Grab-Tag-Score

This game can be played outdoors or indoors, if the area is big enough (like a gymnasium or a ballroom). As few as two can play, but more is better. If you have an odd number of players, one could be a referee.

Getting Ready

1. Choose an object to grab that won’t hurt anyone and is easy to grasp, such as an old sneaker or a soft ball.

2. Divide into teams of equal numbers and as equal in ability as possible.

3. Decide on goal lines; the teams line up facing each other from behind their own goal lines (see illustration).

4. The object is placed in the middle of the playing field.

Playing

When the referee (or someone else, if there is no referee) shouts, “Go!” one player from each team runs toward the object and tries to grab it and carry it across the other team’s goal line without being tagged. Only a player trying to grab the object may tag the opponent; the remaining players may not interfere in any way. If a player succeeds in crossing the opponent’s goal line with the object and without being tagged, his or her team gets a point. If he or she is tagged, the opposing team gets the point. The first team to get 20 points wins.

Game layout

Variation

At “Go!” two players from each team try to get the ball across the opponents’ goal line without being tagged. They may hand off, throw, or even kick the object to their teammate, but if, while remaining behind the goal line, a member of the opposing team intercepts the object, that team gets the point.