Evolution of Playground Games - page 4
Keywords: Playground, Games, Playground Games, Folklore, Childhood, Play, School, Child's Play
By elliot5200 on 18/02/2007
Level: Bachelor Honours Degree (BA, BEng, BSc etc)
Page Number: 4 of 8 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
players would have to physically whip the ‘blind man’ until one of them was caught. Blind Man’s Buff was also illustrated in a set of pictures in the fourteenth century manuscript, Romance of Alexander (MS. Bodley: 264), depicting players striking the ‘blind man’ with their firmly-tied hoods until he manages to catch one of them.
Like It and British Bulldog, Blind Man’s Buff used to involve physical violence. This game was also popular among adults as well as children. However, a child watching adult role models behaving in this aggressive way was likely to have had a negative effect on them. This could be a key reason why the aggressive practices in the game have now been removed.
However, this pattern in the evolution from darker to more innocent versions of games does not always appear to be consistent. This is exemplified by the game, Kiss Chase, which is not actually as modern as one may expect. It involves the boys running round the playground and trying to kiss as many girls as possible. The boy with the most kisses wins. After this, the girls usually try to catch the boys. Parallels can be drawn between Kiss Chase and the more archaic, Stacks, a game noted by Gomme (1898), where boys would try to catch the girl they liked best – sometimes even against her will. The anonymous author of Round about out Coal-Fire (1731) also describes a similar game called Hoop and Hide, where children play a game of hide and seek, however if a player is caught hiding in a bed, they are kissed.
Melvyn only recalled older children, from ages 10-12 playing Kiss Chase. He stated that ‘Kiss Chase soon became the new It when children grew older.’ This contrasts with my own account of the game as well as the one Daniel gives where the game is popular among children as young as six. This supports the recent argument in the media that children are growing up quicker. This is emphasised by the mock marriages children are now having in the playground, which were unapparent when Melvyn was in school. Daniel adds that there have been more violent versions of Kiss Chase in his school in recent years, such as Kick Chase where catchers have to kick players they have caught until they give in. It appears Kiss Chase has certainly developed a long way from the innocent
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