Thursday, September 17, 2009

Frontyard Games

When we were kids, we used to play some messed up games in the front yard. There are three that I remember in particular, and can't remember exactly how to play them. I don't know why, but I'm suddenly curious. The first one I found online, but can't find the other two. Does anyone know the games I'm talking about or how to play them?

The first one was called Witch in the Well and was basically tag with a ton of backstory. At first, all I remembered was the first of the Dad's lines, which I googled and found the game here.

It involved a short play followed by a game of tag. In the first scene, a few of us were on the porch and one person was hiding behind the bush near the street. One of the kids on the porch played the role of "Dad." He would turn to the others and say, "I'm going to town to smoke my pipe, I won't be back till Saturday night, so don't get into the brown sugar and butter." Then that kid would walk away and everyone on the porch would freak on pretend brown sugar and butter. When Dad got back he'd ask what you were doing and everyone would say "Ah.... er.... nothing! NOT A THING! Etc..." Dad would ask to check your hands and say "Dirty! Dirty! Dirty! Go wash them in the well!" You everyone walks to the well, and just when you get there the person hiding at the bush, who is playing the part of the witch, jumps out and everyone runs back to Dad. They tell Dad there's a witch in the well, and he goes to check it out.

I think in our games, when Dad got back to the well, the witch jumped out and there was a game of tag, but the website I found this on had another short play at the well. I think I remember us having a dialogue with the witch, but I can't remember it so I'll just put up what that guy used to say:

Dad says to the witch, "What are you doing in the well?"
The witch replies, "Smoking a pipe."
Dad asks, "Why are you smoking a pipe?"
The Witch answers, "To make ashes."
"Why are you making ashes?" Dad says,
"To sharpen my knife." the witch answers.
Dad finally asks, "Why are you sharpening your knife?"
The witch screams, "To CUT OFF YOUR HEADS!"

And then everybody runs for it. Whoever gets back to base first, plays Dad in the next round, and whoever gets tagged by the witch, is the Witch the next time. The game goes on like that forever, with the same lines repeated every time.

The second game was called Colored Eggs. I don't remember how to play that one at all, but I know there was some wolf involved who asked what colors you were and a game of tag.

The third game I don't remember at all, but I remember it involved saying "Mother May I?" Any ideas?

And if you played any whacked out yard games, tell me about them!

11 comments:

Joshua said...

Oh yeah! And Kick the Can and Man Hunt. (Man Hunt was basically hide and seek but you wore cammo, and played in the woods, and eventually someone set something on fire. That wasn't scripted, it just seemed to happen. That or you hid in the ravine until you got ringworm.)

Joshua said...

Jim just reminded me, in our game Dad said, "Don't get into the Jam and Jelly." Apparently we didn't have a problem with wolfing down brown sugar and butter, but we ate Jam and Jelly with our bare hands.

Anonymous said...

Mother may I - you all line up like red light green light (remember that one?). One person is way ahead and then each person in line asks Mother May I...(take 3 large steps, 2 bunny hops, etc). mother will then say yes you may or no, but you may take...(1 baby step). The first person to reach mother wins.

so when are we going to get a baby update? what the heck?!?!?!

Anonymous said...

The witch in the well I never heard of. Perhaps you are confussing it with the bunnies that were left home while mom went to work. They were not aloud to let anyone in the house unless that someone would have flour on their paw. They wouldn't let the wolf in because he had no flour on his paw and they told him that. so the wolf came back with flour on his paw they let him in. He ran all through the house catching all the baby bunnies except little Joshua who had hidden in the grandfather clock.When mother got home little joshua bunny told her what had happened. She said well you get my sewing stuff and we'll go get those kids right now.They went to the river where the wolf was fast asleep with his fat belly all pushed out and snoring real loud.so momma bunny ran over and knocked out the wolf with a big rock. she then cut open the mean wolfs belly and let all thee baby bunnies out. They all gathered rocks and put them in the wolfs belly. Now momma bubby sewed up that belly. when the wolf finally woke up he went to the waater to get a drink and fell into the water from all the rocks in his belly.

DAD

Amanda said...

Josh - you should ask Rachel about the game we played at our grandparents house. One person would name a food, then the other kids would run to 1 of 3 places, depending on their preference. You either love the food, hate the food, or you don't care (each preference was designated by a bush or something in the yard). As you ran the person who initially named the food would try to tag you before you reached your destination. If you got caught, you were "it" next time around. I think we made this up ourselves!

We also played Mother May I? a lot too!!!

Megan said...

Yes!! Colored eggs, but I can't remember the details either. Too funny!

Tim and Deane said...

Clue: What time is it, Mister Wolf?

Tim and Deane said...

One person is the "wolf". The other people line up next to each other, with the wolf facing them. Everyone in line picks a color in their mind. The wolf then says..."knock-knock", the line answers "who's there?". Wolf replies "a big bad wolf with (curly or some other variation) hair".

The line says.."what do you want?" Wolf answers "colored eggs". The line yells "what color?". The wolf then says a color. Whoever had "picked" that color then runs around a selected area (to the far oak tree in the yard and back to the line, for example), with the wolf giving chase.

If the wolf catches the "egg", then that person becomes the wolf with the game starting over. If not, and all eggs make it back to line successfully, the wolf then calls out the next color, etc.

Tim and Deane said...

Mr. Fox stands with his back to the other players. The players call out “What is the time Mr Fox”, and Mr. For answers with an hour, such as one o’clock, ten o’clock. The other players then take as many steps forward as the hour indicates. (They take ten steps for 10 o’clock.) They can take giant steps or little steps. Its their choice

The players may not walk past the line where Mr. Fox is standing.
When the other players reach Mr Fox, he calls out “Midnight!” and everyone runs. Mr. Fox tries to catch the other children before they get back to the starting line. Players that are caught by Mr. Fox either sit out, or are enlisted to help the fox catch other children during the next round.

The last player to be caught remaining becomes the next Mr Fox.

Tim and Deane said...

la la la la. Hello, my name i Lily.... la la la la la

Anonymous said...

We played this game too, only it was a mom instead of a dad. And the questions were different: "what are you knitting?" "A purse." "What's the purse for?" "To hold my money." "What's the money for?" "To buy a knife." "What's the knife for?" "TO KILL YOU!!!"