A.K.A. Ring-a-levio

A.K.A. La canne bottée

A.K.A. Ollie Ollie Oscious Free Free Free

You get an old coffee can or corn/peas/greenbean can and put it in the middle of a safe place because this is base, where at any given moment several people will be running toward it.  

One person is it. The rest of the crowd must go and hide. The object of the game is for the "it" person to SEE you, not necessarily tag you. He/she must call your name and say; "I see John Doe under Mr. Smith tree." At that point, John Doe must come to base. But, if it isn't John Doe, and maybe it is Sally Smith, then Sally Smith does not have to come out of hiding and the "it" person must assume they guessed the name wrong. 

Now the crowd is not aloud to stay in one spot...they must move around without being caught. The "it" person can venture away from the can as far as he/she wants, but he/she risks someone running to the can and kicking it which frees everyone that the "it" person has captured. But, if the "it" person tags the free-er before they reach the can then they are captured too. 

The object is to see or tag everyone without a free-er letting all the prisoners go. If someone kicks the can, the "it" person must count to 100 while everyone scatters and hides again. Everyone that is captured and standing around the can waiting to be freed can look for any remaining crowd members and guide him/her on when is a good time to come and free them. They can also make a chain in order for the free-er to reach them faster, but beware, because if the "it" person sees you making a chain, then usually he/she can see you and call out your name, thus ending the game. 

The first one captured is then "it".  

Contributed by: Laura - Thank you!

Ring-A-Levio

This version is essential identical except that instead of one 'It' trying to capture everyone, there are 2 teams, one guarding the jail and seeking the others, the other team trying to break everyone out of jail and hide.

Contributed by Frank Patano

Variation

It's a version of kick the can. We played this in Quebec where I grew up. Instead of chasing the guy we found to tag him or her, the one who is looking for the others, lets say it's Mike then Mike would have to: the moment he found a person (for example: Gerry), he has to come back to the can and say: 1-2-3 for Gerry and that before Gerry kicks the can. When someone can kick the can, everybody is delivered and can go back to hide again. The can can be kicked a maximum of 3 times. There is also the "borlu rule"! kids can switch clothes to trick Mike. So if Mike says 1-2-3 for Gerry but it was not Gerry, then everybody comes out and the game starts over again. 

P.S. The one who was found first will obviously be the one who will have to look for the others. Or like you probably call that person, be "It".

Contributed by Martin -Thank you!

Ollie Ollie Oscious Free Free Free
 

I just wanted to submit this name that we used for a game that is similar to Kick the Can Variation 1. We didn't use a can, but a tree was "base". One person was "it" and counted to 100 and everyone else scattered and hid. The object of the game was to tag the tree without being seen.

If the person who was "it" saw you, then he called "Ollie Ollie Oscious Free Free Free on whoever". That person then had to sit by the tree until either everyone was caught or someone tagged the tree. No one knew where the name of the game originated and we played it in Evanston, Illinois.

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