f course, there were games that children played together. We played
jacks, which I wasn't very adept at. I liked to shoot marbles and was
rather good at playing tiddley winks. But my favorite game was hide
and seek. I'm not sure this game is played anymore. One player was It and
had to cover his eyes and not peek while facing the tree trunk which was
home. This child had to count to one hundred out loud while all the
other children ran and hid. At the end of the count down, it would yell
"Here I come, ready or not." The object was for the it person to find and
tag someone who would then become it for the next game. If a hidden child
could sneak from his hiding place and get back to home (the tree)
without being caught, he was home free. As soon as one child was caught,
the searcher would shout "All-y, all-y outs in free" and all the other
children would come in and a new round would start with a new child as
it.
ide-the-thimble and run-sheep-run were also good games for group play.
Cowboys and Indians was also a good game. There were no rules, but it
involved lots of running, yelling, hiding, and ambushing. I had an
Indian costume, complete with feather headdress.