GAMES FOR HOLIDAY HOURS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 307, 28 December 1935, Page 4 (Supplement)

GAMES FOR HOLIDAY HOURS.

FOOT WRESTLING.

PEBBLE TARGET.

HOLE BALL.

JACKSTONES.

CHASE THE UNKNOWN

SQUATTERS.

PYRAMIDS.

Home Line

BOYS and girls throughout New Zealand will, in the weeks to

come, be spending their holidays in the country or by the sea, and we give here some games for those moments when the tide is out, or when even sun-bathing palls. These games may be played easily without apparatus other than the halls and buckets that you have with you. First of all we have

This is a very old game that can be played either with a team or when you are alone. If there are several playing let each person take his turn when the previous player makes a fault and so becomes "out." Take five small pebbles and place them down in a short row just in front of you as you kneel on the ground. Toss up the one on the extreme right with your left hand and prepare to catch it in your right. But before you do actually catch it a second pebble must be tossed so that it is in the air when the first falls into your right hand. Before

the second is caught in the same way the third must be tossed—and so on. You are out if any pebble is caught bv the right hand before the next one has been tossed into the air.

Then put four of the pebbles in a row in front of your left knee, spaced out at distances of 4in, and hold the fifth pebble in your right hand. Toss up with the right hand and before its pebble is caught again the left hand makes another toss, while the left hand touches the second pebble, and so on four times. In this variation it will be noticed that the right hand retains the same pebble throughout and does both catching and tossing. Then take a sixth pebble, curl the little finger of the left hand round it and clench the left fist. Go on to perform the second variation, as just' described, but this time instead of merely touching the pebble on the ground with any part of the left hand you must click the sixth pebble against them, taking them in order ■as before.

For a fourth variation put down 10 pebbles in a row, under your left hand, and hold one for tossing in your right. Make the toss and see how many of the 10 you can pick up with the left hand before the thrown pebble drops again into the right palm.

Two at a time take part in this — the rest can sit round and watch, each one perhaps taking it in turn to tussle afresh with the winner of the preceding bout. The thing goes well by the campfire. The two wrestlers must remain each on one foot all the time, wrest-

ling with the feet that are raised. No kicking is allowed, but each one tries by pulling or pushing with his own leg against the leg of the other to compel his opponent to put his free foot down to the ground which, ol course, ends the contest.

I This is rather similar to liidden numbers, which has been explained before in our pages, though only two players run at the same time instead of whole teams. The two teams form up behind each other in two straight ranks. They must all be facing the home line. The ranks should not be more than a yard apart. The leader of the front team goes along and numbers his players in any order he chooses. The numbers are kept secret. Then the first player of the rear team calls out any number—without knowing, of course, to which of the

opponents it will apply. The opponent indicated clashes forward, pursued by the one who called the number. If the pursuer overtakes and touches the other before the home line is reached he scores a point for his side; if not, the other team counts one. Next, the second player in the rear line takes his turn similarly, and so the game goes on until all have run. Original places must be kept throughout by all who have yet to run. When only one remains in each team the front rank member can set off just when he likes, his opponent having the right to follow as soon as the first step has been taken.

This is a game more for several players and can be easily played on the beach where there is plenty of room. Draw 10 concentric circles on the sand with a stick and a piece of string. There must be spaces of oin between the circles. Number these rings, counting the outside as one, and going inwards in regular order.

Players must each have four flat, smooth pebbles or shells. They must take up their places on a throwing line five to 10 yards from the target. Each player throws in turn. After the first throw players may choose between moving a pebble that is already on the target and throwing up another pebble.

For a move a pebble may be transferred a number of rings nearer to the centre, corresponding to the number on which it is lying. For instance, if the first throw takes the pebble on to ring 3, then the next turn the player who owns it may move the pebble to ring 6. Alternatively, as has been pointed out, he may throw up another pebble.

Any pebble reaching the centre is home. It is not necessary to get the exact number for this. A pebble thrown on to ring 7, for instance, would be considered home on its next move, since it would need only three —the remaining four counts could be taken by any other pebble belonging to the same player which happens to be lying on the target.

Should a player get two of his pebbles on a ring already occupied by one pebble of an opponent that single pebble must be taken off the target and go back to the throwing line. That player who first gets his four pebbles home to the centre wins the game.

A game of a quieter nature for the hotter part of the clay is pyramids. Turn a bucket upside down, partly burying it to make it tirm, and on it pile a pyramid of pebbles.

Individuals or teams can now compete, throwing at the pyramid with other pebbles or with balls. The winner is the one who knocks the last pebble from the bucket.

Hole Ball, which needs a steady hand and a straight eye, is a game which can be played equally weH in the country or on the sands. Dig a hole about as large as a boot box with the back edge banked up slightly. If you are at the seaside it is easier to sink a bucket so that its top edge is level with the Band surface, and the back side has a little surrounding wall. The game consists in rolling a small ball into the hole from a distance of five to 10 yards.

Added interest may be given by fixing a stick or spade upright by the hole, slightly in front and to one side of Jt. This is the cannon post. You may have such a post on either side of the hole. Players take turns to send up the ball. Game is 11 points, one point when the ball hits either of the posts; two points when the ball goes straight into the hole; four points when it goes into the hole after hitting a post.

Divide the players into two groups and let each form a ring of good size, one inside the other. The leader gives the signal by blowing a whistle and the two rings begin marching round, one in a clockwise direction and the other counter-clockwise. Gradually they increase their pace until they are running at top speed. When the leader blows his whistle the two rings break up and each

player finds a partner, seizing his hand and both sitting down on the ground together. The last couple to squat down drops out and the game re-starts. Thus couples are eliminated until only- the winners remain.