I'm gonna get you and put you in a bag!

That's what the person who is "it" says.

Then we say: "who you gonna get, you ugly witch?" this person can be a boy or girl, but they are still a witch. Then they name their target in a very dramatic way. Now, just because you are not named doesn't mean you're not in danger. This game is played on the maze of tires (my school's playground was made of what I now see was recycled plywood and tires, with actual wood 4x4s making the basis of the structure. Off to the side there was this circle of tires, their holes covered with ply. Our game's setting). If you step or fall or are pushed off the tires onto the sand, you are frozen until the next round. The only way to be unfrozen is if the person the witch named tags you.

Confusing, huh? The rules of the witch game came back to me as I typed them. Where did the game come from? We made it up! Probably 3rd or 4th grade, hence the crazy complications of a simple game of tag. Where did all the call-and-response come from? Psh, I have no idea. But it was fun!

We also played "American gladiators" lol. We would stand on the platforms in front of the monkey bars, one on each side, swing out until we met each other, and then kick each other until one person fell off. My strategy was to move slowly so I didn't accidentally knock myself off, or wrap my legs around my apponent and twist. Needless to say there were tons of kids with the wind knocked out of them. We wouldn't always land on our feet, more than likely flat on our backs. But we'd get up and do it again! Crazy.

What else? Ooh a fun one was to, after it rained, stand on the big, flat slide, and slide down as if we were surfing. Then at the last second, jump and avoid the massive puddle at the bottom. The less co-ordinated would be muddy from toe to knee.

And lastly, we had a game called soda pop. We had another slide- 3 total, actually- which was like a tube. Maybe about 25 ft long. Someone would sit at the bottom. They were the cap. Then about 10 kids would slide down and fill up the tube, until the "cap" couldn't take the pressure any more, then they'd stand up and we'd all spill out of the tube, laughing and tangled. That one was the best.

One summer, I think before 4th or 5th grade, someone burnt down our shabby playground. A few months later they rebuilt it, using colorful plastic that was supposed to be safer and more fun. They even replaced the sand with woodchips. We missed our old playground. This one was cool but there were no things to jump off. Our tire maze was gone, even though it didn't burn. Only 1 slide? And it gave us crazy static shock... A few years ago one of my cousins was showing me pics of her kids playing on a wooden structure. "Where's this?" "high horizons." it was just like the one I played on! They'd brought it back, for some reason or another. It looked kind of the same, and so much fun! I wanted to go visit and maybe sit on the swings, but I didn't get the chance.

Stace, as much fun as I had... Don't let the kids do the dangerous stuff we did. I think kids these days would crumble if they took a hard fall. Plus, parents are sue happy.
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