Just Play the Game Already! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Elastics

In this game you need a long length of elastic and at least three people. Two people start by holding the elastic into a rectangle shape around their ankles. The other person then has to jump into and over the cords in a certain order, and then jump out again. Once a sequence is successfully completed, the elastic goes from the ankles to the knees and you start over. When I was at school, there was one girl who could do "necksies", but she was taller than everyone else, so in a way she had the advantage.

A lot of people remember having rhymes to go with the jumping sequences, but the murky crevices of my mind can't remember if we had any at all.

Answer: Hopscotch

Hopscotch is played on a grid of some kind drawn in the dirt, or with chalk on the cement if it is raining. You take your turn throwing your taw (usually a stone) into a square and then hopping around the grid, picking up your taw along the way. Of course, if anyone else's taw was already in a square, you were not allowed to jump in that square, nor could your taw touch the other person's taw.
In Australia, back in the old days (because I'm old) we would run around the playground at lunchtime, and most games were played on a bare strip of ground where grass never got the chance to grow.
Another variation of hopscotch that was popular at my school was played in a 4 X 4 grid. The object of this game was to hop around the grid, kicking your taw from one square to the next without kicking it out of the grid, touching the lines or falling over yourself.
The first recorded mention of hopscotch was back in the 17th century when it was called Scotch-hoppers. Hopscotch is played in most countries around the world, with different variations of the same theme prevalent in each country.

Answer: Red Rover

Red Rover is thought to have originated in England in the 19th century. From there it spread to Australia and Canada.

Two teams line up facing each other and linking hands. One team then calls out "Red rover, red rover, let (a players name) come over". Sometimes the words are slightly different, according to the variation, but they are essentially the same. The player whose name was called then runs toward the other team and tries to break through the line of linked arms. If they succeed, they send two people from the losing team across to the other side. This continues until one team has no one left in it.

I never played this game at school because usually the boys and some of the sporty girls played, and I wasn't a fast runner. The game could also be rather rough, and I was too scared of getting hurt. I was a coward at school, so nothing much has changed since then.

Answer: What's the Time, Mr. Wolf?

"What's the Time, Mr. Wolf" is a tag game played in Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Canada and Ireland. In America, Mr. Wolf is Mr. Fox. There are variations of the same theme, sometimes Mr. Wolf stands with his back to the other children, but looks around before he calls out the time.

Other games he will stand facing the children. Whenever he is asked for the time, he will call out an hour. The other children then advance that many steps towards him. When Mr Wolf thinks that they are close enough, he will call out "Dinner time!" (Or Lunch time or midnight).

He then chases the other children back to the start line. If he successfully tags one of the fleeing children, then that person becomes the new Mr Wolf.

Answer: Oranges and Lemons

The old chant of "Oranges and Lemons, say the bells of St Clements" has several variations, and its origins are unclear. Some theories include medieval public executions or Henry VIII's marital difficulties. Charming, as most early rhymes are. Take for instance the origins of "Ring around a Rosie".

When the children reach the end of the chant, (here comes a candle to light you to bed, here comes the chopper to chop off your head) they drop their arms, trapping a child in between. This person is then asked "Oranges or Lemons?" and they then stand behind whichever of the two chanters has picked that fruit. The game finishes when all the children are caught and the winner is the person with the most followers.

Other variations have children walking through in pairs, and when a pair is caught, they then form another archway, so that the archway gets longer and more difficult to navigate before the chopper falls.

Answer: Sevens

Sevens can be played by yourself or in a group, taking turns whenever someone misses a catch.
7- Bounce the ball against the wall and catch on the full 7 times.
6- Toss against the wall, let it bounce on the ground then catch.
5- 5 bounces on the ground, hitting with alternate hands.
4- Bounce ball on the ground, hit against the wall with your hand, then catch.
3- Bounce ball against the ground so it rebounds off the wall then catch.
2- Toss the ball under your leg against the wall and catch on the full.
1- Bounce ball against the wall first, then ground once, and turn around before catching.

The first sequences were all caught using a two handed catch. Then came right hand catches, left hand catches and finally claps. Clap the hands once before catching, first two hands, right hand and left hand. If anyone makes it past this level, then does blind sevens. But I think there used to be a bit of peeking going on there!

Of course, with any game, there are always variations on the same theme, but this is the way the game was played during my time at primary school. We used to practice at home, but having a wooden house, the ball sometimes would sometimes hit the slats the wrong way and the bounce would be off. Also Mum used to come out and yell at us because the sound reverberating around the house would send her barmy.

Sock and ball involves standing with your back to the wall, and hitting a tennis ball in a football sock against the wall without hitting yourself.

Answer: Skipping / Jump Rope

Skipping can be done as an individual pursuit, or in a group. Single skipping usually has chants such as the teddy bear song, or salt and pepper. I can't remember the rhyme for salt and pepper, but when you got to "Pepper", it involved skipping as fast as you could for as long as you could while other children counted. There were always records for the number of jumps you could do before tripping yourself up, but the only ones that counted were the ones that were witnessed. Someone coming to school and bragging they got to 200 before tripping was inevitably greeted by jeers until the feat could be replicated in public. A very disbelieving lot we were.

Other variations involved two people turning a long rope and having one or more jumpers inside the rope at various times. Double Dutch, which I could never master, used two ropes turning in different directions.

When my girls were at Primary school, the entire school would turn out for "Jump Rope for Heart" day. Groups of students would practice their skipping routines (set to music) for weeks or even months before the big day. The group judged to be the best on the day won a prize (usually new skipping ropes or similar). It was always good fun, and of course, very good exercise.

Answer: Hangman

Hangman is a game traditionally played with pencil and paper, but can be played on a blackboard or even on a bare patch of ground. One person first thinks up a word, usually from a specified subject, and puts a series of dashes on the paper, one dash for each letter in the word. The other person then tries to guess the mystery word by calling out different letters one at a time. If the letter is in the word, the corresponding blanks are filled in. If the letter is not in the word, one piece of a person on a scaffold is drawn until either the word is guessed or the person is "hung".

A less gruesome online version is cat and mouse, which has a cat guarding cheese that a mouse tries to get.

Answer: Handball

The game of handball these days is very different to the game played when I was at school. For a start, it's much more organised with more rules and a larger ball. Back then, there were no goals, and the ball was bounced to other players rather than thrown, and no travelling with the ball was allowed.

The ball was regularly bounced off a wall, but how goals were scored was something I never figured out. It was a regular lunchtime attraction during my high school years, with fierce pride and bragging rights at stake. So of course it was a hard-fought competition, until the Principal banned it for being too noisy and dangerous.

In hindsight, a dozen boys running and pushing each other against brick walls could be dangerous, but everyone knows that teenage boys think they're bullet-proof. Modern handball is similar to indoor soccer, using the hands instead of the feet, and it is played on an open court with a goal at either end.

Answer: Scissors, Paper, Rock

The problem with Eeny meeny is that someone savvy enough to know how, could always manipulate the outcome. Someone like me, for instance.

Scissors, paper, rock (or any variation of the same name) is often used as a means to deciding an argument or selecting a winner. Usually the hand is pumped up and down twice, and on the third time, the hand is formed into one of the three objects. A closed fist is rock, A V shape made by the index and second finger are scissors, and a flat hand with the thumb tucked under is paper.

To decide the winner; rock crushes scissors, scissors cut paper and paper wraps rock. Usually a best of three format is chosen rather than a one off play.

This method has been utilised in many situations around the world, from the child's playground, to a Floridian federal ruling, to who would win a multi-million dollar art commission.