Street Games We Played

Block! Or Block 1 2 3

Block is a complicated version of "hide and seek," in which the person "on it" has to track down the players hiding.
You agree on a "Block" post, in our case a Street Lamp-post, opposite our house. and this becomes the target for the game.
The person on it closes their eyes and counts to 100 while the other players scatter and hide.
The aim is for the "seeker" to try and discover those hiding. If they spot a player hiding or moving, the "seeker" must run back to the blocking post and touching it with one hand, must "Block" the player seen by shouting out "Block (players name) 1 2 3!"
If a player has been "blocked" they are out .and join the "seeker" in the hunt
However, the players hiding aim to make it back to the blocking post without being seen by the "seeker."
If they can reach the blocking post and "block" themselves by shouting, "block myself, 1 2 3!" before the seeker "blocks them out" then they join the winners!>

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May I?

This game is fun to play and fun to watch.
choose a player to be "on it" and they stand on one pavement, whilst the remaining players line up on the pavement opposite.
The person on it instructs the players, in turn, to perform various actions, that will move the players forward toward the other side of the road.
When given an instruction, players must remember to ask "May I", failure to ask this means that the player has to return to the start.
The first player to reach the opposite side of the street wins and takes the "on it" role over.
The instructions that can be used include:
Pigeon Steps, Bunny Hops, Cartwheels, Watering Cans, Lampposts, Giant Steps, Rolley Polley's.
Most of the above actions are obvious, but a couple need explaining.
A Watering Can is an action in which the player spits as far ahead as they can and then moves to the spot where their "gob" landed.
A Lamp-Post is an action in which the player lies down on their front, reaching out their arms ahead as far as possible. Then standson the spot to which they reached.
A Rolley Polley is simply a forward roll, the player moving to the spot at the end of their roll.
Your instructions may contain multiples of a single action or combinations of actions. E.G. "take 5 pigeon steps" or "do a bunny hop and a lamp-post"
Clever participants can employ the reverse tactic!
"Take 3 Bunny Hops and 6 backward pigeon steps!
A licence for alsorts of mayhem!

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What's The Time Mr Wolf?

This game also starts with the player chosen to be "on it" < known as Mr Wolf, on one side of the road and the remaining players lined up opposite.
However, Mr Wolf, has to play the game with their back turned to the other players.
All the players shout together, "What's the time Mr wolf?"
The Wolf then chooses an hour of the clock between 1 and 12 o'clock.
All the players then take that number of steps toward the back of Mr Wolf.
The size of steps taken is entirely up to each player to decide.
The aim for the players is to get close enough to Mr Wolf to touch him/her!
Be careful though!
When asked, "what's the time Mr Wolf?" He can choose to reply"It's dinner time!"
At which point the Wolf can turn around and chase the players in order to catch one for dinner!
So watch the size of the steps you take, the closer to touching Mr Wolf you are, the closer to becoming a tasty snack you are!

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Peep Behind The Curtain

This is the same sort of game as the one above. As the name suggests, it's best played indoors where you'll find a convenient curtain.
But we simply substituted a Lamp-post for the curtain.
Choose the player to be the Peeper!
They stand behind the "lamp-post curtain" and the remaining players line up on the opposite side of the road.
Each player has to make their way across the road and can decide how best to do this, while the Peeper isn't looking.
The peeper can call out "looking now!" and peep out from behind the curtain!
If they see any player moving, then that player is out! The skill being in the Peeper judging when to take a peep and the players judging their progress across the road to beat the other players to the far side, but not being caught out in motion!
A fun game to play.

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Stick In The Mud

This is a team version of the game Tag or Touch!
The Player "on it" is called Sticky! But unlike the normal game, the touched player is "stuck in the mud" and has to stand in the star position, legs wide open and arms out stretched.
Sticky's aim is to get all the players "stuck in the mud".
However, the free players can "unstick" their comrades by crawling through the legs of the stuck player, releasing them to join the game again.
But Sticky's no thicky and knows that this is when you are most vulnerable!

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Off Ground Touch

This game is exactly "what it says on the tin." a game of touch where the only safe haven is to be found up trees, on top of dustbins, on gates and fences etc.
Carefull how you go though, I remember playing this in the garden one summer with our friends and one fell off an old up-turned sink and broke her ankle!

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British Bull Dogs

A classic street game which we also played at Cubs & Scouts.
Choose a poor soul to be "on it" and stick them in the middle of the road.
All the remaining players line up in one goal, made by marking the garden wall.
When the person in the middle shouts "Bulldogs!" everyone rushes head-long for the opposite goal on the far side of the road!
The person who is "it" has to try and stop one of the players and lift them off the ground!
If they succeed in this task, the player caught joins the catcher in the middle.
As more players are caught and lifted off the floor, the number of catchers increases as the players dwindle away!
How long would you last!

Queeneye

My thanks to Janet McAndrew for mailing me the details of this game.
In this game, which I also remember playing when forced to by the girls, the person on it; the Queeneye, throws a ball over their shoulder to be caught by one of the other players lined up across the far side of the road.
Once the ball is caught, all the players hide their hands behind their backs and call, "Queeneye Queeneye who has the ball? Not eye!"
The Queeneye then picks the player they think has the ball.
If they have the ball, then they're out and the ball returned to Queeneye to be thrown again.
However, if the guess is wrong, then the ball is passed behind the players backs to another person and the line moves forward a step.
The chant is repeated and the Queeneye guesses again.

Bundle!

The final game for this page is one for brave opportunists!
Behind our rear gardens was a strip of common land that was used as a cut through.
It wasn't unusual for armchairs or settees to be dumped there from time to time.
When your parents bought a new suite it was possible to knab the odd sofa!
We would position the unwanted item of furniture in an area of soft sand, we called "The Pit" and gather a gang of friends.
The idea of the game was that on the random cry "Bundle" we would all run as fast as we could and "bundle" onto the sofa with the intention of toppling the sofa over onto it's back.
This had to be achieved without falling off the settee! Because the settee was surrounded by shark infested waters, of course!
Once the arguements about who was being eaton by "Hammerheads" or "Jaws" the exercise would be repeated "bundling" the sofa back the otherway!
Our fun was often spoilt by a Council workman collecting the dumped debris or by some more scarey kids setting it afire!