I’m sure this topic has come up before and that Wikipedia probably has a definitive article on the whole idea, but I thought I’d ask y’all what are some of those things you played as a kid that might be unique to your family, your area or what-all.
Just grabbing them out of the air as they pass by, I have:
Highway Alphabet
Kick the can
Red Rover
Dodge Ball
Tag
Steal the bacon
Mumble-peg
No doubt I’ll think of more…
People, I swear I had forgotten this:
Fun games to play while traveling by car?
06-27-2003, 06:14 AM
Zeldar
#15
06-28-2003, 10:11 PM
Vlad Dracul
I decided to do a Yahoo! search on “come i come” and that old thread (one of my first it would appear) popped up.
Magic!
For schoolyard games, in 1st-2nd grade, we used to play “No Man Stand” which was essentially a large group of guys tackling each other and otherwise roughhousing. Punching, kicking, biting, and gouging were frowned upon, but would still happen from time to time. No real rules, no winners, no real losers. Just boys being boys.
Up through about the 6th grade or so, we’d play “Kill the Man with the Ball”. Any ball would suffice. Lacking a ball, a paper cup, rock, or other handy object could be substituted. The game was begun by throwing some object to another kid, and as he catches it, calling “Kill the Man with the <identify object here>”. Said victim was then obliged to run like hell while all other guys in the vicinity gave chase, with the intent of bringing him down and relieving him of said object. Of course, whoever did so immediately became the next target.
Violent little buggers, weren’t we? 
We played that too. Always with a football, though. We called it “Gunch.”
Anybody ever play Crack the Whip? We only ever played it on ice, while wearing skates. I guess it could be played on the playground surface, but on ice, we could get the whip going really fast, and kids would literally be flying off the end.
We called that “Smear the Queer”
We also played “Butts Up” where if you missed the ball and couldn’t touch the wall before your opponent could hit the wall with the ball. You had to stand facing the wall and they got to throw the ball as hard as they could at your back, a really good player could hit the ball off the pavement at your feet bounce it off the wall in front of you and drill you in the nuts.
We had the playground version because there was never any ice where I lived. Getting 10 or so kids in the whip would be enough for the one(s) on the end to get tumbled pretty quick.
We played Kick Ball which was like baseball or softball but instead of a small ball like one of those we used a volleyball or soccerball sized ball (maybe a basketball if we had to) and everything else was like baseball. The pitcher hurled the ball and instead of batting it you kicked it. The “defense” would try to hit the runner with the ball to get him out.
I can’t remember playing those scuffling games like Oakminster and sitchensis describe. They sound like football-less football or rugby to me.
My brother and one of our cousins had some fun games we played with bows and arrows and knives. Similar to mumble-peg but more exciting. 
In high school gym class, we played dodge ball, much as seen in the movie. Also played a wild version of volleyball we called “Wump Ball”. Two sides, unlimited players per side. Big ass ball…like 6 feet diameter…with a saggy cover even when fully inflated. Net in the middle, rules were that if the ball hit the ground on your side of the net, the other team scored a point, or won the right to “serve”…ie, begin a new point by bringing the ball into play from behind their own end line.
That sounds like something I’ve seen being played but never played myself.
Just curious: have you ever lofted a bowling ball as far down the alley as you could get it? How far could you make it go in the air? Did it dent or splinter the lane wood when it hit?
Punchline: If you just had to, you could eat a bowling ball.
In Scouts we used to play a game called “Death or Glory” - one hall, one tennis ball, two teams, two chalk circles drawn at either end of the hall. To score a goal, you had to stand in the chalk circle with the tennis ball held aloft and shout “Death or Glory”. No other rules.
It was vicious…
We played “Red Light, Green Light” where one kid stood at the front of a group of all the other kids, who would be maybe 20 yards behind the main kid.
The main kid would say “green light!” and turn away from the group. The group would run towards the main kid. The main kid would say “red light!” and turn to face the group. Anyone caught moving after “red light” would be out.
If you touched the main kid first, you’d get to be the new main kid.
Variations on that theme that we played include “Mother, May I” and “Simon Says” and I seem to recall we just called that one “Red Light” but it’s been a while and I can’t even remember if my kids played that one.
Which one was it with the baby steps and giant steps?
We’d play “500” in the street if we didn’t have enough guys for baseball, or were too lazy to go to the park. A guy would hit rubber balls and the fielders would get points for catching it on the fly or on the bounce, with the points diminshing by bounce. If you dropped one you subtracted points. Hotdogs and klutzes would always be going negative. When you got to 500 you became the batter.
Yup…we did that one, too. I’d forgotten about it until your post.
When I was a kid living in Taiwan, we had a fairly large living room with a terrazzo floor. When my parents were out, my brothers and I would roll up the two area rugs and move the couch and coffee table. Then, we would play hockey in our socks, using sticks and an adhesive tape canister as the puck.
My mom also had a thick aluminum bowl used for displaying fruit on the table. It was large enough that I could fit in it (I was 4-5 years old at the time). My brothers would spin me in around in the bowl and when I pulled in my arms and legs, I would spin really fast. Of course, the aluminum left black streaks all over the terrazzo floor, but it kind of looked like a Spirograph.
Good times, good times.
We called your ball a ‘cage ball’. We played a rugby like game with it, until the day Tim was running with the ball. Rory grabbed it and twisted it to break Tim’s grip. Tim, not being one to let go, didn’t, and flew into the corner of a wooden bench and ended up with stitches. No more cage ball after that.
I don’t think this was the same ball at all. The one I have in mind was huge…bigger than your average washer/dryer set. No way one person was going to be running with this thing.