Items:
none
Directions:
For this game, two equal teams are required. The simplest form of the game is to take the huts of all the players and place them in a row in the middle of the ground, the two teams standing facing each other on either side of the row about twenty five yards from it. A Scoutmaster or Patrol Leader, standing at one end of the row, then calls a number, and each Scout having that number in his patrol runs to the row, and endeavors to obtain the hat nearest the Scoutmaster, and return to his place without being "tagged," or touched by the other Should he be tagged, he must replace the hat in the row. The game proceeds until one patrol has secured a complete set of hats. If there are more than two patrols the losers of the first game play another patrol, and so on till all have had a turn. As the two Scouts will probably reach the hat almost at the same time, each should pretend to seize it, and thus induce the other to move in one direction, while he seizes the hat and moves off briskly the other way. There is much value in securing a good start by means of a well executed feint, and great fun always results when two experts at pretence are opposed to each other No Scout should be called upon a second time until every other member of his patrol has been once called upon. The game may be varied in several ways, of which the two following are typical: Instead of aiming at the same bat, each Scout called upon may be required to find his own hat among all the hats placed in a heap, and, having found it, to attempt the double task of tagging his opponent and of returning to his own place without being tagged. Should he be successful when his number is called again, he has only to tag his opponent, and need not trouble about securing a hat, as he will, of course, already have got his own. When the two Scouts bearing the same number have secured hats, they inform the Scoutmaster and drop behind the line, taking no further part in the game. Other articles, e.g. scarves, lanyards, water bottles, may be put down, and any player having secured a hat would then aim at another article until his toilet was complete. The order in which articles are to be obtained must be definitely laid down by the Scoutmaster, when the game begins. In this variation, the patrol to which a Scout who first completes his kit wins the game.