How to Play Hide and Seek

Stroehlein 1
Sean Stroehlein
Professor Craigan
10/22/12

How to Play Hide and Seek

Hide and seek is a fun game to play if you are a kid that loves to run around you’re your friends or even just a parent that loves to run around with your kids. Everyone who plays hide and seek loves the game, can always have the best time, and creates the best memories with the friends and family. Hide and seek requires very little to play and takes no time to set up. The first thing you need before you play is at least 2 people. The more you have the better time you will have, but I would suggest five to ten people for the best time. The next thing you need is a good place to play, when deciding where to play there are a few things to consider. The first thing to consider is how open the area is that you are playing in, because it is not going to be much fun to play in a field with no places to hide. You should plan to play in a house or a building with many rooms and lots of hiding spots to choose from. Another thing to consider is how loud the playing environment is, because you are going to have to be able to hear someone yell when they are ready to start. when picking a place you need to make sure to point out any areas that are off limits. These areas would consist of basement, attic, or a room with fragile things that could get broken. Stroehlein 2
This game is very simple to play and you will have the time of your life playing it. First you need to get all the players together and set ground rules for the game. These ground rules consisted of, where you can and can not go in the area of play like listed above. Next thing you need to establish is a safe word that everyone knows. This safe word will be used if the person who is seeking can not find the remaining people then he can yell it out to end the game. Now this next step is one of the hardest to do, figuring out who will is “it” first, meaning who will be seeking all the other players that are hiding. Some ways you can do this depends on the amount of people playing. If there are only two of you playing you could just flip a coin or a simple as playing rock, paper, scissors. If the game is being played with more than just a few players then you might have to draw straws, just a simple thing of eenie meenie miny mo, or any other way you can come up with that works too. After you figure out who is “it” that person closes his or her eyes, puts their head against a wall so there is not peaking, and begins counting out loud to a number from about 10 to 100. The number you choose should be based on how many people are playing the game and the distances to hiding spots. With only a few players you should only count to 10 or 20 so they do not get a lot of time to find a good hiding spot. In the case of 10 or more people playing you would probably have to count to a higher number based on the fact the hiding spots will be taken by more people. Now you are ready to start a game of hide and go seek. All of the players who are not "It" should run off and quietly hide from the player who is counting. There are a few concepts to think of while trying to find a place to hide. One is the type of hiding spot you want to hide in, such as in a cabinet or in a small area (size permitting). Another thing you should think of while you are trying to find a place to hide is where the Stroehlein 3 person who is “it” is most likely going to look; like in the case of hiding under a table, the “it” person is most likely going to find you first, but if you hide if you hide in the back of a closet they will most likely will not look there first. Once the player who is "It" has finished counting, they yell, "Ready or not, here I come!” letting everyone know that they have finished counting. By this time if you hear those words and you are not in a hiding spot yet, then that is your sign to find a hiding spot as soon as possible or you will be found pretty fast standing in the open.. At this point, the player who is "It" must try to find all of the other players who have hidden and does not have a time limit to do so, just until he gives up looking. The players who are hiding can move or switch hiding places as they please. This could use this as a strategically advantage. If someone who is hiding know a spot has already been checked their best bet is to try to sneak around without getting caught and hide in that spot, where there is not a good likelihood he will check that spot again for a while. The player who gets found first becomes "It" in the next round of the game, which means it is a good idea not to let other players see where you are hiding. If another person hiding sees where you hide they could purposely throw things to make noise where you are or if they are really sneaky they will make a deal if they are found first they will tell the seeker where your hiding spot is at.. If all the players could not be found the person who is it, then yells out the safe word and those players that are still hiding come out and the seeker has to be “it” again for loosing and a new round is started. Again if you are a parent and want to have a lot of fun with your children or you are just a kid and you want to play a new game with some of your friends try and play Hide and go seek. This game is fun for almost anyone who likes to run around having a Great time and making Stroehlein 4 fantastic memories that will make you laugh when you are older. Hide and go seek is one of the best childhood games you can have and if you play by the rules and do not cheat you will have a great time.