HT Games
Capture the Flag
Boys love playing Capture the Flag on warm summer nights and cool fall evenings, and anytime they can dress in camouflage and stalk one another.
Divide all the boys into two equal teams, tying a colored bandanna around each player's arm to designate his team affiliation. Tie matching bandannas to two dowels for team flags. Divide your yard, or playing area, into equal halves, giving each team its flag to hide at the back of their territory, out of sight of the other team.
Construct a jail with rope tied around three trees or an area outlined in paint on the grass, but not within sight of your flag so that the opposite team's captured players cannot report back where you plant your flag.
Decide which boys will be offensive players and who will play defense. The offensive players sneak through the enemy team's territory in an attempt to capture their flag. The defensive players lay in wait and attempt to capture the opposite team players as they invade their territory, before they can capture your flag.
Capture occurs when a defensive player from one team tags the opposite team's offensive player on their way to the flag. Detain captured players in your jail so that they cannot capture your flag, but captured players can break out if one of their team members comes and tags them out, so play goes on until one team succeeds in capturing the other team's flag.
Flashlight Hide and Seek
Boys enjoy dressing in camouflage and darkening their faces with burnt cork to play flashlight hide and seek under the stars.
Choose one boy to be the hunter, and equip him with a flashlight. While he counts to 50 all the other boys run and hide in the designated playing area. Upon reaching 50, the hunter turns off his flashlight and seeks out the other boys.
When finding hiding players, the hunter shines the flashlight beam onto that boy to claim him as his victim. The victim then takes the flashlight and becomes the hunter, while the hunter returns to a designated home base where refreshments await. The game continues until discovering all the boys in their hiding places.
Ghost in the Graveyard
Ghost in the graveyard is a fun game that middle school boys love to play, stalking one another in the dark.
Decide on a playing area with set boundaries. Everyone then picks a home base that is large enough for everyone to touch at the same time, like a very large tree or a set of steps, where they are safe from the "ghost." One boy becomes the "ghost", running off to hide while the players on home base chant "one o'clock," "two o'clock," "three o'clock," finishing at eleven o'clock and then yelling "Midnight! We hope we don't see a GHOST tonight!"
All the boys on home base then scatter throughout the yard to seek the ghost. The ghost surprises players by seeking them out and tagging them, making them a ghost. When a boy is surprised by a ghost, he yells out "Ghost in the graveyard," signaling all players to run back to home base where they will be safe. Those players tagged on the way back to home base become ghosts and hide with the original ghost in the next round while all the rest of the players continue to be base players seeking the ghosts.
Play resumes as before, with base players chanting while the ghosts run off to hide. Play continues until ghosts catch all players. The last person caught becomes the first ghost for the next game.