Play Pickle

Pickle is a fun game that has nothing to do with the popular food. Rather, it has to do with the alternative meaning of pickle: when you find yourself in a difficult situation. In this game of running, throwing, and jumping, the more you find yourself in a pickle, the more fun you will have.

Steps

1. Find at least four people and a tennis ball. The more, the better. Why four? You need two ends and at least two runners. You could have one runner, but the game would become boring very quickly. If you can't find a tennis ball, another small ball that is not to hard will work fine.
2. Make two bases. You need two bases about thirty yards apart on the ground that multiple people can stand on. You can use a baseball plate, draw a circle with chalk, a sewer lid on the street, or anything else that works as a base.
3. Pick two ends. Pick two people to be the ends. Each end stands near, but not on, one of the bases. During the game, they will throw a tennis ball back and forth to each other, trying to get the runners to run.
4. Play. The rest of the people are the runners. The runners run back and forth between the bases while the ends try to hit them with the ball. When they are touching the base, the end cannot hit them. They can stay on a base as long as they want. In the beginning of the game, the runners stand in the middle of the playing area. The ends throw the ball back and forth three times, then play begins and the runners run to a base. They can leave the base whenever they want to go to the other base, or, go back to the original base. When a runner is hit or tagged by the ball off a base, they get an out. After three outs, the runner becomes an end. The end that recorded the final out becomes a runner.

Tips

• When a runner becomes an end, the runners that still have outs keep their outs.
• Have fun!
• If the runners aren't running, purposely throw the ball off target to your partner to encourage movement between the bases. Let them know beforehand though, or they will become upset. You can also throw the ball unnecessarily high in the air to encourage running.
• If the end that records the third out wants to remain an end, the other end can become a runner.
• To make the game more interesting, you can allow running in backyards if you are playing in the street. Make sure the owners don't mind though.
• There is no score in pickle, but if you want, you can keep track of the number of times you run back and forth between the bases as a runner and the number of outs you record as an end.

Warnings

• A tennis ball can hurt. As an end, don't whip the ball if you are close to a runner and don't aim for the head.

Things You'll Need

• Two bases
• Tennis Ball, Baseball, etc.
• At least four people

Related Articles

• Play Bombardment
• Play Tag
• Play Hacky Sack
• Play Ghost in the Graveyard
• Pickle

See also

• Play Ga Ga
• Play Kickball
• Play Wall Ball
• Play Paddleball
• Teach a Child to Throw, Catch and Hit a Ball
• Play Four Square
• Play Kickball for Adults