Counting-out game
Encyclopedia
A counting-out game is a simple game
intended to select a person to be "it", often for the purpose of playing another game. These games usually require no materials, and are played with spoken words or hand gestures.
Many such games involve one person pointing at each participant in a circle of players while reciting a rhyme
. A new person is pointed at as each word is said. The player who is selected at the conclusion of the rhyme is "it" or "out". In an alternate version, the circle of players may each put two feet in and at the conclusion of the rhyme, that player removes one foot and the rhyme starts over with the next person. In this case, the first player that has both feet removed is "it" or "out". These are often accepted as random selections because the number of words has not been calculated beforehand, so the result is unknown right up until someone is selected.
A variant of counting-out game, known as Josephus problem
, represents a famous theoretical problem in mathematics
and computer science
.
and Odd or Even require no materials and are played using hand gestures, although with the former it is possible for a player to win or lose through skill rather than luck. Coin flipping
and drawing straws
are fair methods of randomly determining a player. Bizz Buzz is a spoken word game where if a player slips up and speaks a word out of sequence, they are eliminated.
This was used in the Marx Brothers
film Duck Soup.
Game
A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...
intended to select a person to be "it", often for the purpose of playing another game. These games usually require no materials, and are played with spoken words or hand gestures.
Many such games involve one person pointing at each participant in a circle of players while reciting a rhyme
Rhyme
A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds in two or more words and is most often used in poetry and songs. The word "rhyme" may also refer to a short poem, such as a rhyming couplet or other brief rhyming poem such as nursery rhymes.-Etymology:...
. A new person is pointed at as each word is said. The player who is selected at the conclusion of the rhyme is "it" or "out". In an alternate version, the circle of players may each put two feet in and at the conclusion of the rhyme, that player removes one foot and the rhyme starts over with the next person. In this case, the first player that has both feet removed is "it" or "out". These are often accepted as random selections because the number of words has not been calculated beforehand, so the result is unknown right up until someone is selected.
A variant of counting-out game, known as Josephus problem
Josephus problem
In computer science and mathematics, the Josephus Problem is a theoretical problem related to a certain counting-out game....
, represents a famous theoretical problem in mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
and computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
.
Counting-out games
Several simple games can be played to select one person from a group, either as a straightforward winner, or as someone who is eliminated. Rock, Paper, ScissorsRock, Paper, Scissors
Rock-paper-scissors is a hand game played by two people. The game is also known as roshambo, or another ordering of the three items ....
and Odd or Even require no materials and are played using hand gestures, although with the former it is possible for a player to win or lose through skill rather than luck. Coin flipping
Coin flipping
Coin flipping or coin tossing or heads or tails is the practice of throwing a coin in the air to choose between two alternatives, sometimes to resolve a dispute between two parties...
and drawing straws
Drawing straws
Drawing straws is a selection method that is used by a group to choose one member of the group to perform a task after none has volunteered for it...
are fair methods of randomly determining a player. Bizz Buzz is a spoken word game where if a player slips up and speaks a word out of sequence, they are eliminated.
Common rhymes
(These rhymes may have many local or regional variants.)- Eeny, meeny, miny, moeEeny, meeny, miny, moe"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe", which can be spelled a number of ways, is a children's counting rhyme, used to select a person to be "it" for games and similar purposes such as counting out a child that has to be stood down from a group of children as part of a playground game...
- Duck, duck, gooseDuck, duck, gooseDuck, Duck, Goose or Duck, Duck, Gray Duck is a traditional children's game often first learned in pre-school or kindergarten then later adapted on the playground for early elementary students...
- Tinker, TailorTinker, Tailor"Tinker Tailor" is a counting game, nursery rhyme and fortune telling song traditionally played in England, that can be used to count cherry stones, buttons, daisy petals and other items...
- Traditionally played in England
- Ip dipIp dipIp dip is a rhythmic rhyming game with many variations, the purpose of which is to select an individual from a group, for instance to choose the starting player of a game...
- Cape nane nú, used in ChileChileChile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
- Cape nane nú
- Ene tene tú
- Saliste tú
- En el nombre de Je-sús.
- Tarzan, Tarzan
- Tarzan, Tarzan
- In a tree.
- How many gallons did he pee?
- Whose shoe is the dirty shoe - everyone stands in a closed circle and stick one foot out in front of them, the shoes are pointed out in turns as the rhyme is sung:
- Whose shoe is the dirty shoe
- Please go out and wash your dirty shoe
- And come back to school
- By Monday morning
- One potato, two potato - players may start with both fists (to resemble potatoes) in, so they have to be picked twice to be out.
- One potato, two potato
- Three potato, four,
- Five potato, six potato,
- Seven potato, more,
- One big bad spud.
- Ink-a-Dinkado (Last two lines added if the chooser happens to like the person singled out by the "stink")
- Ink-a-Dinkado
- A bottle of ink
- Cork fell out and you stink
- My mother told me to pick the very best one and
- You are not it
- Bubblegum, Bubblegum
- Bubblegum, bubblegum,
- In a dish,
- How many pieces,
- Do you wish?
- Harum, scare'em
- One spot, two spot, zig-zagZigzagA zigzag is a pattern made up of small corners at variable angles, though constant within the zigzag, tracing a path between two parallel lines; it can be described as both jagged and fairly regular....
, tear. - Pop-die, pennygot, tennyum, tear.
- Harum, scare'em, rip'em, tear'em.
- Tay, taw, toe.
This was used in the Marx Brothers
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...
film Duck Soup.
- Superman
- Superman, Superman fly away
- Superman, Superman save the day
- Inky Binky Bonky
- Inky Binky Bonky,
- Daddy had a donkey,
- Donkey died, daddy cried,
- Inky Binky Bonky.
- Skunk in the barnyard
- Skunk in the barnyard, PUP.U.P.U. is a stylized abbreviation that stands for the sound of disgust that one might say upon smelling something rotten. Also, when pronounced with a long "oo" it sounds like "poo", a slang term for feces, which has a disgusting smell...
! - He laid a big one, on you!
- Horses in a Stable
- [Number] horses in a stable,
- One jumps out
- My Mother and Your Mother
- My mother and your mother were washing clothes,
- My mother punched your mother right in the nose.
- What color was her blood?
- Tarzan the jungle-man,
- swinging from a rubber-band,
- slips, falls, breaks his butt,
- What colour was his blood?
- Cindereller
- Cindereller, dressed in yeller
- Went upstairs to kiss her feller
- Made a mistake and kissed a snake
- Came downstairs with a bellyache
- How many doctors did it take?
- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8!
- Scout, Scout
- Scout, Scout
- You're out
- Pizza Pie—Players hold their hands out like two slices of pizza, similar to "One Potato, Two Potato":
- Pizza pizza pizza pie,
- If you eat it you will die,
- If you die I will cry,
- Pizza pizza pizza pie.
- Engine, engine #9
- Engine, engine #9
- Going down Chicago line
- If the train falls off the track,
- Do you want your money back?)
- And you are it!
- Ink In the bottle
- Ink in the bottle, you stink!
- Where did it come from? From you!
- When did it happen? Last night!
- How did it feel? Just right!
- Tea Cup Saucer Out