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

I forget what we called it but for want of a better name I'll say chains. This game got banned after a while due to violent gits like myself (I was only 7 or 8 ).

Two team captains were picked and teams were picked by them in order of (i)Mates (ii)People who were good (iii)the poor sods who always got picked last (no mates or just rubbish and weedy).

Teams could vary but about six in each team was a good number. No equipment needed - except maybe a new school uniform after the game

Each team formed a chain - holding hands (or wrists for extra strength and less loss of machismo) and face each other about 10 feet apart. One member of a team would then run at the opposing chain and attempt to burst through it. If they failed they joined the opposing chain. If they burst through they rejoined their original chain. The game was won by the team that managed to claim all members of the opposing team.
Simple really. The violence came in in the attempt to break through. My own personal best technique (which worked rather well) was to run flat out at them, then at the last minute, jump at their linked hands raising my knees to hit them at the join. This was rather effective but one tended to also land on your knees and scuff holes into your trousers.

Great fun along with British Bulldog (another thread has already dealt with this).


One Touch.

This was a football game and so required a football (or soccerball to USA peeps). Also some bags and coats to mark out a small area could be useful if there were no clearly marked areas around. The idea was to kick the ball around (or head or chest...) whilst keeping the ball in the marked out area. If the ball hit you last before it went out you were out of the game. The winner was the one left at the end. Sounds easy? Well, the standard tactic to get someone out was to blast the ball at their body as hard as you could so it ricocheted off them and went out. This could backfire if you missed or they were really good at football and could control it and do the same to you. Also you could well end up getting beaten up if you hit the wrong guy in this manner - especially if it got their face.
This was a fun game.

I remember playing a game similar to chains, but it was called Red Rover, the team would choose the person to try and break the chain by shouting "Red rover, red rover let (insert name) come over" In the end they banned it at my school along with british bulldogs which was a shame really.............

Red Rover was one of those games I was forced to play in PE, but was almost never used during recess.