Words, People, Play.

February 20, 2006 11:11 AM

Babies, Footsies, Holdies. Carry, Foul, Slam. Tea Parties, Fairbacks, Cherry Bombs. Double Taps, Underhand, Blackjack. Bitch Serving, Jedi, Extreme. Chicken Drops, Peppermint Sticks, Kamikazes. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus. Land Mines, Demons, Black Magic.
posted by bardic (18 comments total)

Wow, that takes me back. I went to grade school in the late '60 early '70s. I distinctly remember footsies and tea-parties. The rest of them are unfamiliar but some would make good drink names (I'll have a Land Mine please, make it a double..).
posted by doctor_negative at 11:21 AM on February 20, 2006

Ooooohhhh, you had to bring back the Godammed agony of that game.

To be waiting in line to get in when some cliquish, snobby group of four "best friend" chicks all get in together so they tea party for the duration of the recess and no one else gets in.

Fucking 4th-grade bitches. I hope they all ended up fat in unsatisfactory marriages.
posted by sourwookie at 11:22 AM on February 20, 2006

No babies, no slammers, no cherry bombs damn you!
posted by mr_crash_davis at 11:33 AM on February 20, 2006

I remember playing a two-player variation called burnout, in which the ideal playing method was to heave the ball with as much speed and spin as possible into your opponents square. Awesome. The receiver's goal: catch and repeat.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 11:34 AM on February 20, 2006

No mention of 'bus stops'? Ah, I see that they are termed 'backstops' in the first link...
posted by daveleck at 11:36 AM on February 20, 2006

Four Square was seriously the best recess game ever. In what other game did you get to constanly redefine the rules? WAY better than kickball.
posted by salvia at 11:55 AM on February 20, 2006

We still play four square in high school.
posted by daninnj at 12:03 PM on February 20, 2006

I'd never heard of "foursquare" till just now. We called it "champ".
posted by tangerine at 12:09 PM on February 20, 2006

I was seriously disappointed to discover that Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus were not four square jargon.

If they were names for plays or situations in four square, I wonder what they would mean...
posted by ErWenn at 4:13 PM on February 20, 2006

Genesis: Start play, Exodus: Travel from square to square, Leviticus: Make up new rules. That's a stretch.

I was in elementary scholls in the early 80's--foursquare was for the coolest of the cool, mostly boys but some girls. This was before Michael Jordan, so I imagine a lot more kids are playing basketball these days. A friend of mine, who went to an elementary school only a few miles away, told me that foursquare was strictly for girls where he went. I'm just happy to see some kids are still playing--and please, no teaparties.
posted by bardic at 4:22 PM on February 20, 2006 [1 favorite]

*school*
posted by bardic at 4:29 PM on February 20, 2006

"elementary scholls" is screaming for a podiatry snark, but alas I shall refrain. Fun post!
posted by shoepal at 6:43 PM on February 20, 2006

wow!

We played foursquare at primary (elementary?) school in Australia in the 90's, but it was mainly the girls and we didn't do variations: it was just kingpin.
posted by jacalata at 7:23 PM on February 20, 2006

Four Square was seriously the best recess game ever. In what other game did you get to constanly redefine the rules?

Ha! I can remember how we kept revising rules at my school playground to make the game more exciting for us. One day our principal walked up and introduced us to the rules of the game from his childhood and suddenly the entire game changed for all of us. Only now do I realize that changing the rules was part of the game.

Great post!
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 7:40 PM on February 20, 2006

I always remembered four square being more or less fun depending on the number of fences near by and how close they were. If the four square court (for lack of a better name) was in the middle of an open field, at the top of a hill, you were screwed the minute you messed up.
posted by Suparnova at 7:45 PM on February 20, 2006

I could have included a link for Dragon Poker if I'd remembered. Same idea in a fantasy lit context.
posted by bardic at 8:22 PM on February 20, 2006

wow, does that bring back some memories. i'm kinda surprised to hear kids are still playing it!
posted by geeky at 7:48 AM on February 21, 2006

I ruled this game in grade school during lunch break, mostly because I was too short for tetherball. Then I'd go home and play against the wall in my parent's car port for practice.

WTF? No Bus Stops? Not when I'm server, but definately no Bubbles/Holdies. Babies are cool, Duck Quacks are out. Perhaps it's time to devise the Extreme 4Square League in SF.
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 4:56 PM on February 21, 2006