Chase and Catch Games Fox Trail Double Rim
( Chase and Catch, Hunting, Running )This form of Fox Trail like the Single Rim game is distinctively a snow game but may be used anywhere that a large diagram may be marked on the ground or floor. This game differs from the Single Rim in the size and complexity of the diagram there being two rims to the wheel instead of one. It also differs in the fact that there is one more player than the number of dens for the foxes and in the methods by which the foxes may run or be chased.
A large diagram is drawn on the ground resembling a wheel with two rims. In the snow this is trampled with the feet like a path on bare ground or damp sand it may be drawn with the foot or a stick in the gymnasium or on a pavement it may be drawn with chalk. The outer rim should measure from thirty to forty feet in radius the inner rim should be ten feet from this. Across the circles are drawn straight lines resembling the spokes of a wheel the number being governed by the number of players. Where these spokes touch the outer rim a den or goal is marked for the foxes there being one goal less than the number of foxes.
One player who is chosen as hunter stands at his goal in the center or hub of the wheel. The balance of the players who are foxes take each a place in a den on the outer rim with the exception of the odd fox who stands elsewhere on the rim trying to get a den whenever he can. The object of the game is for the foxes to run from den to den without being caught by the hunter. The method of running however is restricted. Both foxes and hunter are obliged to keep to the trails running only on the lines of the diagram.
It is considered poor play to run from den to den around the outer rim as there is practically no risk in this. The foxes may run in any direction on any trail on the spokes of the wheel or on either of the rims. They may turn off on the intersecting trail at any point not being obliged to run entirely across to the opposite side of the rim as in the simpler diagram given for the other game of this name. No fox however may turn back on a trail having once started he must keep on to the next intersecting point. Whenever the hunter succeeds in tagging a fox the two players change places the fox becoming hunter and the hunter fox.
This game is excellent sport and is one of the most interesting and popular of the chasing games. It is one of the very few distinctive snow games.