Chase games are amongst the most universal of game types played by children all around the world, and so this type of game figures often in adult play memories. They are also an excellent example of how complex the Playlore of children can be, and an illustration of how detailed Playloric studies are.
The basic idea of a chase game is that someone (the ‘undesired role’) chases other people and, erm, catches them! But there’s more.
You might know these chase games by a particular name without realising that your term is only one of many geographically located names for this.
Just in English-speaking countries there are a whole host of words beginning with T, for example: Tig, Tiggy, Tag, Tug, Tock, Tick, Tip, Tib, Touch, and Touchie. And it doesn’t stop there with other common names including Dob, Dobby, Dobby on; and He, Het, Hit, Had, Hare, and the boring old Chasey.
Working out what term a person used in their own childhood can often narrow down where that person grew up.
There are also lots of examples of exceptions or more commonly ‘avoidances’ in chase games too, in other words things you can do to avoid being caught such as being off the ground, or touching a particular colour, standing on someone else’s shadow, or holding on to another person.
These forms of chase game have their own name and are seen as distinct games rather than just variations of ‘Chasey’. They also add another complication to working this out as sometimes (again geographically distinct) the Chase Term itself is sometimes a suffix and at other times a prefix.
Compare for example: ‘Off-Ground Tig’ with ‘Tigs off-Ground’ or ‘Tiggy off the Ground’. Get the term wrong in a local area and children will swear blind that they don’t know what the alternatives mean!
---------------------
What Chase Term can you remember using?
See also Truce Terms, Avoidances, and The Undesired Role (to come)
