Back in
Grade 4 or so, we used to
play a
variation of the
game at
recess: instead of having
teams, one person was
It and thus was pitted against everybody else. As in classic
tag,
It could pass the torch to another person by
touching them, and could then
run like hell for the
Base (we used a
pole). Whoever was
It when the
last person made it to the
Base would have to start the next
round by
counting while everyone ran and
hid again.
An extra rule we used was the formation of human chains. A person could be home free simply by touching the hand of someone who was touching the Base. Another person could then touch that person's hand, and so on. I'm sure it looked interesting from afar once it got down to the last person, especially since we played with at least a dozen kids at a time.
Of course, there were always lurkers, who would cleverly wait near the Base until It was through counting, and immediately make a dash for it. Lurking, however, was considered extremely cheap-ass, and was justly frowned upon. Make up your own consequences.