Marco Polo (game)

For other meanings, see Marco Polo (disambiguation)

Marco Polo

Players	3 or more
Setup time	< 1 minute
Playing time	no limit
Chance	Low
Skills	Swimming, Slyness, Hearing

The game of Marco Polo is a form of tag, often played in a swimming pool. The game is popular in the United States, the UK, Argentina, Canada, Paraguay, Spain and Brazil, and possibly in other parts of the world.

Origins

The origin of the game of Marco Polo cannot be verified. However, it is believed that the game traces the orgins of its name back to famous explorer Marco Polo. The legend is that when arriving on new lands he would cry out, "Marco," and if the indigenous peoples answered back with, "Polo," he then knew they were friendly.

Rules

The game is played by three or more people. At any time there is one distinguished player, "It", who must usually wait a certain number of seconds before swimming around the pool with his or her eyes closed, attempting to tag the other players. The "It" player can only sense where the other players are by sound, but may call out "Marco!", at which point all the other players are required to yell "Polo!". When the "It" player succeeds in tagging another player, the latter becomes "It". It may also be played out of water and has the same rules

There are a few common minor variations. Fish-out-of-water allows the non-It players to get out of the pool (thus protecting themselves from being tagged by the water-bound "It"), however, should "It" call "fish out of water" while someone is out of the pool, that person becomes "It". If there is more than one person out of the water, the person who is "It" has the choice of picking anyone out of water to become "It". If "It" should call fish-out-of-water when nobody is out of the pool, "It" must redo the beforehand count.

"Mermaid on rocks" is a variant itself of fish-out-of-water. This is when a person is sitting on the ledge of the pool with their legs in but their body is out. When the "it" person calls mermaid on rocks, and someone is doing this, they are it.

Alligator Eyes allows "It" to call out "alligator eyes" or "submarine" and then swim underwater with eyes open for one breath. Usually, "It" is limited to one use of alligator eyes. Other variations on this rule allow "It" to look around underwater but not to move until he or she is above water with eyes closed once again.

Variations

There are many variants to this game. It may be played on dry ground; in that case, it is similar to "blind man's bluff".

In Argentine Marco Polo, the one who is "It" has to grab the tagged one and say his name out loud. If said correctly, the tagged one becomes "It". If not, the player who is "It" has to start again.

Media references

• Bart and Lisa are shown playing Marco Polo in the episode "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" of The Simpsons. During the scene, Bart tiptoes around the edge of the pool while Lisa, oblivious to the fact that he is cheating, continues to shout "Marco...Marco."

• In Arrested Development Series 1 (Episode Best Man for the GOB), people can be heard playing Marco Polo at the hotel to comic effect.

• In the Family Guy episode "E. Peterbus Unum," pool party guests Yassir Arafat, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, Ayatollah Khomeini, and Mobutu Sese Seko play Marco Polo; Khomeini is caught being "fish out of water" by Mobutu. Also in "Peter's Got Woods", the character Stewie Griffin recalls a time he supposedly played Marco Polo with Helen Keller. He continuously swims round the pool saying "Marco...Marco...Marco...Marco..." to an unresponsive Helen.

• In the South Park episode "Super Best Friends", Stan plays a sort of game similar to this to find his Super Best Friend, Kyle by calling out the famous catchphrase "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" (usually said after the death of the character Kenny in that period), to which Kyle responded "You Bastards!" Stan kept calling out his catchphrase, and Kyle kept responding, until Stan followed his voice straight to him.

• In one of the Easter eggs of Teen Girl Squad episode 6, Cheerleader calls out "Marco" from inside a lion's mouth. What's Her Face answers "Polo" (from outside the lion), whereupon Cheerleader calls "Fish out of water."

• In the movie Wild Hogs, a gay policeman catches up with the four protagonists, who are skinny-dipping in a pool, and initiates a game of Marco Polo.

• In one episode of the TV show The Sopranos, "Marco Polo", Tony Soprano, AJ Soprano, Meadow Soprano, her boyfriend Finn DeTrolio and Artie Bucco are shown playing Marco Polo.

• In an episode of the TV show Two and a Half Men, Rose calls out "Marco" to Charlie while climbing up the trellis to his deck. Charlie eventually shouts out "Polo".

• In one comic from Penny Arcade, a zombie is shown wandering around saying "Marco...Marco..." While one of the protagonists holds the other's mouth shut, telling him, "Trust me on this one, dude — don't say 'Polo'."

• In this strip of M, after turning his entire flat into a huge ball pit, Mads swims around, saying "Polo... Polo?", and is caught by surprise as his girlfriend performs a "bomb jump"

• In the movie Alpha Dog central character Zach Mazursky and two girls play Marco Polo.

• In the film Fantastic Four, Dr Doom mockingly references to the game whilst looking for the Invisible Woman.

• In the Eureka episode E=MC...? there is one scene were Sheriff Carter comes across two "dumb" scientists who play the game wrong in the hallway. One yells "Marco!" and the other one also answers with "Marco!". When Carter tells them that it's "Marco! - Polo!", they continue in error by yelling "Polo!" - "Polo!".

• In the film Hellboy two of the characters use it as a distress call. The distressed party calling "Marco", and those aiding calling "Polo".

• Red and Kitty Forman on "That 70s Show" play Marco Polo as a sex game.

• In "Bones", Brennan reveals that her brother would call out "marco" and she would reply "polo" and that this was often all that she would say all day.

• In "Charlie's Angels (film)", Bosley engages in a game of Marco Polo with Roger Corwin.

• In "Billy Madison (film)", Billy's friends assume he and Veronica Vaugn are playing Marco Polo when she continuously beats him up in the pool.

• In an episode of "Reba", Reba gets laser eye surgery and can't see. Barbara-Jean is hiding in her kitchen, trying to help her make a sandwich and doesn't respond when Reba asks if she's there. Reba tricks her by calling out "Marco" to which Barbara-Jean responds "Polo"

• In an episode of Gilmore Girls Rory and Lane play Marco Polo in Lane's mother's antique store because they can not find each other since the store is so full of furniture.

• On the nationally syndicated radio show Loveline, Adam Carolla famously asked listeners to no longer play "Marco Polo", but to play "Adam Carolla".

See also

• Hide and seek