Hide And Seek Game The game is an example of an oral tradition, as it is commonly passed by children.

           

                                   Hide And Seek Game 

                     

                           

Hide-and-seek or hide-and-go-seek is a popular children's game in which any number of players conceal themselves in the environment, to be found by one or more seekers. The game is played by one player chosen (designated as being "it") closing their eyes and counting to a predetermined number while the other players hide. After reaching this number, the player who is "it" calls, "Ready or not, here I come!" and then attempts to locate all concealed players.

The game can end in one of several ways. In the most common variation of the game, the player chosen as "it" locates all players as the players are not allowed to move; the player found last is the winner and is chosen to be "it" in the next game. Another common variation has the seeker counting at "home base"; the hiders can either remain hidden or they can come out of hiding to race to home base; once they touch it, they are "safe" and cannot be tagged. But if the seeker tags another player before reaching home base, that person becomes "it."

                         

The game is an example of an oral tradition, as it is commonly passed by children.

Kannamoochi or Hide and seek is a timeless game that has been played by children throughout the ages. It isn’t only children who enjoy it – a natural instinct for parents is to play a facial form of hide and seek with their children from the earliest age, as it teaches children about attachment and detachment in a safe and caring environment. Leaving aside the psychology, however, the outdoor game provides wonderful interaction amongst children is easy to play and never gets boring.

           

Different versions of the game are played around the world, under a variety of names. One derivative in game is called "Sardines", in which only one person hides and the others must find them, hiding with them when they do so. The hiding places become progressively more cramped, like sardines in a tin. The last person to find the hiding group is the loser. A. M. Burrage calls this version of the game "Smee" in his 1931 ghost story of the same name.

In some versions of the game, after the first player is caught or if not any other players can be found over a period of time, "it" calls out a pre-agreed phrase (such as "Olly olly oxen free", or "All in, All in, Everybody out there all in free") to signal the other hiders to return to base for the next round.[4] In another version, when players are caught they help the "it" seek out others.

In one variant, once all hiders have been located, the game then becomes a game of tag where the "it" chases after all the other players and the first person tagged becomes the "it".

                      

         

In another, the hiders who are found help the "it" track down the remaining hiders, but the first person to be found becomes the next "it."

In Australia, the game is often called "44 Homes." The hiders hide until they are spotted by the seeker, who chants, "Forty, Forty, I see you" (sometimes shortened to "Forty, forty, see you"). Once spotted, the hider must run to "home base" (where the "it" was counting while the other players hid) and touch it before she or he is "tipped" (tagged, or touched) by the seeker. If tagged, that hider becomes the new "it."

In India, hide-and-seek is played differently - if any of the 'hiders' touch the seeker and says 'Dhappa', then the seeker has to count again. However, if the seeker sees the hider before they manage to touch him/her and say dhappa, then that hider will be 'it' the next round, unless some other hider manages to 'Dhappa' the seeker without being seen.

In Brazil and Russia, hide-and-seek has an extra step. The "it" starts counting with eyes closed and facing the wall while everyone hides. Once the "it" finds someone, they must race to the spot where the "it" was originally counting and facing the wall and whoever touches that spot first, wins the game. This is also sometimes played by other countries.

                     

How to Play

• At least three players are needed to play Hide and Seek. Naturally, however, the more players you have, the better is the fun.
• Set down the rules to play. If you do not set down rules, you will have people running to places that have valuable things in house, or may run outside when everybody's inside.
• Find a suitable location to play it may be outdoor or indoor. Outdoor location works best were you have more choices to hide, although indoors is fine for rainy days. It will be necessary to set boundaries for hiding or you will have players running off to too many far-off locations.
• Determine who will be "out". Working out who is "out" can be done a variety of ways, for example use an elimination word game, such as "Inky Pinky Ponkey" or similar game.

• Now begin the game, the person who will be "out" has been chosen, he or she stays at a central place or a place behind a tree or pillar, closes his or her eyes and begins counting out loud to a number from about 1to 100. The number you choose should be based on how many people are playing the game and the distances to hiding spots. The more people, the higher the number should be.
• All of the players who are not "out" should run off and quietly hide from the player who is counting. The person who is "out" is not allowed to peek at the players hiding from him or her.
• Once the player who is "out" has finished counting, he or she yells "Ready or not, here I come!". At this point, the player who is "out" must try to find all of the other players who have hidden. The players who are hiding cannot move or switch hiding places as the seeker may find him easily.
• he player who gets found first becomes "out" in the next round of the game.
• Find all the people who are hiding and start playing the second round with the person who was found first as seeker ("out"). 

                   

Tips

• If you have younger children, you can play this right inside the house. When you hide and the little ones find you, they laugh in delight.
• Try to find different places to hide, but do not make it too hard to find you. Younger children can become frustrated when they cannot find you.
• If some of the hidden players do not return home before a predetermined period of time, the person who is "out" should give the universal "all clear" signal. Yell, "All, all outs in free." The person who is "out" must take another turn as "our" or appoint a willing volunteer to take his or her place.
• There are lots of different strategies of hiding. One is to hide in plain sight. For example if there is a table near home base hid under it: it often will not be expected and make a really short run back to home base.
• Hide in places that look impossible to hide in (example: in a cabinet under a sink in the bathroom.) Just make sure you can get out pretty easily without hurting yourself A LOT or moving everything if you hide in a small space.
• Hide where your body won't cast a human-shaped shadow.
• Play in different places every time. If you do it in the same spot (different games, not rounds) then people will remember the good places and search there first.