Featured

Quadrant Ball

4 Way Dodgeball, quick, sneaky, and easily narrowed down to one winning team…

Start the game by dividing the space into 4 Equal Quadrants, using pylons, then you can start by dividing the group into 4 equal groups.

Here is where the game gets different.

It is 4-way dodgeball, but when you hit a member of the opposite team, that person joins your team. The more people that get hit the more players join that team. As the teams shrink, you close quadrants. As a quadrant closes the stakes get higher and soon the teams get bigger. The team with the most players is the winner.

The game can go rather fast, and the players are constantly switching sides. So being mindful of who is hitting who and getting strategic about who you target so that you can collect the most people the fastest

The Mods

Start with the dodgeballs along the wall, and all the players on the walls
Close the quadrants as the team members get below 5, instead of waiting for them to be picked off.
If someone is not being honest about getting hit, they must run a lap of the space before playing again.

Circle Dodgeball

Got a few kiddos that love to gang up and say, “Us vs Everyone Else” Oh I have heard this chant so many times in sports and it tends to make things competitive and leave little room for inclusion. Here is a game to switch it up and give everyone a little something. It’s called Circle Dodgeball.

This is a very fast version of dodgeball where no one is out. In this game, the goal is to get all the players in the centre of the gym as fast as you can.

When I set this game up, I create a good size circle in the middle of the space, with cones or using the lines in the gym. Then I select 2-3 people to start in the middle with all the dodgeballs I can find, their goal is to get everyone in the circle with them by hitting the other kids with the ball. I have everyone else run in the same direction along the walls of the gym. Leaving only 2 mats as “Safe Zones”. These Safe Zones are only active for each person for a set amount of time. You can have the group decide the time limit on the mats or you can choose. I tend to say 20-30 seconds.

Game Play

Create a Circle in the centre of the space with pylons
Set up the 2 gym mats or pylon boxes as “Safe Zones” on either side of the space with a time limit. (20-30 Seconds)
Select 2-3 kids to start in the middle of your circle with all the dodgeballs
Have the rest of the kids run along the walls of the gym in the same direction, trying to avoid getting hit with a dodgeball.
Kids in the middle throw the balls at the runners trying to hit them. If they hit them below the shoulders the runner now joins the middle and starts throwing the ball at the other runners.
Kids throwing are only allowed out of the circle to get a ball, they cannot throw that ball until they are standing inside the circle.
If there is a headshot, the kid that was hit switches places with the kid that hit them.
Last kiddos standing win and are in the middle for the next round

The Mods

Remove 1 or all the “Safe Zones”.
Teachers’ vs students (this is a love it or hate it option)
If a Runner catches the ball in their hands, the person throwing it becomes a runner.

Featured

MADBALL

Yes, this game is called Madball. I can not say as to why, either it’s the wacky rules, the highly competitive nature or you go mad trying to keep up with this style of Dodgeball game.

The best way I have found to play it is to set up as many Gym mats standing up as you can, spread them out so you have hiding places or ducking corners. The mats are up so players can hide, duck and avoid getting hit, making this a fun and sneaky game for everyone. This game goes WICKED fast. Players are out and in rapidly, dodgeballs are zooming through the air like snow in a blizzard. Be prepared to play and get involved, it is an amazingly fun game if you can keep up.

This is Everybody’s It Tag with Dodgeballs.

The Basic Rules:

You can hit anyone you want.
If you hit them they are out and need to sit down.
You can only get back up if the person that hit you with the dodgeball gets hit and sits down.
Or “Jailbreak” is called by the leader of the game.
There are NO teams
You can only hit from the shoulders down.
If you hit someone in the head, YOU ARE DOWN
You can only take 3 steps with the ball in your hand, then you have to throw it.
If you disagree about a hit/tag, you play Rock/Paper/Scissors winner gets their call.

There are no teams, there are no partners, it is everyone for themselves. You will be one of their main targets when you play. Yes, you should play.

I start with everyone on the walls of the room/gym and all the balls in the middle of the room. I go over the rules with the group, then step away from the dodgeballs and RUN! The minute you say GO, it becomes an intense, hilarious, and competitive game all at once.

The Mods

Sudden Death:

This is the hardest version as once the players are hit they are OUT. Like fully out. There is no return. The goal is to get a winner. I normally award the winner with a prize, bragging rights don’t always do it.

***I have allowed players to return if they complete a fitness challenge such as 5 jumping jacks, 5 push-ups, use your discretion taking in the physical ability of your players.

Alliances:

This allows for players to pick teams and work together in small groups. When you use this, try to make the alliances as fair as possible. There can be a lot of grief about this modification if the groupings are not fair. But it does allow for an upwards of 4 team groups playing at once.

Camoflauge

person wearing pink hooded jacket raising her hand in front of green mountain range during daytime

This a great outdoor game to play in a park or hiking with a group of kids.

The Game

1 person starts as the “IT” closes their eyes and counts to 20 holding their arms outstretched and their palms to the sky as everyone playing then hides. The “IT” person then calls out “Food and Water” with their eyes closed they begin counting again down from 20. At which time everyone playing runs from their hiding spots and has to tag the outstretched hands of the “IT”, and then run back into hiding.

Then the “IT” gets to open their eyes and look around, they can not move from their spot, but they can turn in a circle. If they see any of the other players they are to call either their name or the colour of their clothing. These players are now in jail.

Now the “IT” closes their eyes again and starts counting from 19, then the process repeats and then they count from 18, 17, 16… and so on till they either catch everyone, or they get to 0.

For the next round, the first person found gets to be the “IT” and the game can go on.

Modifications for Gyms, Indoors, and COVID friendly:

Instead of tagging the person’s hand have the kids run and tag a place or a wall when Food and Water are called.

Wombat

Let’s take one of the versions that is my MOST requested game to play when you have a group of people and no equipment.

This game is not mine, a friend of mine taught it to me and I couldn’t help but love it, it takes agility, skill, speed and a big element of sneaky. In this version of Everybody’s It Tag, you are only allowed to tag someone on the Shin/calf area. So that makes all other tag attempts null and void.

Best way I have found to teach this game is have everyone touch their knee, then have them touch their ankle on the same leg. (Yes this means a little goofy balancing act, but visuals help!) If you get tagged between your knee and your ankle, you are down.

The only way to get back into the game is if the person that Tagged you is tagged and sits down, then you can pop back up and start tagging all over again. Or you can use the “Jailbreak” rule

This has led to endless laughter and racing about, in fields and in large gymnasiums, often with no matter how large a crowd of people that play, there is always those few that just have to catch everyone.

I have started this game with as little as 5 kids and soon was playing with a crowd of almost 30.

**Jailbreak Rule: If the leader of the game calls out “JailBreak” than everyone is free to stand and the game play goes on.