BeanBag Games Stake Guard
( BeanBag, Chase and Catch, Marble Coin Pebble and Jack, Physical Contest, Tag )This game is one of the forms of Duck on a Rock and in this form is well adapted to use indoors as well as out of doors. The game differs from the ordinary games of Duck on a Rock chiefly in the limited territory to which the guard is confined.
A stake is driven in the ground (or if in a gymnasium an Indian club is placed) in the center of a square plainly marked and measuring from eight to twelve feet. A throwing line is drawn twenty or more feet from the stake. The game is played with bean bags and begins with the choice of a guard. This choice is made by all of the players standing on the throwing line and throwing their bags at the stake. The player whose bag falls farthest away from the stake becomes the first guard.
The stake guard places his bag on top of the stake (or club). The other players line up on the throwing line. Upon a given signal from a leader or captain all of the players throw their bags simultaneously at the stake trying to displace the bag on top of it. Knocking over the club accomplishes the same purpose. Each player must then try to regain his bag but in doing this he may be tagged by the guard. If this be done he changes places with the guard. The guard may only tag a player however within the limits of the square surrounding the stake beyond which he may not go and he may do this only after he has replaced his own bag on top of the stake.
Any player failing to recover his bag at once will watch for an opportunity to do so when the guard is next occupied in replacing his own bag. Any player thus waiting for his bag may linger near the boundaries of the center square.
Should the guard succeed in tagging a player within the square that player must at once place his own bag on the stake and the guard must try to get his bag and escape from the square before this new guard can place his bag and tag him. As soon as a player recovers his bag and escapes from the center square he should go at once to the starting line and may throw again immediately for the center bag. The game progresses better however if all of the throwing be done simultaneously the returning players waiting for a signal from the leader before throwing.
As players become proficient the game may be made more skillful and interesting by increasing the distance between the throwing line and the stake and also by lessening the size of the square drawn around the stake in which the guard is confined.