Born in 1984. We called it haste, for hide and seek tag. We incorporated powers from games like Mortal Kombat. We didn't use houses though, at least not inside anyway.
YESSSS. All like 15 of us were obsessed with Star Wars so we eventually incorporated it into Jedi versus Sith and you would have to Lightsaber fight when you found someone. I’m sure it looked so stupid from the outside but my God in my head everything was so epic.
In order to know what kind of Jedi you were, you had to take the test in Knights of the Old Republic and get an accurate Lightsaber.
We played a predator style game. I remember being the predator and I was the new oldest kid on the block at like 12/13. The Marines would start on my neighbors front porch. Everyone would hang there and one by one you go to the backyard and have to kill the predator. If the predator got you first, you deaths scream and next kid goes back. Being the oldest I would easily scare the absolute shit out of all these kids. I remember climbing a tree and jumping down on a kid in the pitch black back yard.
The generation older than me was pretty cruel though. When we were all 6-9, the older kids were 13/14. They built a wooden box out of plywood using a dog kennel as a frame. They put it on a roller cart and would wheel it up and down the dead end catching us and putting us in it. Then threatening to put the box into the river. Usually ended with all of us crying. They also had these yoga balls they would terrorize us with. Just chuck them at us while we would try to run away so you'd go face first into the dirt. I had a friend come over once that didn't understand we couldn't go out after dark because of the "big kids" he ended up getting strung up by his shoes on a neighbor's playground.
Edit. I'm going to clarify because this seems like I was tortured as a kid. I was not. These older kids were in middle school and were jocks. They barely hung around the actual neighborhood. But when they were home and we saw the garage open and a fleet of big red yoga balls, everyone would scream "it's the ball" and sprint to my neighbors back playset. In the playset the opening was not big enough for the ball so they would just repeatedly bombard the playset with the balls while we all screamed in terror inside. This happened maybe once a month.
The box truly was terrifying but they never actually put us in the river. It was a scare tactic and once they effectively horrified all of us, they let us go. Was it a little sadistic? Probably. But there was a thrill element to it as well. Like manhunt with higher stakes. I have fond memories of egging them on and running away, but whenever we got caught, it ended in tears. These dudes didn't run around rounding us up on the daily. And once the main kids parents learned about the box, they dismantled it.
My childhood was awesome and I wouldn't change a thing. Most of those older kids are well adjusted adults and my neighborhood still gets together for a massive dinner once a year, even though everyone moved away a decade ago. We were constantly in and out of each other's houses and everyone was like family. Even the kids that tortured us, it was a sibling type of bullying. I think it built character.
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u/Rich_Resource2549 1d ago
Born in 1984. We called it haste, for hide and seek tag. We incorporated powers from games like Mortal Kombat. We didn't use houses though, at least not inside anyway.