Red Rover

Red Rover (also known as Bullrush; Forcing the City Gates; Pom, Pom Pullaway; Octopus Tag; and British Bulldog) is an outdoor game played primarily by children on playgrounds. "Red Rover" was very popular into the 1970s.

Strategy

Players on a team hold hands, forming a "chain". The leader of a team will call a player from the opposing team. That player must try and break through two players' hands (a link) to stay on their own team. If the player is not able to break through the link, that team will gain control of that player. Before a player would try to break the link, the link would normally say "Red Rover, red Rover, _________ (player's name) come on over!"

Typically, a weaker player is chosen to increase the chance of taking him.

When only one player is left on a team, they must try and break through a link. If they do not succeed, the opposing team wins. Otherwise, they are able to get a player back for their team.

The game can be a potentially painful experience. For example, when the runner breaks through a link (or attempts to break through), it can hurt the linkers' arms, or body depending on if he falls or gets bruised by somebody's bones.

Origins

The origin of the name, Red Rover, and its usage in association with this game is not clear. Red Rover appears to have been used as a name for boats in the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1828 a steamboat called 'The Red Rover' was the first to service the Hatchie River.

In 1855, J. Fenimore Cooper, wrote a book called 'The Red Rover':

"...the lawless vagaries of the Red Rover himself, the pirate chief who glories in chaos and who orders his men 'All hands to mischief, ahoy!'"

On Christmas Eve 1862, Sisters of the Holy Cross, pioneers of the US Navy Nurse Corps, boarded the first hospital ship, the Red Rover, which aided the wounded soldiers of both sides during the American Civil War.

It is possible the name of the game derives either from the shuttling motion of a ship across a river, or, in the case of the nurses/sisters, from aid being given to both sides of a conflict.

The game is a descendant of British Bulldog, played throughout the Commonwealth of Nations.

Trivia

• Red Rover was also the name given to the London-wide all routes one-day bus pass issued by London Transport during the 1960s and 1970s.

• Red Rover is illegal in some states.

• "Red Rover" is the name of a Fleetwood Mac song on their album Say You Will, written by Lindsey Buckingham.

See also

• British Bulldogs