"Sidewalks and Grass" (or would that be "Footpaths and Grass"?).  I actually made this up in 3rd grade.  Basically it works just like tag.  Whoever is "it" can only go on the grass.  Those running from the "it" can only go on sidewalks.  Later we admended it to allows "not it" to go in the seams between large pieces of concrete, since we had a fair bit of concrete in the car ports/driveways behind our apartments...

Kryllith

;D As far as gym goes we played the regular things. But I remember near the end of math class if we had time our teacher, Mr. Rush would play some of us in a game of basketball using the trash can and a rolled up piece of paper. Who ever missed would have to do push ups.

We would crush the empty juice cartons and play hockey in the door ways. Also fold a piece of paper into a triangle and play football on the desk.

Tim   RATT-n-ROLL

My friend Cherie & I invented a game called "Scare & Go Seek." It was just like "Hide & Go Seek" except we played it in her basement, at night, with all the lights turned out.  :D

My friends and I used to do those really elaborate hand clapping games. You know, where you clapped your hands in different patterns and recited some stupid poem until one of you screwed up. Of course, this hand clapping game wasn't as bad as bloody knuckles, which consisted of making a fist with your hand and smacking your knuckles really hard against another person's knuckles. We would also have contests to see who could erase the skin off the back of their hand with an eraser for the longest time.

Man, I HATED dodgeball, it's not very fun for a slow, chubby kid! I was always one of the first to get put out, and all the little bony kids were the only ones left.

We mostly played either Dodgeball or Kickball. All the schools I've been to had at least one version of Dodgeball, including Pinball Dodge, Four Corners and Prisoners All.
Kickball could be either played like baseball/softball (fly out or tag out on base) or Dodgeball (get hit and you're out).

Has anyone ever heard of a game called Murder Ball (nice name, uh?) We split the gym class up into 2 teams and you had to throw the red balls at the other person. If you hit them below the waist they were out. But instead of leaving the game they went to our side of the gym and if someone threw them a ball they got to go back in the game. I had so much fun playing this. It maybe just a variation of blood ball or something.

We also played a version of kickball in gym class.  Our teacher called it "kickball basketball".  Split into two teams. One person, usually the teacher, would bowl the ball to the person "first up", who would then kick the ball into the field (or gym).  Once it was in play, (s)he would run around the bases, making sure to touch each base.  While this was going on, the other team would be trying to get the ball through the basketball hoop.  If they did, the runner was out.  No standing and waiting on base.  Just like baseball, after three outs, the teams changed places.


We also played Red Rover, Rattlesnake, Ghost In The Cellar, and one I made up, "Herman and Catnip" which was a variation of tag.

The person who was "it" was "Catnip" and someone else was picked to play "Herman"; everyone else were mice.  Once "Catnip" caught you, you had to stay in the "cooking pot" until the person who was playing "Herman" came by to rescue you.

I almost forgot about that one. And Simon Says, Mother May I, Red Light (Green Light), Leg Wrestling, and Tug-of-War.

Quoting:

Red Rover
End Quote

YEEEEEAAAAAHHHHHH FLOOR HOCKEY!I wish the had some good ol' floor hockey leagues around!Too bad it all on roller blades now :'(

We played a lot of games but one of my favorite was a game called Statues. You had one person who the seller, someone else was the buyer and the rest were statues. The buyer would go away and the seller would swing the other kids by the arm and kind of throw them. Where they stopped, they had to freeze. When everyone was spun, the seller would go to each of the statues and asked what they were (usually whispered so the buyer couldn't hear). Then the buyer would come back. The seller would take the buyer around to all the statues telling him/her what they were and "turn them on" (the invisable switch on the back) to do their thing. For instance, if the statue was a dog, when the seller turned him/her on, he/she would bark or whatever. Once everyone had their chance to do their thing, the buyer decided which one he/she wanted. Then the one picked got to be the seller, the seller got to be the buyer and the buyer became a statue. I know it sounds stupid now but I loved it as a kid.



Cat

These weren't in school, but we used to play "Ghosts in the Graveyard", "Kick the Can", and (in the pool) "Marco Polo".

Does anyone remember:

"DUCK,DUCK,GOOSE"?
Where you'd be the one to pat the head and say*duck*
then you'd pat again and say*Goose*.Then 2 of you run around like mad animals until one of you's sit down.

howard

The game we always played was Four Square with one of those red playground balls.  Heads up Seven up was pretty cool too.  

Last, but not least, crab soccer!  

All of these games, and I mean I remember ALL of them, bring back good memories of elementary school (1988-89 to 1995-96).  I had nearly forgotten about the parachute games, which were always fun on a sunny day.  I remember a few other games I played.  One was Flamingoball (don't know the origin of the name), which was basically a variation of kickball, except there were only two bases, a home plate and the other base, which I will call first base, and the game was always played in a gym.  Home plate was always some kind of rug put up against the stage (our gym had a stage at the skinnier end, rather than against the long walls) and first base was a huge, thick gymnastics mat you could flop on.  Basically the goal was the same as baseball but the interesting thing was that the baseline was about the width of a basketball key and nobody on the defending team could go inside, except to pickup the ball.  You had to throw out the baserunner by hitting them with the ball from outside the key as they were running (I estimate the distance to be 120 feet).  First base could have up to three baserunners at a time before someone had to try and score.  Homeruns were not common due to the skinny proportion of the gym but the ball always took some interesting bounces off the wall.

Another game was European Handball.  The nets, just under twice the size of a street hockey goal, were place in directly diagonal corners (the same gym as before) with the simple goal of scoring 2 points by bouncing the ball in past the goalie.  However, you could attempt to bounce the ball over the net and behind it, in the little triangular space that was formed when the back posts of the rectangular net met the walls, to gain 1 point.  If you bounced it high enough, no goalie could touch it.  I was quite good at both these games.

My favorite, though, is one me and my friends made around Grade 6 and 7.  It wasn't particularly original - it was Tennis Ball Soccer.  We would play in an underground area initially with markings on the wall as goals.  I can't really explain the configuration of the area in my elementary school, except that we always had one side wall, right next to where the goals were situated, and a huge open space to the right on the playing surface.  Later, we moved the games out onto the grassy plateau that overlooked the gravel field.

It was just like soccer except that players were allowed to catch a ball with their hands if a goalie threw it to them, and were even permitted to wear baseball gloves, as were often worn by player and goalie alike.  Using a tennis ball also required more skill in trying to control its movement than a regular soccer ball.  We usually had the goals about 35 meters away from each other, fairly close yet far enough away.  There were also no offsides, so offensive players often ran down to the other goal when the goalie had the ball and could successfully catch the ball like in football.  What a fun game, played in warm and cold weather.

During Grade 7, we started having best-of-seven series with the same teams, each of which usually had between 4-7 players.  We were quite serious players, with scoresheets and everything, even calling these approximately bi-weekly championships (we didn't play in the rain) the Gatorade Cup (mostly due to the fact that some one had a big empty Gatorade tub to use as the trophy).

Our first series was embroiled in controversy.  We had a seventh game that ended in a tie after the end of regulation (determined by the end-of-lunch bell.  I forgot to mention that the fifteen minutes of recess also counted as part o the game and the lunch portion was about forty to forty-five minutes). The next morning at recess, we went to overtime.  The problem was that my team proposed that the first team to score three times should win the game (agreed on by the other team, which had my twin brother on it) prior to overtime.  However, their team scored the first two goals and we scored the next three to supposedly win it.  Then an arguement ensued over how this game should have been decided and they argued that overtime should have been sudden-death because an earlier game in the series was decided in that fashion.  Thus, the first-ever Gatorade Cup was abandoned over disagreement.

We had, eventually, another four or five series and, while I don't remember the details, they weren't as close as that first one.  My team (and we kept the same teams each time) won three series to their team's one victory, lopsided despite the fact that most games were respectably close.  My skill earned me the nickname "Seany Shoes", which I hated.

I haven't played this game since Grade 7.  I remained close to these people in junior high but I drifted away from them in high school and afterward :'(

Another favorite memory of school-day games was intramural hockey in Grade 9.  Me and my friends formed a team (many of the same people from Tennis Ball Soccer) and we finished our round-robin at something like 2-3 or 3-2 (I can't remember).  Then we had a playoff game and this is a big memory because my team, including myself, wasn't exactly at the top of the social pecking order, while these other kids were substantially more popular, supposedly more athletic, and were actually ex-friends who I had drifted away from in Grade 4-5.  We were down 2-1 for awhile in the game, but then I scored 2 quick goals and we won 3-2.  It was a great game and the other team was really pissed off and someone threw a hockey stick at me

I'm sorry I've rambled on...these games brought back so many good memories of school days in my British Columbia hometown :)

How about "stuff the brainiac in his locker"   :-[

It's a game that our football team loved to play, and ended a couple of years later when I started learning Tae Kwan Do ;D

Yeah...I was THAT kid  :o

I betcha everyone remembers "Musical Chairs"
do you? That was a fun game to play as a kid. ;D

howard

I remember playing a variation of Dodge Ball called "Pin Dodge Ball".  It involved two teams facing one another, with the object of the game being to knock over the other team's bowling pins which were set up on the floor towards the back.  All the regular rules applied... so the 1st team to eliminate the other team, OR knock over their pins, won.  God, I miss that game!  Oh, to be a kid again.  <sniffle>