Stake Guard

Source: Games For The Playground, Home, School And Gymnasium
Category: MISCELLANEOUS ACTIVE GAMES



_10 to 30 players._

_Playground; gymnasium._

This game is one of the forms of Duck on a Rock, and in this
form is well adapted to use indoors as well as out of doors.
The game differs from the ordinary games of Duck on a Rock
chiefly in the limited territory to which the guard is
confined.

A stake is driven in the ground (or if in a gymnasium, an Indian club
is placed) in the center of a square plainly marked, and measuring
from eight to twelve feet. A throwing line is drawn twenty or more
feet from the stake. The game is played with bean bags, and begins
with the choice of a guard. This choice is made by all of the players
standing on the throwing line and throwing their bags at the stake.
The player whose bag falls farthest away from the stake becomes the
first guard.

The stake guard places his bag on top of the stake (or club). The
other players line up on the throwing line. Upon a given signal from
a leader or captain, all of the players throw their bags
simultaneously at the stake, trying to displace the bag on top of it.
Knocking over the club accomplishes the same purpose. Each player must
then try to regain his bag, but in doing this he may be tagged by the
guard. If this be done, he changes places with the guard. The guard
may only tag a player, however, within the limits of the square
surrounding the stake, beyond which he may not go; and he may do this
only after he has replaced his own bag on top of the stake.



Any player failing to recover his bag at once will watch for an
opportunity to do so when the guard is next occupied in replacing his
own bag. Any player thus waiting for his bag may linger near the
boundaries of the center square.

Should the guard succeed in tagging a player within the square, that
player must at once place his own bag on the stake; and the guard must
try to get his bag and escape from the square before this new guard
can place his bag and tag him. As soon as a player recovers his bag
and escapes from the center square, he should go at once to the
starting line, and may throw again immediately for the center bag. The
game progresses better, however, if all of the throwing be done
simultaneously, the returning players waiting for a signal from the
leader before throwing.

As players become proficient, the game may be made more
skillful and interesting by increasing the distance between the
throwing line and the stake, and also by lessening the size of
the square drawn around the stake, in which the guard is
confined.


Next: Stealing Sticks

Previous: Stage Coach

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