Talk:Red Rover

Question

Question: this is "a game played primarily by children" in which area(s) of the world? --Ianb 22:59, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Origins?

What is the history of this game? Where did it originate from? What does 'red rover' mean?

The 3rd and 4th paragraphs are really tounge-in-cheek.

"Red Rover is a game where children tell each other to run back and forth and break the arms of the poor child defenders." WTF?

Date

The article mentions "in to the 1970s," but this game was still very popular when I played it in the 1980s, in Canada at least. I can't speak to whether or not it is still played, but is it necessary to include a date?

Also, does anyone actually call this game "British Bulldog" as the article suggests? The only similarity I can see is that players are trying to get from one side to the other, but otherwise, it's a completely different game.

As I remember it...

...from twenty years ago now (in Worcestershire, England), the chant we used was: Red Rover, Red Rover, We-e call (Someone) over! I must say, I've never heard of the compass-point thing, though. From what I've read, the game is fairly common in Britain, so the exclusively American possible explanations given at the end of the article are ones I take with a pinch of salt. Also, re the comment about technology - people have been saying, "Oh, children today don't play traditional games any more" for several hundred years at least now! Loganberry 04:04, 29 May 2005 (UTC)

I agree

Perhaps is should be merged

Banning

I remember hearing at one time that some schools in my area were banning this game cause of the "danger" it posed and kids supposedly hurting themselves. Da Kenster 01:49, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

"also known as ... British Bulldog"

Really? I've never heard of this: though there are a number of variations of BB, I've never come across Red Rover being called by that name. Another one for the "citation required" pile, I think! 81.153.111.37 (talk) 01:43, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

Date

I agree I think the date should be adjusted. I played this game frequently as a child in the late 1980s to early 1990s. Many of my friends growing up in Canada in at that time also played this game. It was a school yard regular. I'm not sure if children still play this game or are even allowed to, but I know for sure that "Red Rover" was a very common school yard game in Canada into the 1990s.

Also with regards to "British Bulldog" I always understood "British Bulldog" to be a completely different game, somewhat similar to octopus, from what I can remember.

Strategy

It may be common to call over the smaller children first, as they will be unlikely to break the line, but that leaves you with a problem, as you will be left with larger children, and when they are called over, they will will break through the weak spots. A better strategy is to call over the stronger children early in the hopes of catching them while you can. Also, in a game supervised by adults, clotheslining would often be considered a foul.--RLent (talk) 16:02, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

Removal of origins "information".

If somebody can not produce citations for the "information" about the possible origins of this game, I am going to remove all but the first sentence describing that the origins are unknown. This type of theoretical nonsense does not belong in an encyclopedia. An infinite number of possible origins can be conceived of and described here, and that does not make any of them valid for inclusion. --69.112.198.201 (talk) 01:22, 8 April 2009 (UTC)