Reading 1
Rules of Play, Ch 11-12
Homo Ludens, Ch 1
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Please address the questions below in your 350-word reading response:
1) List and explain 5 criteria that define play according to Huizinga.
2) Why is “play” important to society according to Huizinga. Give 2-3 examples. Do you agree/disagree?
3) Explain how the constituative rules and operational rules intersect beyond the formal rules to create a unique game identity. You can compare 2 popular games for your explanation.
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I wasn’t sure whether to post my response as a comment or as a post, so it is posted here: http://megankoss.wordpress.com/2007/09/03/reading-response-1/
Megan Koss
According to Huizinga play is:
Free. Play is voluntary. Players involved are never obligated to play a game have the freedom to remove themselves from it at their own will.
Not Real. Play as a system occurs outside the domain of the real world.
Repetitive. The rules involved with play are repetitive and can be replicated not only within the play itself, but as a function to repeat the play.
Limited. The ‘playing field’ in which games take place is closed, not only in the context of space, but in other contexts such as time.
Ordered. All play has an order to it. Often time this order is embodied in rules. These rules, regardless of their complexities, must be mutually understood by the participants.
Huizinga made a relationship between play and feast, and more broadly play and ritual. In his analysis of this relationship, Huizinga makes the observation that ritual complies with a definition of play. However he points out that play and ritual fundamentally differs if look at the consciousness of the participants. In other words, in ritual the participants are not required to realize it is not real. If is often the case in ritual where the participants mistake ritual for reality. It is here where Huizinga starts to imply the importance of play’s role in real life ritual practices, namely religion. Play in his words “leads us deep into the problem of the nature and origin of religious concepts (Huizinga, 25).”
I think Huizinga has a point here. On the surface religious practice seems to have its methodological roots sunk into play. Thinking about this religious ritual whose operational rules are practiced by its participants seem to also act upon an unknown set constituative rules. Looking at religion, play methodology seems to best fit well with its practices which fall outside of reason and evidence. Religious practice emphasizes blind acceptance and discourages the attempt to understand constituative rules. It is here where the study and understanding of play demonstrates a potential strategy to understand the practice of religious ritual.
To explain how the constituative rules and operational rules intersect beyond the formal rules to create a unique game identity, it is first important to define both terms:
Constituative rules are the rules that make up the fundamental logical and mathematical structure of a game. Compared to operational rules, constituative rules are abstract and can be thought as the back-end structure of a game.
Operational rules are the rules that the participants enact in order to play the game. It is essential that the players are aware of these rules to successfully play the game. Because of this, these rule often have a written version which accompanies the game.
Together, these two sets of rules help compose the formal identity of a game. Even though the (implicit) constituative structure of a game does not always mirror the (explicit) operational rules, the operational rules must somehow be mapped onto the constituative rules for the game to make sense. In my understanding of this relationship, the constituative rules behave much like the source code of a website, and the operational rules behave like the user interface. Because of the consistency of web page interfaces, the user readily knows how to navigate (operate) from one web page to another. Often the user does not know of or understand the underlying source code behind a web page, which is not usually important to web site navigation.
In the game Rock-Paper-Scissors, both the constituative and operational rules are pretty straight forward…and closely mirror each other. The operational rules in this game can be understood as:
The players substitute the three elements of Rock, Paper and Scissors with representative hand signals. These hand signals are delivered simultaneously by the players.
The Outcome of play is determined by the following:
Rock wins against Scissors
Scissors wins against Paper
Paper wins against Rock
Write the previous set of statements as a computer programmer would write it and figure out the probabilities of each of the actions and you quickly have your constituative rules.
Chess on the other hand, is a very complex game with very different constituative and operational rules. Even today in the game of chess we have computer scientists whose supercomputers are still trying to determine a more accurate set of constituative rules. In recent years, the machine has eclipsed top chess human in the understanding of these rules. This is demonstrated as computers such as Deep Blue have consistently defeated masters such as Garry Kasparov. Meanwhile the operational rules of chess are simple enough to be understood a 5-year-old. For example, pawn pieces can only behave in certain explicit ways while bishops behave in another way.
Checkers, a game whose constituative rules has been recently ’solved’ also has a much simpler set of operational rules.
1. Play is a word with a definition as long as we are tall. Pin pointing it’s meaning with any precision is a difficult task, but Huizinga tried to do so with a list of things play is and is not. Here is an incomplete listing of some of thoughts on the subject:
1. Play is a voluntary action
2. Play begins and ends
3. Play creates order
4. Play is chance
5. All play has rules that determine what holds in the temporary world.
6. Play builds communities
7. Play is a context for something or a representation of something.
8. Play allows us to move away from seriousness.
2. According to Johan Huizinga play is a significant function of society. There are a plethora of reasons this is true. In his discussions on play Huizinga shows that play is “a free activity standing quite consciously outside “ordinary” life as being “not serious”, but at the same time absorbing the player intensely and utterly. It is an activity connected with no material interest, and no profit can be gained by it. It proceeds within its own proper boundaries of time and space according to fixed rules and in an orderly manner. It promotes the formation of social grouping which tend to surround themselves with secrecy and to stress their difference from the common world by disguise or other means.” (13) Play becomes important to us because of these reasons. It means that in its own way it helps to form us into functioning beings in society. For lack of a better way to describe it, play is educational. Not in just the traditional way of making fact learning entertaining but also in a more psychological way in that through play we experience social building by learning to communicate with other and function successfully while interacting with those others. It shows also shows us boundaries. Not just the boundaries set by the rules of play but also the social boundaries of how to communicate with others and exist in the same spaces. Play is important and a significant function of society.
3. Constituative and operational rules intersect beyond formal rules to create a unique game identity by defining play in both an explicit way and logical way so that players have a complete understanding of the game and how it functions. An example of this is the game tag. In its operational rules it states that one person is “it” and that their task is to run after other players trying to tag them so that they may become the “it” person. Some of it’s constatuative rules would be that all players have equal chances of becoming “it”, there is no time limit to the game or to being “it”. The unstated rules mentioned with the stated rules create a complete understanding of the game that allows it to be played without great confusion. It also leaves it flexible enough to develop variations of it without confusing the easy rules. The prime example would be freeze tag. All the same rules apply with the simple addition that the tagged person has to freeze in place and not move until unfrozen by another player. The games of tag both function on the same rules with one small variance but become distinct games that are unique. –Anne
I posted it on my own blog. http://beyuu.net/blog/?p=14
B.
1) The first main characteristic of play is freedom; play is a choice, not something that is forced. It is voluntary. The second characteristic is the escape from being “ordinary” or “real”, as Huizinga puts it. Play takes on a reality all its own, however it can still be taken seriously, in its own way. That is to say, you can play with seriousness; the play can take on its own life. The third is that play is not bound to any real world, “material” interest; it takes on its own characteristics, and its own world. Fourth, play has boundaries of time and space. Play will begin and, inevitably, end within its own timeframe. Fifth, it promotes the formation of social groups which tend to shroud and differentiate themselves from the outer world.
2) Play is important because it allows us to express ourselves, and provides vital biological needs, such as venting excess energy, and the relaxation that comes afterwards.
3) While operational rules are the literal rules- the ones you would write into an instruction manual- constituative rules are abstract; more mathematical, and logical, according to Zimmerman and Salen. I don’t think I fully understand how these two intersect to create a unique identity; I don’t quite fully understand how the constituative rules work, or how one defines them. It could create a unique identity by the way it forces you to play a game, or the boundaries it sets, such as with the tic-tac-toe and 3-15 game. The main difference between them is that one is played with X’s and O’s, and the other with numbers, but the underlying math and rules are pretty much the same. Perhaps this is the intersection? I could be completely off here though. It is kind of late after all, so maybe I’m not thinking clearly enough.
-Russ.
1. Huizinga says that:
All Play is a volunary activity, meaning that play cannot be forced upon someone and is in fact a freedom.
All play is not ordinary or “real”. Play occurs outside the real world.
All play is repetitive. Because of rules involved play can be repeated time after time.
All play is Limited. Play is limited to a certain time and place.
All play has rules. Play has rules, whether they be defined operational rules, or simply implicit rules.
2. Huizinga writes that play is important in society because many acts within societys can be consrued as play. He gives the examples of rituals and feasts.
Both of these things are both considered to be adult play instead of play performed by children. Rituals fall under several of the criteria that Huizinga defines as play, however the difference between ritual and play is that when someone is playing, they can realize that what they are doing is not real. Huizinga goes on to say that he things religions have some origin in play.This begins to make some sense. When you observe some of the acts performed in religions some look as tho they could be play. Play happens in many different acts of society. Many different things in society fit into the different criteria that Huizinga uses to define play. Huizinga says that when society does some things they do them in a serious manner, but play could be done in a serious way.
3. Operational and constituative rules help to define how a game should be played. The operational rules define the laws eforced upon a game while the constituative rules define the mathematical and logical reasoning behind a game.Together these two forms of rules help to create unique different games. All games between simple games like tic tac toe, and complicated games such as chess, use both sets of rules. In tic tac toe if one were to simply randomly place their mark on the board, they wouldnt be very successful, however they would follow the operational rules of the game. Using the constatuative rules to determine where they should place their mark will greatly increase the likelyhood of victory. Chess is much more complicated in these terms, however it is still the same basic principle. Using constatuative rules to determine which piece to move and where to move it to helps one devise a strategy to be victorious. Alone these two forms of rules help to create a game, but when the two are put together they make the game much more unique from other similar games.
-Scott W.
http://jakeposluszny.wordpress.com/2007/09/06/reading-response-1/
Play as defined by Huizinga has the qualities of being voluntary, Not of the scope or frame of reference of real life, exists within definable and specific boundaries, is structured or ordered, and has an uncertain outcome (tension as he says). Play is voluntary because the players involved make an active free-willed choice to participate and regardless of whether or not they then become bound by rules governing their actions (they do); they initially had the choice whether or not to become part of this micro-reality. This microcosm exists within but apart from what is accepted to be “Real Life”. This brings in the idea of the magic circle and is a tie-in to the similarities between play and ritual. The rules in this make-believe world do not have to be the same as those that are followed outside, and in fact, as usually not. This brings us to the third point. Even though this microcosm follows rules unique to itself, there are rules. Rules give order and structure to the game, without which we may still have play but certainly not a game. The last point is that these games have an obtainable endpoint or end situation that is a competition or tenseness. This is represented by the point that games have uncertain outcomes. Make the outcome always known and the game fails to be a game by not being “Fun”, a problematic term in that its definition tends to be circular, even though it is probably biological. I would probably look to analysis of brain pleasure center activity levels during “play”, and fully expect to find a correlation of activity there to acts we call “fun”.
Huizinga then delves into the similarities between ritual and play, eventually settling specifically on religious ceremony/ritual to show how play benefits society. Through this medium the effects on society are well documented through time. People are more at ease and are given purpose through their religion. They become less fearful of the unknown and more productive. The structure nature of games promotes order and structure. Without these qualities one could image that society might fall into true anarchy, which while not inherently a bad system, is not s system that would work for long in large groups, given human nature. Games further promote adherence to a set of rules and therefore lay the groundwork for the following of laws. Laws govern and frequently define society and allow for a means by which to keep the honest people honest.
I agree that Play is important to society. I also agree that the tension element can produce play that is less enjoyable for a while but still play. Some children’s games are really serious to them. I do not, however, place religious ritual in the same realms as game. Some games can be ritualistic, but they still exist within a microcosm that is presumed to be not part of the “real” world. Religious ritual is not bourn of play, however. For those that believe in the systems employed, they are very real and very much a part of the real world and daily life. For those enacting the rituals, they are performers and they are perhaps involved in actions that seem to share game-like qualities from the outside, however, since they represent to the believe a necessity; a means of ensuring survival, they cannot be considered play. I believe his assessment of these to be based purely from a scientific mindset that was used to rejecting such schizotypal elements as “play”, when, in fact, they are work since they constitute the belief they are necessary and therefore break one of his own criteria for it to be a game; Voluntary.
Constitutive and Operational rules frequently intersect beyond the formal rules of a game, and he says they work in conjunction to create the formal meaning and uniqueness of a game. In Mancala the interaction between these two sets of rules makes the game mancala and not chess. The shape of the board and alignment are stated in the operational rules as well as how many pieces there are and how they are arranged. Underlying the fact that each player arranges 4 pieces in each pot on the board and that play ends when one side clears their pieces with the winner being the one with the most pieces, is the math that everyone begins with a score of zero and an even number of pieces arrayed on a 2×6 grid. There is further no inherent meaning in the color or shape of the pieces. In chess, however, the color and shape of the piece govern what side it is on and how it can move.
1) List and explain 5 criteria that define play according to Huizinga.
Play is voluntary. Possibly the most crucial element of play is the fact that it is a voluntary action. It lies beyond the parameters of human needs and exists only to satisfy our desire for entertainment.
Play is limited. It exists entirely within its own defined parameters of space and time. In this, play creates a naturally desired sense of order.
Play is not real. There is a clear distinction between play and real life. This is born of the previous two points of it being voluntary and limited. Play should not affect life outside of itself, nor should it be affected by outside forces.
Play is repeatable. Given play’s self-contained nature, it is distinguishable as an event to be recalled and repeated.
Play is tense. Without chance, play is meaningless. The potential succeed in order to end tension and uncertainty must exist.
2) Why is “play” important to society according to Huizinga. Give 2-3 examples. Do you agree/disagree?
Huizinga states that play is an interlude to our daily lives, and becomes a fixture of relaxation. He also compares play to ritual, an obvious important societal element, as both exist within a “sacred sphere.” It’s here that Huizinga starts running around in circles. While one of play’s most vital criteria is its voluntary nature, he concludes that play is necessary as both a cultural function and as an “integral part of life in general.” Though he acknowledges this contradiction, I do not find his explanation of play being outside the realm of biological needs to be particularly satisfying if it’s going to be counted amongst cultural necessities.
3) Explain how the constituative rules and operational rules intersect beyond the formal rules to create a unique game identity. You can compare 2 popular games for your explanation.
While constituative and operational rules certainly exist outside of one another and are frequently far removed, it is their intersection that births a unique game into being. Take Tic-Tac-Toe and Three-to-Fifteen, for example. The constituative rules for both games are identical. In Three-to-Fifteen, the operational rules are very straight forward in that the mathematical system behind it is explicitly employed to play the game. In Tic-Tac-Toe, however, the game can be played without the players ever being aware of it correlating to a mathematical system. So it becomes quite plain to see that It is where the underlying logic crosses paths with operational rules that each game is uniquely defined.
-Angel
Just to clarify, the blog’s time offset is apparently not set, and I did miraculously get this in on time.
1. 1. Johan Huizinga states that play is a voluntary activity(freedom) and that everyone has a choice on how to interact otherwise its not play.
2. Play is not ordinary or real. Its your minds ability to explore and you get to pick the pieces to fill in the puzzle.
3. Play always has a start and finish. Play can go on for as long as you like but it will always come to and end.
4. Play can be repetitive, playing the same game over and over without any hesitation to change.
5. Play holds order. People follow rules when they are playing and know one thinks to break these rules (must of the time).
2. Johan Huizinga says that feast and play are very close and they proclaim to be a standstill to ordinary life. People can get caught up in rituals and sometimes mistake them for being real. This is what makes up society by dividing the believers and non-believers. I believe with what Huizinga has to say since rituals are most of the time something you have to take part in they don’t fit into the category of play by being mandatory.
3. Constitutive rules are the mathematical and formal parts of a game which actually make it work. Operational rules are the rules given to players of a game so they understand how to play. These to rules defy what makes up a game. Take a look at a deck of cards, you can play a million different kinds of games with them, but each game has its own set of rules to make it stand out in its own way. Poker is one of the most popular games to play with a deck of cards now compare that to the game Go Fish. Both are two totally different games but both use the same underlying rules to defy them.
1) List and explain 5 criteria that define play according to Huizinga.
Free (voluntary) - An activity that is voluntarily carried out by its participants. Just as in a game players enter and leave at their own discretion.
Not “ordinary” or “real” life- “It is rather a stepping out of “real” life into a temporary sphere of activity with a disposition all of its own (Huizinga, 8).”
Limited (temporary) - “It is “played out” within certain limits of time and place (Huizinga, 9).”
Has Rules- “They determine what “holds” in the temporary world circumscribed by play. The rules of a game are absolutely binding and allow no doubt (Huizinga, 11).”
Non-material- “It is an activity connected with no material interest, and no profit can be gained by it (Huizinga, 13).”
2) Why is “play” important to society according to Huizinga. Give 2-3 examples. Do you agree/disagree?
Huizinga describes many ways play is important to society. Some are:
Play is important to society because it is a temporary activity that provides an interlude to daily life. It is a “regularly recurring relaxation” and is “an integral part of life in general” it is so completely interwoven within our lives that it becomes necessary as a life function. In society play is necessary because of the meaning and significance (values, spiritual, and social associations) as a cultural function. It serves cultures communal ideals. I agree with Huizinga based on his quotation that, “As a sacred activity play naturally contributes to the well-being of the group, but in quite another way and by other means than the acquisition of the necessities of life. Play is memorized, transmitted, and becomes an important tradition.
From Huizinga 14, play is also important because it has served continuing prosperity within the real world even after its end. It has been manifested in a more mental sense within sacred performances in archaic culture. Symbolic events which are inactual convince people to a higher order of things than in which they live. In this sacred sense I agree with Huizinga that play is important to society because it serves a religious purpose in the outside world after it has taken place.
3)Explain how the constituative rules and operational rules intersect beyond the formal rules to create a unique game identity. You can compare 2 popular games for your explanation.
Operational rules describe the how to play the game successfully and often come in the form of the instructions you would read for a game. They are concrete and tell you exactly what you need to do. The constituative rules are the underlying logic and mathematics involved in the game. These rules are hardly ever stated in an operational set of game instructions because they are not of much use in describing what specific action players should take in the game. They relate because you can use the different constituative rules to invent new sets of operational rules. Changing constituative rules will change how the operational rules work and therefore change the experience of the game by the player. This is just one of the ways to redesign a game.
Ashley Rose
Five criteria that define play according to Huizinga include:
1) It is different from ordinary or real life. Play is outside our ordinary “9 to 5” lifestyle of going to work to make a living.
2) It’s not serious. Games are meant to be played for fun and enjoyment and if they were not so, then it would not be played.
3) It absorbs the player. If it wasn’t absorbing, a player would grow tired of it. The game would become tedious and lose its enjoyment.
4) It has no profit. There is only satisfaction of winning to be won by a player and no material or profit is won in the end.
5) It takes place in its own boundaries of time and space. Play begins and ends at certain moments. Players can create temporary worlds within the real world.
Play is important to society according to Huizinga because all basic aspects of society are built or permeated with play. For example, in language, giving expression to life creates a second world. In creating a language, there is a play between mind and matter. A second example is Myth. Man is trying to make sense of what is happening in his own world by creating another that explains phenomena that happens. I can’t say I agree or disagree by reading these short statements by Huizinga. I would guess I’m leaning towards disagreeing because his dinfinition of play does not match up to what man was doing when creating language or myth. (i.e. no profit, different from ordinary life, not being serious)
Operational rules help a player to interact with the board. If a formal rule said “move as many spaces as the dice” one might not know how to acquire a number on the dice. Does one roll it, throw it against the wall, or spin it? By specifying a “rolling” technique, a player can now interact with the dice in a fair manner. Constitutive rules are not in a rule book, but rather is a logic that is created between player and game. By putting these two together, players can create strategies to help them win the game. Having different strategies for different games allows a unique identity of a game. In Battleship, players are allowed to ask one space per turn to find an opponents ship. On the other hand, there are over 100 spaces to choose from. By creating a unique strategy of one’s own, one can feel like they are a great commander of the battle.
“For the purpose of game design, it is important to consider in what ways games make use of rules.” After reading this section from Rules of Play, it was interesting to think about how designers do come up with rules; especially unique rules to games that seem all too simple. Like in the game Sorry, instead of rolling dice to move a piece along, a player must first draw a card and then follow the directions on the card. It had moved from the formal ‘roll the dice and move that amount’ rule that common games have.
Bernard DeKoven stated that “I consider a game to be something that provides us with a common goal, the achievement of which has no bearing on anything that is outside the game.” In other words, people usually play to win or beat the other team or player and winning in the process. I agree with this statement even if the means of winning from team to team or player to player is different. For example, in hide-n-go-seek, winning can be defined differently from both teams. Winning can mean not getting caught, an winning can mean catching people. The object of the game is different from the goal of the game. (i.e. winning)
(sorry i did not post this yesterday, I sent you my response via e-mail so I figure I already got credit.)
plus the time on the responses are off by 4 hours (it’s 8:48 right now and it’s posting 12:4
Ashley
Katerina
1.
- All play is voluntary and free.
- Play is not “ordinary” or “real” life. It comes from the imagination and involves pretending.
-Play is repetitive. The same games can be played over and over at different intervals, such as chess.
-Play creates order and is limited. It has boundaries such as a playground, the gameboard, a field etc. It has rules that have to be followed or else the play is ruined.
-Play has tension. The tension is the competitiveness, the desire to win. Play tests ones skills and abilities.
2. According to Huizinga in society play can take the form ritual and ceremony. In a ritual or ceremony one can find the elements of play. It takes place outside everyday life and involves pretending and imagining in the form of dressing up and masks. However ritual play is more serious then regular play and can play an important role in society. One of the examples Huizinga gives are rituals that are preformed as rites of passage into adulthood or rituals meant to worship and please the gods. These types of rituals are important to societies and their beliefs and are a way of bringing communities together. Huizinga say that even after a ceremony is over it “continues to shed its radiance on the ordinary world outside, a wholesome influence working security, order and prosperity for the whole community”.
3. There are many games that can have similar formal identities, where at a very basic lvl their constitutive rules and operational rules a similar. Such as in many board games, where u have to move across a path like Candyland and Life and usually something like dice or a spinner is used to determine the amount of space the player moves. Or in a game like Monopoly and Risk the player basically wants to gain as much territory as possible but the games are very different from each other because of the other elementals involved that are determined by the operational or constitutive rules. Also in card games where the items/deck used to play is the same and the cards almost always have the same values, yet different card games have different rules and ways of playing that give it an identity unique from its formal identity.
Formal characteristics of Play:
Play, according to Huizinga, should be voluntary wherein players have freedom and make choices to participate and abide by the rules, structures or pretense of the play. if forced, it is no longer a fun activity, no longer a play. Huizinga considers play as ’stepping out of real life’ into a ‘temporary sphere of activity with a disposition of its own’. While the pretending for fun seems to be opposite in relation to ’seriousness’, He states that in fact, the pretense aspect of play in fact turn into seriousness and seriousness comes into play in the activity. This weaving of the two, he states is how play becomes interwoven with daily life of relaxation, social festivals and rituals, communal ideals and thus becomes a subset of the culture itself. Next, Huizinga points out secludedness and limitedness of plays: ‘it is played out within certain limits of time and place’, ‘it plays itself to an end’. He asserts that play creates order, an orderly form that is ‘beautiful’ and captivating’, a structure wherein certain tension in the form of uncertainty is created so that there is a striving attempt to reach a resolution. At the same time, he insists that a play should not have any material interest or profit. Rules, according to Huizinga is an aspect that holds the play together, creates a structural framework to house illusion - an absolute necessity for a play to exist.
Play & Society:
Since, Huizinga considers play as ’stepping out of real life’ into a ‘temporary sphere of activity with a disposition of its own’, this temporary sphere becomes a subset in the culture. The pretense aspect of play is captivating enough to draw people to suspend their belief-system in reference to their everyday reality and be form of reality in itself, with its own set of rules, structures and system of beliefs no matter how fictitious it is. Seriousness in the playfulness renders it the power to extend beyond just playing for the sake of having fun to important spheres of social life like rituals, festivals, social norms, societal rules, institutional policies, cultural ideals, etc, by which people are expected to abide. Like in play, people of society tend to be marginalized when they do not abide by the explicit and implicit rules and expectations, belief system of a society.
Unique game identity:
A game, whose name would translate to either “steal the eggs” or “scrambled eggs”, involves a person guarding ‘eggs’ - a pile of rocks - inside a big circle marked by a chalk. People outside the circle try to draw all the eggs out of the circle while the guard tries to one, guard the eggs, and two, trick the outsiders to venture in with an incentive of stealing the eggs so that they can be tagged thus freeing oneself of the roles. The guard/ mother steps as far from the stones pile as s/he wants while risking more eggs be stolen from his/ her nest by the others coming from other directions. On the other hand, pretending to do so can be an effective tactic to attract players inside the circle and thus within one’s vicinity to tag. the guard is thus loosely tied to the space whose core is marked by the pile of “eggs”.
in “hide & seek”, it is the rest of the players who the seekers has to find (in contrast to the game above). The seeker has to point to the player s/he has found and announce it loud for everyone in the vicinity (or at least the person s/he has found to hear). When the last of the players are discovered by the seeker, the first person discovered becomes the seeker in the next round. Interestingly the other players are capable of “ambushing” the seeker in which case the game starts all over again with the same seeker playing the role. while the game described above involves the tagger to switch roles by touching another player, in this game, not only is it not necessary but also the seeker has to stand clear of being touched/ ambushed by the hiding players.