Hide and seek
Three children playing "hide and seek" in a forest
Players	2 or more
Age range	no limit
Setup time	1 minute
Playing time	no limit
Random chance	Low
Skills required	Running, Hunting, Tracking, Hiding, Observation

Hide and seek (sometimes also called hide and go seek) is a popular variant of the game tag, in which one or more players search for the other players. Numerous variants of the game occur worldwide.

The game starts with all players in a central location. One player is given the designation of "it". There are two portions to the game: the hiding - all the players, except "it", locate a place in which to hide, and the seeking - "it" attempts to locate at least one of the players. The overall objective is to not be discovered by "it".

The hiding portion of the game begins with "it" using a method to avoid seeing the other players hiding, and counting out loud for a predetermined number of seconds, often with the aid of a word that takes about one second to say (e.g., "one-alligator, two-alligator . . ." or "one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi . . ."). Meanwhile other players locate a place to hide. When the counting is completed "it" usually announces the start of the seeking portion by shouting a phrase such as "Ready or not, here I come!". "It" then begins a search for the hiding players. In some variations players may move to other hiding spots while "it" isn't looking, and those who can remain hidden the longest are considered the best players. In a more active variant, the hidden players can attempt to make a dash for the "home base" (the central location at which "it" was counting) and are considered safe if they can touch the home base prior to being touched by "it". If they are thus caught before touching the base, they are considered "out". For safety reasons, this variant (often known as House Hide and Seek) is rarely attempted indoors, instead players must remain in their hiding places until discovered.

When all players have been found or caught, the next game's "it" is usually the first player to be found or tagged attempting to reach home base safely. Alternatively, the players can agree that the last person to be discovered or tagged will become the next "it". A derivative of the popular hide and seek is called 'sardines'. In this variant, only one person hides and the others must then find the person that's hiding and hide with them. The last person to find the group that's hiding is the loser.

References

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; from the article "Hide and seek". Image Credit.

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