Chase and Catch Games Fox Trail Single Rim
( Chase and Catch, Hunting, Tag )This is one of the few distinctive snow games but may be played anywhere that a large diagram may be outlined on the ground. It is very popular with children and makes an admirable game for older players as well. See the more complicated form with double-rim diagram preceding this.
A large circle from fifteen to thirty feet in diameter should be marked on the ground and crossed with intersecting lines like the spokes of a wheel there being about five such lines (ten spokes). The more players there are the larger should be the circle and the greater the number of spokes but there is no fixed relation between the number of spokes and players. If played in the snow this diagram may be trampled down with the feet if on the fresh earth or sand it may be drawn with the heel or a stick or if in a gymnasium or on a pavement marked with chalk.
One player is chosen to be It or Hunter. He stands in the center that is on the hub of the wheel. The other players scatter around the rim and are foxes. They are not stationed at any one point as in the Double Rim game but run or stand anywhere around the rim when not dashing across the spokes. The object of the game is for the foxes to cross the wheel to some opposite point without being tagged by the hunter. They may only run however on the prescribed trails –that is on the lines of the diagram. In this form of the game (the Single Rim diagram) they may run only straight across and are not at liberty to turn an angle at the hub and seek refuge over any other trail than the direct continuation of the one on which they started. The hunter changes places with any one whom he tags.