There’s a list of violent kids’ games making it’s way around the web, which reminded me of a game that we used to play on the playground in elementary school. The school had this octagonal sandbox with a 6 inch wide edge all the way around it. What would happen was that we’d split into two teams (in the traditional picking of teams) and each team would start off on one side of the sandbox. The goal was to stay on the wooden side of the sandbox while simultaneously pushing the other team off. The game tended to be fought on two fronts, and eventually it would get down to one person left on one of the teams, and that person would try to fight off attackers from both sides. Occasionally successfully.

We called the game “Push” and most recesses we had ~10-15 kids playing I think. There was some interesting strategic elements to the game - do you line up with a good front line player backed by a good support person, or a good front line player backed by someone who was also a good front line player? Oh, and we usually only played in winter, so the sandbox edge was frequently slick with ice, but conversely the snow made for a softer landing when you got pushed off. We played a lot of “murderball” which is what we called the #1 game on that list (I think - the description is close enough anyway) We played with a football though, and there was a clear goal in mind of returning the ball to the initial thrower. We played a lot of touch football (very non-violent, I only remember one broken collarbone - not mine) and some full contact basketball, not to mention the obligatory hockey games.

Good times.

Simpsons’s quote of the day: “Gentlemen, I have decided there will be, uh, no investigation. Now if you will excuse me I’ll go away.” - Mayor Quimby