Game play

Duck on a Rock is a game

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...

 that combined tag and marksmanship. It is played by placing a somewhat large stone

Rock (geology)

In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic...

 (known as a "duck") upon a larger stone or a tree stump

Tree stump

After a tree has been cut and felled, the stump or tree stump is usually a small remaining portion of the trunk with the roots still in the ground. Stumps may show the age-defining rings of a tree. The study of these rings is known as dendrochronology....

. One player stays near the stone to guard it. The other players throw stones at the duck in an attempt to knock it off of the platform. Once it is knocked off, the throwers all rush to retrieve their stones. If a player is tagged before returning to the throwing line with his or her stone, they become the guard. The guard cannot tag anyone until he picks up a duck at his feet, nor can he chase anyone until he puts the original duck back up on its platform. Recent findings suggest basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

may have been influenced by this game.

Sources

• http://inquiry.net/outdoor/games/beard/duck_rock.htm
• http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2660882