What was your favorite summertime outdoor game when you were a kid?

Do basketball and football count? Cause those were all I played outdoors as a kid.

I grew up on a farm and most of my time was spent building forts along the two creeks that ran through the property. I was usually alone so I didn’t play many games. If other kids were around “water balloon fights” and “red rover” were popular.

edit :: At about the age of ten most of my outside time was spent skateboarding and it stayed that way for a long time.

@jballou: yup, that counts fer sure. in the winter, we played football and hockey and went ice skating. there was no nintendo.

I REMEMBER RED ROVER!!!

I still play red rover…

Jarts! They rocked!
Fortunately, no one I know got one stuck in their skull.

@eambos: LOL!

what’s jarts?

Jarts = Javelins + Darts

I think Jarts was the beginning of the end for monitoring our own use of items. Everything has a darn warning on it now.

I used to live where there were a lot of apartments, with walls and gates connecting them. We used to call it “obstacle course”. We’d set a path, then we’d jump walls, climb fences, run driveways, etc.. It was sooo fun! I also liked running through the sprinklers and Slip and Slide.

oh, ok, jarts. woo—adventurous!

I think they were also called lawn darts. And yes, everything has a warning on it, but honestly- a kids game of giant sharp darts? That idea was doomed from the start.

I remembered them as having blunt tips. Perhaps I’m thinking of a different game.

We used to play a good game of street-wide hide and seek; there were about 15 of us.

hide and seek: best played at dusk on the street with a whole bunch of kids. i’m remembering that!

Manhunt!!

Hide and seek in the dark.

manhunt: great title for a video game actually. probably already in existence though. how was it played?

my bad—hide and seek in the dark. didnt see the small type…

I grew up in the country too – favorite games were building forts to keep out boys (except there weren’t any), catching bugs and frogs to gross out my babysitters, looking for baby animals to rescue, and tying up my little brother.

@nocountry: bet you’re either an architect, veterinarian or a politician. you were student council president actually.

SPUD

spud?

Kick the Can

Everyone stand in a circle. Someone stands in the center an throws the ball up in the air. While the ball is in the air, everyone runs away from the thrower. When he catches it, he yells spud. You have to freeze where you are. The thrower gets 3 running steps towards his intended “victim. He throws the ball at the person. The ‘target” can duck or weave, but can’t move his feet. If he gets hit, he gets a letter then he becomes the thrower. When you get enough letters to spell spud, you are out of the game.

My favorite game was playing hide in seek at night in our pool. Also chicken and marco polo.

Mine was always Bocce.

Pogs! :D I remember playing outside on the ground during recess.

Croquette, I would love to play it again.

@scamp and charlie: do you guys know about spud hunt or did people at my summer camp make that up????

i liked capture the flag, dodge ball, slip n slide (except i got the wind knocked out of me once and not sure if i ever did it again!)

riding a bike….

red light, green light and chasing lightbugs were the highlights

Yah, Jill!

Monster!

My cousins and I would play it in my grandpa’s back yard. There would be two teams. One team had to get from the back of the yard to the front porch without getting tagged by a ‘monster’ from the other team.

hide and seek

When we were little, we would play running bases with bigger boys throwing the ball back and forth. All the kids on the street, in this little beach community, would play and it was so much fun. We would often play until it was dark, and you couldn’t see the ball anymore.

I loved running bases. The way that we played if you were hit with the ball you were out. Oftentimes the bigger kids would try and hit us with the ball. What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger =)

volleyball, running bases, dodgeball, hide and seek, badminton. croquet, house, school, four corners…

@emilyrose What is spud hunt?

kick the can, by far. my sister and i were 2 of 4 kids that lived in our neighbor year round, but when summer time came the neighborhood cottagers would come and along with them would come children. Since all our yards connected to one another the playing area was all of our yards, and we would play all afternoon and into the evening when it began to get dark!
Close runner up would be marco polo in the cornfield.