Kick The Can: A geezer thread.

[trof]

Did you play Kick The Can when you were a kid?
On our street, the front yards sloped down to a 4 foot high rock wall.
If you kicked the can from the top step, you get get it almost all the way across the street.

I don't remember anyone ever getting run over chasing the can into the street.

A Campbell's Soup can seemed to get the best loft, but we weren't picky.

Rules of the game:
1. For the first "IT", we either one-potatoed or eeny-meenied.
2. As soon as we one-potatoed the first one to claim "KICK!" got to kick the can.
3. While the rest of us ran and hid, IT had to retrieve the can and put it back on the step.
4. IT began to search for us.
5. If IT found you and could go kick the can before you could get to it, then you were IT
6. If you beat him to the can and kicked it, he had to go chase and was IT again.
7. If you were hiding, and saw the can unguarded, you could run in and kick it and IT would have to start all over again.

This occupied us for many evenings and summer days.
We were easily entertained.
;-)

[MuseRider]

1. Pre Geezer here.

We did not play kick the can but we had some pretty intricate rules for swingset kickball. If you did it just right you could get some mighty air for your run around the bases and if you were lucky the ball went all the way over the house and not through the window. We would play that all day and then go for dark neighborhood hide and seek. That was our routine until my brother got clotheslined one night and darned near hung himself.

[Kali]

2. Hide and seek but not kick the can

also smear the ______ (not pc anymore, not that we had a clue what it meant then)

geez - eenie meenie and one potato do kids know those anymore?

[trof]

3. Our eenie-meenie was racist too. What is "smear..."?

[Kali]

6. starts with a Q and rhymes with smear

sort of like tag and football combined. One goal at end of field a kick-off from the goal (I think, gosh it's been a long time) reciever/"it" tries to cross the goal line and EVERYBODY else tries to tackle (smear) the person with the ball. I think there was some kind of penalty for chickening out and chucking the ball but I don't remember or going out of bounds - which I do remember were complex and arbitrary.

[comsymp]

7. We used to play that one too... IIRC, I was pretty good at it

... ironically~

[tjwash]

9. Just like Rugby.nt

[Kali]

12. but no teams

everbody for themselves

[LaurenG]

4. I never played it

but my older sister and brother did. The thing I find odd is that kids don't just go out and play anymore. It's organized everything. No time to just play with their friends. I played outside so much that I had a permanent tan. We would do anything NOT to have to come in. One summer when the peaches were ripe we would just eat the peaches and drink from the water hose to avoid going in the house and being kept in by my mother. lol those were the good old days.

[Kali]

11. yeah and not even these games with rules

stuff we just made up - lots of spy/war/chase and hide sorts of things all around the neighborhood. Oh man! I hated to come in. (there was a thread a couple of days ago where we talked about getting called in for dinner - some folks had a porch light code, not my block - such a bummer to be the first one called in! I wonder if that is why my house we rarely eat dinner before 8 or 8:30 now??? (I wasn't usually allowed back out after dinner x( )

[ContraBass Black]

14. I did all of these things.

I'm 20.

[Talismom]

5. I've heard of the game for my whole life but never knew the rules.

Thanks for going over them. I'm gonna take my kids out and play it soon!

[Canadian Socialist]

8. Ah, memories!

Red Rover; Simon Says; Red Light Green Light; Freeze Tag.

[mzteris]

10. you forgot

Mother May I?

Yep - used to play all of those..... hide and seek, baseball, kickball, "army", cowboys and indians, ............

[DS1]

13. Interesting self-balancing game

If you're a slow runner you're IT a lot, which makes you run, which makes you a fast runner, then the next slowest person is IT, and everyone's outside and doing stuff instead of playing Playstation 2.

My block's big game was Manhunt, we'd play that well into the night, and it was a damn lot of fun.

[Neshanic]

15. Post modern geezer. You were "it" if you felt if it was so.