Outdoor Games

A wide game is a kind of game played in a large area, such as a field, heathland or woodland, or a defined urban area. It is commonly played by Scouts, Girl Guides and other groups of young people. Common games include capture the flag and team variants of tag, or variants of field games like football, rugby, and ultimate Frisbee.

What's the time, Mr Wolf? (also known as What time is it, Mr Wolf?, Grandma's Footsteps, 1 2 3 Piano in Belgium and in the United States What time is it, Mr. Fox?) is a form of tag played in Australia, Belgium, Canada, the English-speaking Caribbean, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Welly wanging is a sport that originated in Britain in Upperthong, Holmfirth. Competitors are required to hurl a Wellington boot as far as possible within boundary lines, from a standing or running start. A variation requires participants to launch the welly from the end of their foot as if they were kicking off a pair of shoes. The high level of competition has led to precise, highly regulated rules for the sport. The sport is regulated and administered by the World Welly Wanging Association, based in Upperthong

A water fight is a type of mock combat using various water-dispensing devices to soak opponents. Everything from buckets to balloons to water guns and even cupped hands cradling water can be applied in a water fight. There are many different levels of game play used by those engaging in water fights, from quick, casual fights to long, objective-oriented-style water warfare campaigns, and tournament-style games. In most but not all cases, the common objective is to soak (spray with water) one's opponents while trying to remain dry. National Water Balloon Day resides on August 7th each year and was founded by Mary Whitnel and Melinda Patterson who began this movement in Murfreesboro, TN in the year 2015.

Tip-cat (also called cat, cat and dog, one-a-cat or piggy) is a pastime which consists of tapping a short billet of wood (usually no more than 3–6 inches) with a larger stick (similar to a baseball bat or broom handle); the shorter piece is tapered or sharpened on both ends so that it can be "tipped up" into the air when struck by the larger, at which point the player attempts to swing or hit it a distance with the larger stick while it is still in the air (similar to swinging at a pitch in baseball or cricket, etc.).

Tag (also known as it, tip you're it or tig , and many other names) is a playground game that involves one or more players chasing other players in an attempt to "tag" or touch them, usually with their hands. There are many variations; most forms have no teams, scores, or equipment. Usually when a person is tagged, the tagger says, "Tag, you're it".

Steal the Flingsock or Steal the Handkerchief is a traditional children's game most played in Europe. The game fits well to be directed by a teacher or an adult that takes care to give same chances to both teams and all players.

Statues, also called red light, green light (US) or grandmother's footsteps (UK), is a popular children's game, often played in Australia, Finland, Sweden, and the United States. How the game is played varies throughout different regions of the world.

Russian four square was started in the Soviet Union. Russian four square is a variation of the Russian game Квадрат (square).

Propataireachd - there were two games in Uist, Scotland called by this name.

Poohsticks is a sport first mentioned in The House at Pooh Corner, a Winnie-the-Pooh book by A. A. Milne. It is a simple sport which may be played on any bridge over running water; each player drops a stick on the upstream side of a bridge and the one whose stick first appears on the downstream side is the winner. The annual World Poohsticks Championships have been held at Day's Lock on the River Thames in the UK since 1984.

Pilolo is an outdoor game that is usually played among Ghanaian children. The literal English translation of the name is "time to search for".

Pig wrestling (also known as pig scramble and with the variants hog wrestling and greased pig catching) is a type of game sometimes played at agricultural shows such as state and county fairs, in which contestants, usually children or young adults, try to grab a slippery pig. In the most common version of the game, a team of four members chases a domestic pig around a fenced-off mud pit and attempts to place it in a barrel, in a race against the clock. In some events the pigs are greased with vegetable or mineral oil in order to make catching the pig more difficult.

A picnic game is a game played at an outdoor meal or picnic.

Pasola is a game played by the Western Sumbanese to celebrate the rice planting season.

A Nerf war is an activity involving Nerf Blasters or other foam-firing toy weapons. Nerf wars can be a wide range of games, from informal shootouts in offices and basements to well-organized outdoor battles with high-powered modified blasters. Since foam-firing guns are relatively safe and cheap, Nerf wars can include participants and battlefields otherwise unsuitable for airsoft and paintball.

Neppis is a competitive outdoor sport played in Finland, simulating race driving. It is played with small toy cars on sand.

Musical chairs is a game where a number of chairs one less than the number of players are arranged facing outward with the players standing in a circle just outside of that. Usually, music is played while the players in the circle walk in unison around the chairs. When the music stops, each player attempts to sit down in one of the chairs. The player who is left without a chair is eliminated from the game. One chair is then removed to ensure that there will always be one fewer chair than there are players. The music resumes and the cycle repeats until there is only one player left in the game, who is the winner.

Muckers, also known as ring toss (not to be confused with the ring toss carnival game) or circle horseshoes, is an outdoor game, commonly played at summer camps, in which players take turns throwing circular rings at a stick, standing about one foot high. It is a spin-off of Quoits and the popular horseshoes.

Kick the can (also known as 40 40, Pom Pom, Tip the can, and Can up Can Down) is a children's game related to tag, hide and seek, and capture the flag which can be played outdoors, with as few as three to as many as several dozen players. The game is one of skill, strategy, and stealth, as well as physical fitness.

The Idiotarod is a shopping cart race in which teams of five "idiots" tie themselves to a (sometimes modified) grocery store shopping cart and run through the streets of a major metropolitan area. The race usually features people in costumes and themed floats. The races are fun competitions where sabotage, costume, and presentation are rewarded. Sabotage, such as tripping competitors, throwing marbles or large obstacles in their paths, and the spreading of misinformation such as false route information, is common.

Hide-and-seek or hide-and-go-seek is a popular children's game in which any number of players conceal themselves in the environment, to be found by one or more seekers. The game is played by one player chosen (designated as being "it") closing their eyes and counting to a predetermined number (such as counting to 10, 20, or whatever number) while the other players hide. After reaching the number (such as reaching 10, 20, or whatever number), the player who is "it" attempts to say, "Ready or not, here I come!" and then to locate all concealed players.

The SKATE is a skateboarding game using rules based upon the H.O.R.S.E. game played by basketball players. SKATE was first played in the 1970s by vertical skateboarders Lance Mountain, Neil Blender and John Lucero, and was then adopted by street skaters in the 1980s. In January, 2003 Eric Koston's éS Game of SKATE a professional invitational event, was held, and was the first tournament-style, head-to-head format event of its kind. Not longer after, K5 Boardshop was the first organized amateur tournament for SKATE. The éS Game of SKATE tournament expanded globally in 2004 and has both professional and amateur divisions.

The game of Fugitive combines elements of a number of outdoor games such as capture the flag, cops and robbers, and Sharks and Minnows. In Fugitive, players divide into two teams, with each team playing the part either of the "fugitives" or of the "police". The cops are further divided into "runners", "drivers", and "riders."

Flag-rush is a game that was once played by the sophomore and freshman classes of Amherst College of Massachusetts. Its origins are from the Japanese game Botori.

Finnish skittles (aka Karelian skittles, outdoor skittles or kyykkä) is a centuries-old game of Karelian origin. The aim in Finnish skittles is to throw wooden skittle bats at skittles, trying to remove them from the play square using as few throws as possible. Skittles can be played with four-man teams, in pairs or as an individual game. Finnish skittles is one of the three skittles games played in the World Championships of Gorodki Sport. The other games include Classic Gorodki and Euro Gorodki.

Duck, duck, goose (sometimes called Duck, Duck, Gray Duck or Daisy in the Dell) is a traditional children's game often first learned in pre-school or kindergarten. The game may be later adapted on the playground for early elementary students. The object of this game is to walk in a circle, tapping on each player's head until one is finally chosen and he or she must chase the picker to avoid becoming the next picker.

CulverLand is a temporary artwork and functioning game in Culver City, California, United States, created by John Derevlany. It was funded by an arts grant from the City of Culver City, California, and installed as part of the 2010 Indiecade, the International Festival of Independent Games.

Capture the flag, commonly abbreviated as CTF, is a traditional outdoor game where two teams each have a flag (or other marker) and the object is to capture the other team's flag, located at the team's "base," and bring it safely back to their own base. Enemy players can be "tagged" by players in their home territory; these players are then, depending on the agreed rules, out of the game, members of the opposite team, sent back to their own territory, frozen in place until freed by a member of their own team, or "in jail."

Bunnock, also known as the Game of Bones, is a game that is thought to have been created by Russian soldiers to pass the time while stationed in northern Siberia during the early nineteenth century (although a 16th-century painting exists which may or may not show bunnock being played).

Bo-taoshi (Japanese: 棒倒し, Hepburn: bōtaoshi?, "pole bring-down"), is a capture-the-flag-like game, played on sports days at schools in Japan. The game played by cadets at the National Defense Academy of Japan traditionally on its anniversary is famous for its size, where in two teams of 150 individuals each vie for control of a single large pole. Each team is split into two groups of 75 attackers and 75 defenders. The defenders begin in a defensive orientation respective to their own pole, while the attackers assume position some measure away from the other team's pole. A team is victorious if it is able to lower the pole of the opposing team (which begins perpendicular to the ground) to a thirty-degree angle (respective to the ground), before the other team reaches this goal. Until a rule-change in 1973, the angle of victory was only forty-five degrees.

Birrguu Matya is claimed to be a traditional Australian Aboriginal game taught to children from a young age to develop skill, patience and lateral thinking for the purposes of sharpening their hunting skills in later life, however it appears to be similar or identical to a game played in Asia called Tapatan. Birrguu Matya is marketed as belonging to the cultural history of the Wiradjuri People who are considered the first inhabitants of the Bathurst district and have been living there for at least 40,000 years.

Ante Over (also known as Eenie Einie, Auntie Over, Andy Over, Anti-Over, Annie I Over, Ante-I-over, Annie Annie Over, Annie Over the Shanty, and other regional variants) is a children's game played in the United States, dating back to at least the late nineteenth century. The game requires a ball or any other small object and a barrier (usually a small gabled building) between the two teams over which the ball is thrown.

This page lists sports and games which have traditionally been played in rural areas. Predominantly they come from the British Isles.