Red Rover

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Red Rover the game (also known as Bullrush; Forcing the City Gates; Octopus Tag; and British Bulldog) is an outdoor game played primarily by children on playgrounds. "Red Rover" was very popular into the 1970s.

[edit] Strategy

Players on a team hold hands, forming a line. The leader of a team will call a player from the opposing team. That player must try and break through two players' hands (a link) to stay on their own team. If the player is not able to break through the link, that team will gain control of that player. Before a player would try to break the link, the link would normally say "Red Rover, Red Rover, we call (player's name) over!" (Variations include replacing "we call (player's name) over!" with "send (player's name) right over", or "send (player's name) on over") Typically, the weaker players are chosen first to increase the chance of taking them.

When only one player is left on a team, they must try and break through a link. If they do not succeed, the opposing team wins. Otherwise, they are able to get a player back for their team.

The game can be a potentially painful experience. For example, when the runner breaks through a link (or attempts to break through), it can hurt the linkers' arms, or body depending on if he falls or gets bruised by somebody's bones. "Clothes lining",or when one shorter player runs into the link made by two players and is caught by the neck, is also a very common injury, that while it is not fatal, can cause a player to have a sore neck for a length of time.

[edit] Origins

The children's game "Red Rover" has its origins in a pagan ritual that dates back to the 16th century. According to manuscripts of the time, participants in the ritual would chant and make sacrifices to a demon in charge of shepherding souls to the afterlife, in hopes that their loved ones could return from death. Grotesque illustrations of the demon would sometimes accompany written accounts of the ritual, but the demon was never given a name; it was referred to only as "the Red Rover."