Usually the giggling gave them away. If the game was going too slow, people would make little noises to spur on the finder.
 


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