h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I remember this, and it was great fun, but sadly, it is no longer practiced in schools, possibly for 2 reasons:

i) it was a deadly game and schools are now much more safety conscious and no right minded teacher would ever allow this game to be carried out

ii) children now have little imagination and don't seem to enjoy this kind of thing. They stand around on the corner of buildings and stare into miniature gameboy screens.

I'm a teacher, so I know what I'm talking about.

I had an after thought after my initial post, about how these games became generic around the country. After all, they had no press, it wasn't on tv, and we certainly didn't have a news forum a la internet to arrange things? How did we all come to love the same games with so little organisation?

It probably has something to do with all the kids who had cousins or friends in other cities, and parents who played the games as kids who then pass the legacy on to their kids after hearing them say "i'm bored" for the googolth time on a nice balmy summer day.

I remember War also. It is up there amongst the seemingly non-immortal playground games of British Bulldog and Red Rover. I remember one game of British Bulldog that was rumoured to have involved the entire school, although I'm sure there were a couple of girls stood at the side pointing and giggling.

Strangely War was the least violent game that we played at primary school. Death scenes could at least be confined to the softer surfaces available. Injuries tended to be limited to the occasional grazed knee sustained from loss of balance during an overenthusiastic session of fleaing from the enemy.

Red Rover was a more physical game that involved two chains of children. One of the chains would all hold hands and select the slightest member of the opposition. The chosen would then run at the chain of held hands and alternating bodies and attempt to penetrate the weakest looking link. Success meant a triumphant return to the home team. Failure involved a long sulk and a transfer of loyalties to the impregnable and jubilant defending team. Which ever the result, the other team then got to pick. This game was a bad one as it often resulted in the smallest person involved being picked every turn and failing to get through the chain. Quite traumatising for the person involved and boring for everyone else.

Injuries from this game were mostly wrist related although bruises were so common, they went without comment.

Truly the most fearsome game was British Bulldog. We always played it on the playground itself thus maximising any injuries sustained. Unlike War and Red Rover, this only had one team. Everyone playing. Using some traditional playground selection ritual (a topic in itself I feel), the One would be chosen. It was him or her againast the world. He (and it normally was) would stand in the middle of the playground. Everyone else would stand at one end. When the One felt the time was most appropriate he would yell 'British Bulldog' at the top of his voice. Everyone else would then charge directly at him - yelling like banshees. This is an accurate similie as the mass yell did indeed fortell a death on occasion. The aim of Everyone else was to reach the other end of the playground untouched by the One. To be touched was death, or at the very least a bad infection of the lurgee. The Touched One then joined the One in facing Everyone else now gathered panting and exhilerated at the other end of the playground. This would continue until with the Touched joining the One until the point where the One consisted of everyone and Everyone else was the single untouched school British Bulldog champion.

Of course a one game of British Bulldog often succeed another and the new One would be the champion from the last round. Injuries were grazes, bruises, falls, cuts and on occasion, broken bones. Most of these injuries were sustained by the One being knocked off their feet in the initial mass charge. Nobody cared though. The accumulated adrenaline in the blood stream meant that no pain was felt - only the shame of being touched first was real. Of course there were numerous resulting playground fights over whether someone had been touched or not.

It all seems so long ago. Ah!

Please, I am 11 and go to school. I would like to make a point. Some (all right very very few) kids (such as myself) stand around the edges of buildings doing knitting, drawing, etc,etc, as well as the inevitable Latin revision (yes, I began Latin in year 5, and French in year 3).

hey, what ever whiles away the time is ok by me.