Red Rover facts for kids

Kids playing Red Rover

Red Rover is a fun game played by children, often on playgrounds. It's also known by names like forcing the city gates or octopus tag. This game has been around for a long time, since the 1800s! It's believed to have started in the United Kingdom. From there, it became popular in countries like Australia, Canada, and the United States. You usually need about 10 or more players to have a good game of Red Rover.

How to Play Red Rover

The game is played between two teams. These teams stand in lines facing each other, usually about 30 feet apart. Imagine one team is the "East" team and the other is the "West" team.

To start, one team, let's say the "East" team, calls out a player from the other team. They do this by saying or singing, "Red rover, red rover, send [player's name] right over!"

Breaking the Chain

The player who was called then runs towards the "East" team's line. The goal is to break through their "chain." This chain is made by the players holding hands tightly together.

• If the player successfully breaks through the chain, they get to choose two players from the "East" team. Those two players then join the "West" team.
• If the player does not break the chain, they must join the "East" team.

After this, the "West" team takes their turn to call out a player from the "East" team. The game continues like this.

What Happens at the End

The game keeps going until only one player is left on a team. That last player gets one final chance to break through the other team's chain.

• If they succeed, they get to bring a player back to their team. This keeps the game going!
• If they don't succeed, the opposing team wins the game.

You need at least five people to play Red Rover, but it's much more fun with a bigger group!

Red Rover Around the World

Red Rover is played in many countries, and it has different names and sometimes slightly different rules!

• In Russia and other countries that were part of the former USSR, the game is known as "Ali Baba."
• In Hungary, it's called "adj, király, katonát!" which means "Send, o king, a soldier!"
• In Serbia, people call it "Јелечкиње, барјачкиње" (jelečkinje, barjačkinje).
• In Romania, the game is known as "Țara, țara vrem ostași," meaning "Country, country we want soldiers."
• In the Czech Republic, the game is called "král vysílá své vojsko" (the king sends out all his army). A cool difference here is that each team gets to choose which of their own members will try to break the other team's line, instead of the other team picking for them.

Images for kids

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  Red Rover: Intermediate stage. Game rules from 1945, written by Neva Leona Boyd. Taken from the Handbook of Recreational Games.