A Half-Dozen Versions of Tag

For PE in the extreme cold, we kept moving by inventing and playing six different original versions of tag. Each pair of students had five minutes to come up with their rendition of the game. Then we walked across the street to County Farm Park. Once on the playground, we played them all in consecutive five-minute sessions.

In Rhino Tag, the person serving as It could only tag another person with his or her forehead. Once that happened, the tagee linked arms with It, forming a larger, if less mobile, tagging force. This was itself a variation on Blob Tag, in which the larger force emitted zombie-like groans as they stumbled around in pursuit of their nimbler, albeit increasingly freaked-out, quarry.

Two games employed both an It and an Unfreezer. In Vogue Tag, you had to strike a pose when tagged, in the manner of Madonna's Vogue video. You could be released from this pose when the Unfreezer sang an original verse or two about you. (Mike immediately volunteered for this role, and carried it off with vim, if not gusto.) Nutmeg Tag had Nik roaming the field and nutmegging* those who had been tagged. 

In Reverse Tag, everyone was It except one person, who was pursued by the rest: a 1-on-11 game. Hands Free Molten Lava Tag required everyone to stay on the big play structure, since the ground below was molten lava. The person playing It stayed on the structure too and was forbidden any use of the hands. That had nothing to do with the lava. It was just funny.

* That's when a person stands with legs apart, and the ball is passed between the feet, like a shot through tiny goalposts.