Figure 1.--Here we see a backyard scene with children into cowboys and Indians. Notice the girl in a cowgirl outfit, we think in the 1950s. I was a boy olkayingbcow boys anbd Indians at the time, but I never recall a girl getting involved om our ganes. We are guessing the two on the left are brother and sister. Rhere friend may be a visting cousin. s +

We have fond many different games played by American children. Some are more popular with boys or girls, but many are played by both boys and girls. Many are still played today, but many others are historical artifacts of the 19th century. Many are played, outdoors, but there are inside games as well, mostly party games. We are not including commercial board games, but rather primarily discussing active games with no or minimal equipment. We are also not including sports. These games are perpetuted primarily through word of mouth among the children and are conducted with little or no adult supervision. These games commonly involve features like physical skill, strategy, chance, repetition of patterns, creativity, and vertigo. They commonly are played by school age children about 6-12 years old, some times a little older girls are involved, often to help with the younger children. As a number of partivipants are involved with mny of the games, some are mostly played at school, camps, picnics and in some cases urbam neigborhoods.

Action Role Playing

Boys enjoy a variety of action role playing games when free play was a makor part of boys' outdoot play avtivities. These include cops and robbers, cowboys and indisns, and war. This was aknistventirely a biy activity. Girls show little interest in these games. I don't recall a single girl joining us when we played. These gamrs were very popular over time. The particular variant changes over time. Very little equipment is needed to play, although dress up costume items are very popular. And a toy gun is of course a welcome addition. It should be emphasized that these games were not entirely imaginative role playing. They could take on the character of wide games when a mumber of boys were involved. In recent years these games have declined. We do nit think that boys' interested have shifted. It is just that boys are tiday allowed much less free play time. They are much mire intensely siperbised than ever before and these games largely played out away from home beyond the prying eyes of adults. And with the younger biys this primarily means monthers who generally do not approve of these games. Another fator is video games. While free outsoor play has declined, there is now much more play at home with video games. And may of these games take on the guise of the old action role playing games, including Borderlands, Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, Mortal Kombat, Space Invaders, Star Wars, Supersmash Bros, and much more. Cowboys and Indians is now passe, but War and Cops and Robbers are very much current and the central theme in modern video games. There has also been anage shift up. These outdoor games were mostly played by pre-teens. The modern video variants are mostly played by teenagers--again teenage boys. Most of these games are not rated for pre-teens because of the violence depicted.

Blind Man's Buff

' Blind Man's Buff' is essentially a tag game and in recent times originally played by adults. Variants of Blind Man's Buff date back to ancient times and today are played around the world with all kinds of local names. The American version is a British version. The game is played by blindfolding a player and then disoriented by spinning him around. The other players, who are not blindfolded, have fun by calling out to the blind player and dodging away if he comes close. There are various thoughts about what 'buff' meant. Some times the blinded player was struck and buffeted given a little push giving ng rise to buff. When the blinded player manages to touch one of the oither players, he is released. There are various variants. In some the blinded player has to guess the name of the person he touched to be released from the blindfold. We are bnot sure about Briyain, but americans commonky say Bluff instead of Biff. This is probably a linguistic corruption. The game can be played both outdoors and indoors, although outdoors, spatial limits have to be established. Like other tag games, both boys and girls played it. Like many other such, it seems much less popular than it once was. We are not sure why, perhaos the taunting aspect in our snowflake world.

Crack the Whip

'Crack the Whip' also called 'Snap the whip' is an outdoor game popular wih boys. Giels arevmuch nmore dubious. A small group is requird. It is played on grass (so the boys dodn't get hurt) or on ice. A good size area is needed. One boy is chosen as the "head" of the whip. He is normallthe largest boy or a group of larger boys. The boys run or skates) around in random directions. Each boy hang on to the hands of the of the player next to him, exceot the last boy whonis the tailmof tge whip. He has only one boy to whom he can hang on to. When the boys at the head of the whip decided to crack the whip, they suddenly stop and pul back. By this time the boys at the tail are moving faster than the boys near the head. Thus they are moving at considrable force. The longer the tail, the faster they are moving and the tighter they have to hold on. Sometimes players who fall off have to sit out the next cracking of the whip or with smaller groups they can trade places with boys in morecsecure parts of the whip. There id nonobject of the game as is the case for many games. The boys just play it for physicl exercise. We do not know when or where the game originared. We know American boys were playing it in the mid-19th century. Winslow Homer painted boys playing 'Snap the Whip' at a rural school (1872). And there is mention of it in England during the late-19th century.

Hide and Go Seek

Jump Rope

Jumping or skipping ropes has ancienr origins. Jump rope in America seems to have originated in the Netherlands and made its way across the Atlantic when the Dutch established a colony in what is today known as New York. This Dutch settlers were the initial American jump ropers. It was the Dutch in the in the Hudson River Valley who practiced a diversion involving over one or two rope. Presunably it was a game popular in the Netherlands. Children in the Dutch colony enjoyedv jumping ropes in front of their homes. We do not know if there was a gender factor ivolved at the time. The children as they jumped enjoyed reciting rhymes and songs. After the English seized New Amsterdam, they noticed this activity which seemed a bit silly, especially as the sinhle sang in Dutch which they could not understand. It was the English a bit deriivly began calling the two rope variany--Double Dutch. We know little about the subsequent history of jump rope in America (18th and 19th century), but it clearly did not disappear. It had a real advantage in that all you needed to play was a length of rope and rope was a common commodity. With the advent of the family snap shot we see lots of children, most girls, jumkping ropke. We suspect it was common in the 19th century, nut photography was mostly confined to the studio. I remember it as a rather sedate activity for girls along with jacks and rollar skating (1940s-50s). I am notentirely sure why itbwas mostlky for girls. We think boys oteferred more competitive sports. Jump rope began an important part of inner-city culture. One source tells us, "Apartments and buildings were stacked and sandwiched together with sprawling pavement front yards. Girls would head to the sidewalks with their mothers' clotheslines, if possible still wet from laundry day, so that the ropes would be heavy enough to hit the ground just right." It then declined for a while as indoors television became all rage. Then Officer Ulysses F. Williams of the New York Police Department (NYPD) chose to use Double Dutch in his youth outreach programs (1973). He named it "Rope, not Dope", and its focus was to provide a positive activity that girls could enjoy. At the time there were not a lot od sptys actibities for girls. It was an instant success and girls begam organized Double Dutch teams.

Ring Games

There were all sorts of ring games. They necesitated a number of children to play. Thus they were mostl commonly played at school or indensely populated urbanb areas. A good example is a North Dakota School. They were most popular with girls and younger boys. Older boys preferred sports. They were also most popular in the 19th century. In the 20th century, especially after World War I, the boys mostly wanted to play sports.

Singing Games

Some games involve singing and chants. Here the ones that have transferred to America are mostly the traditional English ones. We may find singing games from other countries, but at this point we are only familar with the English ones. The best known of these games is London Bridge is Falling Down. It appears to have evolved from Medieval arch games. Actually the original London Bridge did fall down (1014). The associated rhyme is of much more recent origins. London Bridge is one of the English games based on nursery rhymes. One source mentions similar European falling bridge games. In America, no local bridge was substituted, the children always sung about London Bridge. This requires several players which means it was commonly played at school by girls and younger boys where there were enough children. It was also played by children on the street in urban areas. Urban street palay was common in 19th and early-20 century because there wre no front yard and limired back yard play areas. This declined as cars appeared on the streets. Two of the taller children or perhaps a teacher join hands high to form an arch (the bridge). The other children march under the bridge, each holding onto the waist of the player in front. They sing, "London Bridge is falling down, Falling down, falling down, London Bridge is falling down, My fair lady." The rhyme is one of the most widely recognozed around the world. No one knows, however, who 'my fair lady' was. At the last word of the song, the arms of the bridge are lowered to capture the last player through. The song continues with many more stanzas. Like most of the singing games, London Bridge is much less common today, but it has not disappeared. We note teacherd using it in nursery schools.

Tag

Tug-of-war is a game in which two groups take hold of a stout rope and pull against each other at opposite ends. The winner pulls the other group over a pre-set mark on the ground. No one knows about the origin og the game, but it dates back to ancient times abd was played in many different civilizations. It does not seem to have originated as a children's game. It is populsr with children, but men commonly partipare as well.

Figure 2.--Here school children are playing tug-of-war in New Madrid County (Southeastern), Missouri during August 1938. The girls apparently challenged the boys to a pull. That may not sond fair, but in elementary (primary) school, the older girks are often a little larger than the boys.

Tug of War

Tug-of-war is a popular game or athletic competition between teams liming ip at opposite ends of a stout rope. The objective was for each team was to drag the opposing team across a centre dibiding line. A ribbon or handkerchief may be tied at the mid point of the rope with lines drawn pon the ground. The game finishes when one team pulls the other across the ground tape. Therevare other winning mechanisms. Some time the dividing pointnis mud pit wjich the teams try tp pull their opponent into. Ogten the vgamebisdecided best two out of three pullbefforts. We are notbsure where this game originated . One source suggests rural England and Scotland, mut itis now practived around the world. It was an Olympic event (1900 to 1920). We are not sure if it was actually an eventnin the ancient Greek Okymoics. It is often included in Scottish Highland Games. It used to be popular in school yards and is still a fixture atbsummer camps and Scout events.

Created: 10:04 PM 12/22/2018
Last updated: 7:34 PM 6/2/2020