Please answer before you read or respond to any other comments!
Red Rover, Red Rover:
Let Zagorath Come Over!
1960s, Hamilton, ON, Canada
What is Red Rover, to you?
Submitted 5 days ago by Zagorath@aussie.zone to australia@aussie.zone
Comments
slothrop@lemmy.ca 5 days ago
Zagorath@aussie.zone 5 days ago
And what, in your version of the game, would I do next?
slothrop@lemmy.ca 5 days ago
Restrain (tackle) you, then you’d join our side. If you made it through, you’d return to your side. Last man standing would “win”.
Not sure if we ever actually completed a game, it usually ended in tears or fights or quits.
SaneMartigan@aussie.zone 4 days ago
British bulldogs for pussies.
notgold@aussie.zone 4 days ago
Was fun though
SaneMartigan@aussie.zone 4 days ago
Oh for sure but it was absolutely 10yo demolition derby.
Zagorath@aussie.zone 4 days ago
Did it involve one person trying to run and avoid the catching team, who tries to tackle them, or the runner trying to forcefully break through a line?
Also, love the name Vic Kick. I assume that’s a precursor to the Auskick I did for a bit as a kid?
SaneMartigan@aussie.zone 4 days ago
Depends on the numbers but usually there’d be 25% in the middle and 75% trying to run from one side to the other. Everyone taken down gets added to the middle.
It might’ve been aus kick, I never got into AFL. I remember going a few times and being amazed that kids I went to school with knew all this footy stuff cos their families did.
jimmux@programming.dev 5 days ago
I went to school in a few towns, but I only recall playing this in Armidale, NSW.
Everyone runs across the field together, while one person tries to tag as many people as they can. If you’re tagged then you are also a tagger in the next round. Repeat until one person is left, who starts the next game.
We were actually banned from playing this because we preferred to tackle instead of tagging. Nobody got seriously hurt, but the teachers thought it was only a matter of time.
SamuraiBeandog@lemmy.world 4 days ago
I snapped my collarbone playing the tackle version.
jimmux@programming.dev 4 days ago
Yeah it could get rough. The problem was mainly one kid who wanted to spear tackle everyone.
Zagorath@aussie.zone 5 days ago
Roughly what time period was this?
Being banned for tackling is interesting. I suspect that fact is the reason it was tag by the time I got to school.
jimmux@programming.dev 5 days ago
Early 90’s. It started out as tag, but we thought tackling would be more fun.
Gorgritch_umie_killa@aussie.zone 5 days ago
All over…
theupsanddownsof@lemmy.world 5 days ago
It wasn’t tag at our school. Completely restrain or prevent from moving. The Calcio Storico version of British Bulldog. Everything else described is the same.
Catfish@aussie.zone 4 days ago
Something that rolls over.
Looking at other answers British Bulldogs tag game! I was the reason it was banned at my Primary school😺.
SamuraiBeandog@lemmy.world 4 days ago
[deleted]Zagorath@aussie.zone 4 days ago
Hey, wondering why you deleted your reply. If it’s cos you realised this was the Australian community and you’re not Aussie, don’t worry! You wouldn’t be the first non-aussie to answer, and I actually really value the international perspective on this question (since seeing an international answer to the question on another site was the reason I came here to ask it).
SamuraiBeandog@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Nah I just moved it to a reply to another poster.
Zagorath@aussie.zone 5 days ago
I went to school in suburban Brisbane late '90s early '00s. Everyone would line up, except one person, who would stand in the middle as red rover. Red rover would call over someone else, whose goal is to make it to the other side untagged. If tagged, they join the red rover team, making two people the next runner has to avoid. Repeat until nobody is left to run.
But I ask the question because I’m aware of another fairly distinct version of the game.
teft@piefed.social 5 days ago
I grew up in northeast US. For us the game was two lines standing opposite with arms linked and someone shouts “red rover, red rover send <blank> over” then that person tries to bust through the linked arms. If they don’t bust through they get added to your line. I don’t remember what happens if they do bust through. It’s been too many years.
Zagorath@aussie.zone 4 days ago
Thanks for sharing! Yeah, it was hearing an American/British historian explain this version of red rover that got me wondering about it, since that’s different from what I knew.
Catfish@aussie.zone 4 days ago
I ended primary school in 88. British bulldogs, crocodile ‘golden river’ and hot Potato tennis ball tag were all Things
Nath@aussie.zone 5 days ago
This is the game I remember from primary school in the 80’s on the Gold Coast. Then the family moved to WA and I don’t think the game existed here. I haven’t thought about this game in over 40 years!
Zagorath@aussie.zone 4 days ago
Yeah same (ok, not quite 40 years, but 20 for sure), until a YouTube video about folklore (of all things!) had the presenter talk about what “red rover” was for them, and it was very different from what I knew.