Red rover

Red Rover (also known as: Red Rover, Red Rover; Forcing the City Gates; Pom, Pom Pullaway; and Octopus Tag) is a game played primarily by children in which the players form two teams. Each team holds hands in a line, thus forming two parallel lines (or chains) facing each other. The game starts when the first team (usually the East or South team) calls out, "Red rover, red rover, send [name of player on opposite team] right over."

The immediate goal for the person called is to run to the other line and break the chain (formed by the linking of hands). If the person called fails to break the chain, this player joins the team which called "Red rover." However, if the player successfully breaks the chain, this player may take his/her pick of either of the two "links" broken by his/her successful jaunt. This unfortunate broken link then joins the team that had been called out. The other team then enjoys the opportunity and challenge of calling out "Red rover" for a player on the first team, and so on.

The ultimate goal for this game is for one long super-chain to be formed, thereby creating a symbiotic relationship amongst all the players. Ultimately, there are no losers in Red rover because a communal whole greater than the sum of its parts has been created, and some time has been spent in a collegial fashion amongst the diverse participants.

It should be noted that the east-west and north-south configurations are not hard and fast rules, so long as the participants are in agreement and form two lines appoximately parallel to one another. In fact, given the relative absence of compasses or similar tools among likely players (small children) or even the adults charged with supervising said play, the alignment of the teams could fall along any points of the compass without violating any known regulatory authority.

The distance between the two lines is also subject to variation, but tends to fall within about 30 feet.

"Red rover" was very popular into the 1970s, but with the invention of other forms of entertainment for children (deriving mainly from electronic devices such as television and video games), the game has declined in its popularity and is primarily played on school or playgrounds, where such modern devices are not present.

Origins

The origin of the name, Red Rover, and its usage in association with this game is not clear. Red Rover appears to have been used as a name for boats in the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1828 a steamboat called 'The Red Rover' was the first to service the Hatchie River.

In 1855, J. Fenimore Cooper, wrote a book called 'The Red Rover':

"...the lawless vagaries of the Red Rover himself, the pirate chief who glories in chaos and who orders his men 'All hands to mischief, ahoy!'"

On Christmas Eve 1862, Sisters of the Holy Cross, pioneers of the US Navy Nurse Corps, boarded the first hospital ship, The Red Rover, which aided the wounded soldiers of both sides during the American Civil War.

It is possible the name of the game derives either from the shuttling motion of a ship across a river, or, in the case of the nurses, from aid being given to both sides of a conflict.