GuestGame #002 – Password
October 7th, 2008 at 11:14 pm (Uncategorized, simple, family_game, outdoor, tag)
“Password” ©2008 Brian Z.
Equipment: a few scraps of paper
Players: 3 or more
RULES
If you’ve been looking for a new way to play “Tag” – and really, who hasn’t – here is Guest Game #002: “Password”, courtesy of Brian Z.
Password is best played in a backyard or at a park, but other locations will work almost as well, as long as it is safe to run. To begin the game, each player needs to choose their “base”. It can be a patio, a group of bushes, a swingset… anything that has plenty of hiding places for a scrap of paper.
Next, each player writes down a word on their paper. This is their “password” and it will be the job of the other players to discover it. Examples might include: “Swordfish”, “Moose Pie”, “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!” or even “This is my really awesome password!” Once each player has written their password, they should then hide it somewhere in their base. To be fair, players should not peek at each other while they are hiding the papers.
Begin the game once everyone is done hiding their password by yelling “Go!”. Players may immediately begin running to other bases and looking for passwords. Alternately, they can stay in their base and tag anyone who comes near them in their base. If you tag someone in your base, they must immediately either go back to their own base, or else go to someone else’s base.
Once you find someone else’s password, simply yell out the password (read the paper out loud!). Assuming the password is correct, the player who yelled the password is the winner.
OPTIONAL VERSION
If you would like to add an element of challenge to the game, have each player create both a real password and a fake password and hide both of them in their base. Make sure the fake password says something that will make it obvious that it is fake. Examples might include: “I’m a fake password!”, “Ha Ha Try again!” or “I’m a little teacup short and stout, here is my handle, here is my fake password, boy am I a bad singer!” If a player yells out a fake password, they must go back to their home base before trying to find another password. The game then continues as normal.