If you have ever been looking for a game that is suited for indoors and outdoors and doesn’t require any equipment, then today’s your lucky day. You can burn off a lot of energy and spend quality time with your friends, all in the same game. The following game is suited for all age groups, especially since there are hardly any rules involved, making it a lot easier for younger children to understand.
What do you need?
As I already mentioned in the introduction, there is no equipment required to play “Come with me or run away”. The only thing needed is a group of players, preferably a bigger group (more people make it more fun) and some energy, since there will be running involved.
How does it work?
Before starting the game, one player has to be selected to be the first one running. You then need to form a circle with the rest of the players. The selected player stands on the outside of the circle. The goal of the person standing on the outside of the circle is to get one of the seats inside the circle. He or she can only achieve that by racing one of the sitting players around the whole circle and successfully reaching their seat before they do. It is important to form the circle on the ground instead of sitting on chairs. There should be just enough space between the players to not touch each other and that everyone can easily stand up fast. More or less the only important rule in this game is that all the players forming the circle keep their head facing towards the middle of the circle, meaning no one is allowed to look up or behind themselves.
(To make the game instructions easier to read, we will call the player outside of the circle “Player O” and each player sitting in the circle “Player I”)
The player that is standing outside the circle, Player O, starts off the game by beginning to run around the circle. He or she then has to tap on the back or the shoulder of one of the players sitting in the circle, Player I, and either gives the command “Come with me” or “Run away”. Immediately after saying that, Player O continues running around the circle but this time as fast as possible, since Player O’s goal is to get a seat inside the circle. At the same time, Player I gets up and either runs in the same direction as Player O (“Come with me”) or runs in the opposite direction (“Run away”). Whoever reaches the empty seat first gets to stay there. The player who arrives last has to continue running around the circle and try to get a new seat in the circle.
This means that when Player O taps on the shoulder of Player I and says “Run away”, Player I gets up as fast as possible and runs in the opposite direction of Player O. If Player I arrives at the seat first, Player O has to continue running around and tap a new player on the back, again giving a command and racing to the now empty seat.
To put it simply, each player wants to be the first to arrive at the empty seat, with the player outside of the circle having the advantage of saying which direction Player I has to run to.
This game can go on for however long you want and can easily be played in different variations, so don’t be shy to add your own interpretations to it.
Have fun playing!