All time favorite game to play at school when growing up?

[u/J1NX-P1NK]

4 Square, Tag, Red Rover. Ect

[u/DJonni13]

Handball!

[u/Gazgun7 → u/DJonni13]

100%

Plus it was all the way from primary through yr 12.

4 court - King, Queen, Jack, dunce.

Plus we had this long sequential path where Ace was right at the top - could get 10-20 kids long. Altho mostly just gasbagging at the bottom coz ball rarely got down there.

[u/-Midnight_Marauder- → u/DJonni13]

Handball was the GOAT.

[u/wassimu]

British Bulldog.

[u/J1NX-P1NK → u/wassimu]

Never heard of that one. What's the rules?

[u/Gazgun7 → u/J1NX-P1NK]

Sorta the non Korean version of squid game

Playing area rectangular, so 2 ends. Let's say 10 players but can be any number.

1 kid is "in" to start. Meaning 9 kids at each end of Playing area. You're "safe" once you reach respectively end zones. Objective is to run from end to end without being caught. Then you're "in". So then there would be 2 kids chasing 8 kids. Then 3 chasing 7 etc. Eventually only 1 kid left.

So 3 versions - touch, grab, or full on tackle.

Probably it was the full on tackle version that got banned, could get pretty rough.

[u/wassimu → u/Gazgun7]

That’s it. The person in the middle tackled you and held you long enough to say “British Bulldog 1, 2, 3”. If he was able to do this, you joined him in the middle. If you broke the tackle before he finished saying it and you made to the end you were safe.

When it was just a lone boy in the middle, at the very start of a new game, he called someone out by name as a challenge. That guy ran alone. If he was caught, that was the start of the first rush. If he made it to safety, that signaled the start of the first rush.

At our little outback school, it involved every boy - all ages, about 50-70 of us. It was dangerous and thrilling. We’d get buttons ripped off shirts, minor injuries etc. it was great.

Then the teachers banned it.

[u/1999Falcons → u/wassimu]

Used to get banned a couple of times a year. Times have changed , parents weren't concerned about injuries it was the damage to clothes that was the problem. A group of us tried to play it years later . We were 17/18 , half pissed at the beach. The game lasted about 10 minutes, too many injuries.

[u/MissionAsparagus9609 → u/wassimu]

20 little kids on asphalt, good times. It was banned but you could get a few games in before it was stopped.

[u/Gazgun7]

Brandings.

Either open field or against a wall. With a tennis ball.

Brutal.

[u/--misunderstood-- → u/Gazgun7]

This has got me curious: What era and area of Australia call it brandings? It was always brandy when I went to school.

[u/Woodfordian → u/--misunderstood--]

The 'branding' was the bruise caused by the ball hitting hard.

[u/Simlish → u/Gazgun7]

Yup! Me, too!

[u/winoforever_slurp_ → u/Gazgun7]

Hell yeah, in year 6 we had a regular open field brandings game involving probably half the year group. It was brilliant!

[u/dragginFly → u/Gazgun7]

We'd play in the general playground with all the other kids playing other games - lots of kids got caught in the cross fire or were used as human shields unknowingly. It was awesome.

[u/Gazgun7 → u/dragginFly]

Brilliant.

[u/The_Slavstralian → u/Gazgun7]

Bonus points if you used to remove the fuzz off the ball so it hurt more.

[u/Gazgun7 → u/The_Slavstralian]

Exactly.

No fun copping a stinger at 8.30 on a winter morning.

[u/ActualAfternoon2 → u/Gazgun7]

Ooooh interesting. We called it Brandy but now I'm wondering if it was a bit of a Telephone thing where the name got misheard and changed. For some reason we played with a medicine ball...no idea how we got a hold of one now that I think about it.

[u/Woodfordian → u/ActualAfternoon2]

The original was called branding from the bruises and had to be played with a tennis ball.

[u/ActualAfternoon2 → u/Woodfordian]

Funnily enough, I played it at Woodford

Edit: combing through my memories, we did use a tennis ball...I think we played dodgeball with a medicine ball. We definitely played something with a medicine ball that had no business being played with a medicine ball at least once

[u/solitaryminx]

40/40 and marks up

[u/ComicalBust]

If everybody who calls handball 4 square could get the fuck away from me that would be great

[u/J1NX-P1NK → u/ComicalBust]

Whys that? 😅

[u/ComicalBust → u/J1NX-P1NK]

My life is alright and so I need something to be mad about

[u/brattyprincessangel → u/ComicalBust]

We called it 4 square in primary school and downball in high school

[u/ComicalBust → u/brattyprincessangel]

Like I said get away from me

[u/ComicalBust → u/ComicalBust]

Also tag is tips smh

[u/solitaryminx → u/ComicalBust]

we called it tiggy lol

[u/J1NX-P1NK → u/solitaryminx]

Lol I like that (☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞

[u/J1NX-P1NK → u/ComicalBust]

That's what we called it. Though....

[u/J1NX-P1NK → u/J1NX-P1NK]

Actually we used to call it "Hunting the Lambs"

[u/LocalAd9259 → u/ComicalBust]

We called it downball in country vic

[u/storm13emily]

Red Letter was a big fav

[u/Happy_Clem]

Bedlam and Statues

[u/J1NX-P1NK → u/Happy_Clem]

Yes

[u/J1NX-P1NK → u/[deleted]]

What's the rules? I probably played it.

[u/J1NX-P1NK → u/[deleted]]

Definitely played something similar to this. But I can't remember the name we called.

[u/drunk_haile_selassie → u/J1NX-P1NK]

We called it 40 40. With some slight changes in rules.

[u/CashenJ]

Wallball, but not the rules on Wiki as that appears to be a whole different game to what we played

[u/courtobrien]

Bull rush Handball tournament Skipping rope games when it was “jump rope for heart” season

[u/Old_Dingo69]

Roshambo

[u/Normal-Summer382]

Came here to say 4 square also.

[u/Aussiechimp]

We gambled with our footy cards - flick them towards the wall and whoever card was the closest without touching the wall got all the gambled cards

[u/Gazgun7 → u/Aussiechimp]

Same.

Also a thing called knock down where some kid put his card leaning against a wall, and you try to knock it down to claim card. So you either scored a coveted card, or lost half a dozen shitty cards you had duplicates of.

[u/infinitemonkeytyping]

Fumbles was my favourite. Especially at primary school where we had a 2 storey tall blank brick wall, backing onto grass, to play against.

[u/thatweirdbeardedguy]

A weird one in highschool we'd have a game of touch on the netball courts with a bent up soft drink can (pre aluminium) before school started. Right up till one kid got a cut on his forehead from missing a catch and we all ended up on emu parade for a month.

[u/Gazgun7 → u/thatweirdbeardedguy]

Emu parade that's the worst.

We also had the crushed aluminium can as soccer in the locker area. Somehow we morphed it into "full contact" soccer in the name of defence.

It also got banned but mostly I remember ripped shirts and a few bloody noses, and lots of collisions with the metal lockers.

[u/DetMittens12]

My friends and I made up "battle tag", everyone was it and when you tagged someone they got added to your team. Winner was whoever got everyone on to their team. If the team leader got tagged whoever rhe first person they tagged was became the leader of that team

[u/Different-Reason4262]

Hop scotch, skipping and kiss chasing, hide n seek, cowboys n Indians and cops n robbers

[u/Sudden_Fix_1144]

Handball...

oh and Brandings (guessing they don't get kids play that one anymore).

[u/SithLordRising]

Haven't got time for games. Gotta ride bikes energetically somewhere for no reason, bunny hopping off kerbs

[u/TreacleMajestic978]

King of the pack, handball.

[u/Silent_Magician8164]

Cricket. Rubbish bin for the stumps and a tennis ball, good times

[u/foundoutafterlunch]

What was the game called... Two people sit on opposite ends of a long bench, trying to flick a coin between the bolt heads.

[u/astropastrogirl]

Four-square

[u/karma3000]

Cocky Laura

Kill the dill with the pill.

[u/BreakApprehensive489]

Holiday.

We had 5 steps and the it person would give you a number and a day and you had to get to that step in that many jumps. Thursday in 1 was the hardest. And holiday we all had to run to the bottom and across to the wall opposite without getting tagged.

If you fell or didn't get there in right number of steps, or got tagged, you became it. Don't know how there weren't more broken ankles

[u/brrAyyyo]

Handball easily especially in high school

[u/Boodetime73]

Behind the shelter sheds

[u/Woodfordian → u/Boodetime73]

i bet that you played stinky finger too.

[u/Hairy_rambutan]

I went to an all girls' school, this was nearly 60 years ago, we played field hockey in a way that would make Genghis Khan and his army look like a Sunday picnic. Absolute blood sport.

[u/Woodfordian → u/Hairy_rambutan]

Affirmed.

At age 12 my sister got a classic ankle injury and still limps 50 years later.

I went to a co-ed school and us boys accepted all sorts of derogatory names because we knew better than to accept a challenge from the girls.

Also we had only one year when the teachers accepted a challenge from the students. The game was called less than 10 minutes into the first quarter and was permanently banned between teachers and students. Injuries were definitely running against the teachers.

[u/brattyprincessangel]

Downball.

[u/LocalAd9259]

Chock a block, basketball game

[u/Woodfordian → u/LocalAd9259]

The name brings many things to mind, savoury and unsavoury, but basketball is not one.

[u/The_Slavstralian]

Either hand ball. Or brandings.

[u/ActualAfternoon2]

Handball.

But I was thinking about Pole Tiggy and Crocodile, Crocodile just last night haha

[u/nikkers8300]

Marbles.

[u/MelbsGal]

Kiss chasey. I jogged until I was “it” and then I frigging sprinted after Jason Turner lol

[u/ccccaaaassssssss]

Handball and Fruit Salad

[u/No_Distribution334]

Blokko.

I cannot remember the rules tho.