Red Rover (also known as The King's Run and Forcing the City Gates) is a team

game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...

played primarily by

children A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...

playgrounds A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people w ...

, requiring 10+ players. The game has changed over several decades, evolving from a regular "running across" game, with one single catcher in the center of the playground, to a ''combat game''Amalie Schönlank, Eduard Angerstein: ''Kampfspiele.'' In: ''Lehrplan für den Turnunterricht in Mädchenschulen.'' Nicolaische Verlagsbuchhandlung (Rudolf Stricker), Berlin 1894, p. 20. with two opposing teams. The change basically consisted of merging pre-existing rules from other games with those of the original ''Red Rover''.

The original ''Red Rover''

Origin of the game

Originally, ''Red Rover'' was a regular tag and running game with several players on one side and one person (the "Red Rover" Dorothea Frances Canfield: ''Red Rover.'' In: ''What Shall We Do Now? Five Hundred Games and Pastimes.'' Frederick A. Strokes Company, New York 1907, p. 159.) placed in the center of the playing field. The person in the center calls ''"Red Rover, Red Rover, let'' layer's name''come over!"'' to challenge and catch one of the players who tries to reach the other side of the playing area. If the Red Rover succeeds they both return to the center. Each player tagged joins the center and helps tag the others.

Stewart Culin Stewart Culin (July 13, 1858 – April 8, 1929) was an American ethnographer and author interested in games, art and dress. Culin played a major role in the development of ethnography, first concentrating his efforts on studying the Asian-Amer ...

: ''Black Tom / Red Rover.'' In: William Wells Newell: ''Journal of American Folk-Lore: Street Games of Boys in Brooklyn, N. Y.'' Volume IV, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston and New York 1891, p. 224–225. According to Katherine Barber, the name of the game could be based on the novel of ''

The Red Rover ''The Red Rover'' is a novel by American writer James Fenimore Cooper. It was originally published in Paris on November 27, 1827, before being published in London three days later on November 30. It was not published in the United States until Ja ...

'' by New York author

James Fenimore Cooper James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was an American writer of the first half of the 19th century, whose historical romances depicting colonist and Indigenous characters from the 17th to the 19th centuries brought h ...

. It should be of no surprise that – for a chasing game – children prefer the name of a pirate who ravages the British seas. The game was first recorded in New York in 1891 in

's publication ''Street Games of Boys in Brooklyn, N. Y.''. Until the 1940s, various descriptions of this version of ''Red Rover'' have been published, e. g. in 1907 in Dorothea Frances Canfield's book ''What Shall We Do Now? Five Hundred Games and Pastimes''. In the book Canfield compared ''Red Rover'' with the German game of Black Man. In 1903, ''Red Rover'' has been mentioned in ''Some London Street Amusements'' by

Edwin Pugh Edwin William Pugh (1874 - 5 February 1930) was an English writer. He published 33 books, primarily novels and short story collections, and focused on working-class "cockney school" storylines. The Modernist Journals Project finds that "Pugh's ...

, published in

George Robert Sims George Robert Sims (2 September 1847 – 4 September 1922) was an English journalist, poet, dramatist, novelist and ''bon vivant''. Sims began writing lively humour and satiric pieces for ''Fun'' magazine and ''The Referee'', but he was soon co ...

' book ''Living London – Vol. III''. It also appeared in 1916 in ''London Street Games'', a book by

Norman Douglas George Norman Douglas (8 December 1868 – 7 February 1952) was a British writer, now best known for his 1917 novel '' South Wind''. His travel books, such as ''Old Calabria'' (1915), were also appreciated for the quality of their writing. ...

, although British folklorists

Iona and Peter Opie Iona Margaret Balfour Opie, (13 October 1923 – 23 October 2017) and Peter Mason Opie (25 November 1918 – 5 February 1982) were an English married team of folklorists who applied modern techniques to understanding children's literature and ...

stated that no record of ''Red Rover'' has been found in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

before 1922. The game of ''Red Rover'' was sometimes confused with the British game of ''Warning!'', and in the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

with a game called ''Red Lion'', which are both tag games but with different playing instructions.

Steve Roud Steve Roud (; born 1949) is the creator of the Roud Folk Song Index and an expert on folklore and superstition. He was formerly Local Studies Librarian for the London Borough of Croydon and Honorary Librarian of the Folklore Society. Life and c ...

: ''British Bulldog and Other Chasing Games.'' In: ''The Lore of the Playground.'' Random House Books, London 2010, , p. 40. The confusion was mainly due to the similarity of names (in

Moray Moray () gd, Moireibh or ') is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Between 1975 ...

, Scotland, the game of ''Warning!'' was primarily known by the name of ''Johnny Rover''). Parallels, on the other hand, exist with ''Bar the Door'', a game that was described in 1901 by

Robert Craig Maclagan Dr Robert Craig Maclagan FRSE FRCPE (6 March 1839 – 12 July 1919) was a Scottish physician, anthropologist and author from the Maclagan family. He was co-founder of the Scottish Association for the Medical Education of Women. Life He was bor ...

in ''The Games & Diversions of Argyleshire''.

The missing link

Red Rover – Game description from 1945 (Reprint)

In the second half of the 1930s, the game rules started to change. A variation, representing the missing link between the original ''Red Rover'' and the team game, was published in 1945 in the United States by Neva Leona Boyd in the ''Handbook of Games''. Neva Leona Boyd: ''Red Rover.'' In: ''Handbook of Games.'' H. T. FitzSimons Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1945. The game combines the rules of the traditional pastime, such as calling and tagging players individually by a catcher placed in the center of the playground, with those of the team game, which comes into being when the increasing number of players caught in the middle forms a chain by grasping each other's hand. The chain must be broken by the remaining players. These rules were very similar to those in the German game of

Chinese Wall A Chinese wall or ethical wall is an information barrier protocol within an organization designed to prevent exchange of information or communication that could lead to conflicts of interest. For example, a Chinese wall may be established to sepa ...

. Years before, in 1938, rules for ''Red Rover'' had already been adopted from Chinese Wall, e. g. the marking of a narrow field in the center of the playground, which the catcher is not allowed to leave. By the end of the decade, the transformation process of the game was fully completed. In March 1949, Warren E. Roberts of the Indiana University Folklore Institute explained that two versions of ''Red Rover'' exist.Warren E. Roberts: ''Children's Games and Game Rhymes.'' In: ''Hoosier Folklore.'' Volume 8, No. 1, The Hoosier Folklore Society, Indianapolis, March 1949, p. 16–17. In his article ''Children's Games and Game Rhymes'' Roberts tried to delineate the particularities between the traditional ''Red Rover'' and the combat game of the same name and phrase. Since the beginning of the 1950s, ''Red Rover'' has been described primarily as a team game. It remained unclear why the playing rules had been modified over time.

''Red Rover'' as a team game

Early descriptions

Germany

The later combat version of ''Red Rover'' is of German or Chinese origin. An early description of the game appeared in 1862 in the German education handbook ''Merkbüchlein für Turner'' (memorandum book for sportsmen) by Eduard Angerstein under the name ''Kettenreißen'' (literally ''chain breaking'' or ''chain bursting''). Alternative names are ''Kettensprengen'' and ''Kettenbrechen''. The same team game was described in 1884 – entitled ''Der König schickt Soldaten aus'' (the king sends out soldiers) – in the sixth edition of ''Spiele zur Übung und Erholung des Körpers und Geistes'' by J. C. F. GutsMuths, published in Germany by Otto Schettler in co-operation with Friedrich Wilhelm Klumpp and Justus Carl Lion. In 1896, an English translation of the game named ''The King's Run'' was published in the United States by William Albin Stecher in the scholastic manual ''A Textbook of the German-American System of Gymnastics''. Further descriptions of ''King's Run'' followed until the late 1920s in several American books on physical education.

China

A similar variant has been recorded in China in 1901 by professor Isaac Taylor Headland of the

Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...

under the name ''Forcing the City Gates''. In this game one of the children's groups sings a rhyme before sending a boy to the enemy's line.Isaac Taylor Headland: ''Child Life in China.'' In: ''The Delineator'', No. 1, Volume 57, The Butterick Publishing Co. Ltd., New York, January 1901, p. 98–99. In his article ''Child Life in China'' published in the ''

Delineator A raised pavement marker is a Road safety, safety device used on roads. These devices are usually made with plastic, ceramic, thermoplastic paint, glass or occasionally metal, and come in a variety of shapes and colors. Raised reflective mark ...

'' magazine from January 1901, Headland annotated that this game was well-known to the majority of American children. He also mentioned numerous other games played by Chinese boys, among them

Blind Man's Buff Blind man's buff or blind man's bluff is a variant of tag in which the player who is "It" is blindfolded. The traditional name of the game is "blind man's buff", where the word ''buff'' is used in its older sense of a small push. Gameplay Blin ...

Hide and Seek Hide-and-seek (sometimes known as hide-and-go-seek) is a popular children's game in which at least two players (usually at least three) conceal themselves in a set environment, to be found by one or more seekers. The game is played by one chose ...

Prisoner's Base ''Prisoner's Base'' (British title ''Out Goes She'') is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by Viking Press in 1952. Plot introduction A young woman who will shortly inherit control of a large manufacturing firm wants to ...

, Black Man,

Hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

and

Shinny Shinny (also shinney, pick-up hockey, pond hockey, or "outdoor puck") is an informal type of hockey played on ice. It is also used as another term for street hockey. There are no formal rules or specific positions, and often, there are no goa ...

. ''Forcing the City Gates'' was also described in 1909 in the recess guide ''Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium'' by Jessie H. Bancroft, using the game instructions of ''King's Run'' as a basis.

Game instructions

The game is played between two lines of players (usually called the "North" and "South" team, although this does not relate to the actual relative locations of the teams), positioned approximately thirty feet apart with hands or arms linked together.Martin Toseland, Simon Toseland: ''Red Rover.'' In: ''365 Family Games and Pastimes.'' Square Peg, London 2012, , p. 54–55. The game starts when the first team, in this example the North team, calls a player out, by saying the line ''"Red Rover, Red Rover, let'' layer on opposite team''come over!"'' (alternatively ''"..., send'' layer's name''right over!"'' or ''"..., I call'' layer's name''over!"''). The immediate goal for the chosen one is to run to the North team's line and break the chain (formed by the players' hands). If the chosen one successfully breaks the chain, they may select either of the two "links" broken by the successful run, and take the link to join the South team. If the selected person fails, they join the North team. The South team then calls out for a person on the North team, and the play continues. When only one player is left on a team, they must try to break through a link. If the player does not succeed, then the opposing team wins. Otherwise, the player gets a player back for their team.

In other languages

In Russia and other former USSR countries, this game has been known as "

Ali Baba "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" ( ar, علي بابا والأربعون لصا) is a folk tale from the '' One Thousand and One Nights''. It was added to the collection in the 18th century by its French translator Antoine Galland, who heard ...

", in Hungary as "Adj, király, katonát!" (King, give us a soldier!) and in Serbia as "Јелечкиње, барјачкиње" (''jelečkinje, barjačkinje'', i.e., city crier and flag bearer). In Romania, the game is called "Țara, țara vrem ostași" (Country, country we want soldiers). In Republic of Moldova the line is "Împărate, împărate, dați-ne un soldat!" (King, king, give us a soldier). In the Czech Republic, the game is known as "Král vysílá své vojsko" (The king sends out his army), with the difference that each team chooses which of its members will attempt to break the opposite team's line, rather than sending the member called by the other team.As explained o
this link
in Czech

Prohibition

Like British Bulldog the game of ''Red Rover'' has been banned by many schools because of the risk of potential physical harm. This negative reputation has a long history. In a description from the book ''Illustriertes Spielbuch für Knaben'', published in Germany in 1864, game collector Hermann Wagner stated that the game of ''Kettenreißen'' (chain breaking) is perceived as violent.Hermann Wagner: ''Kettenreißen.'' In: ''Illustriertes Spielbuch für Knaben.'' Verlag von Otto Spamer, Leipzig 1864, p. 20–21. Its practical execution often causes peevishness among the boys. Therefore, any kind of beating and punching and the use of brute force with the help of arms and legs should be strictly prohibited.

References

{{Outdoor games Children's games Games of physical skill Outdoor games Street games Team sports