Chase and Catch Games Pom Pom Pullaway
( Chase and Catch, Command and Response, Running, Tag )This game is often played between the curbings of a city street but is suitable for any open play space which admits of two lines drawn across it with a space of from thirty to fifty feet between them. All players stand on one side behind one of the dividing lines except one player who is It and who stands in the center of the open ground. He calls any player by name and adds a formula as below —
“John Smith Pom Pom Pullaway
Come away or Ill fetch you away ”
Whereupon the player named must run across the open space to the safety line on the opposite side the one who is It trying meanwhile to catch him before he reaches that line. If he gets over safely he remains there until all of his comrades have joined him or have been caught. Any one caught by the one who is It joins the latter in helping to catch other players as they dash across the open space but the one originally It remains the caller throughout the game. After all of the uncaught players have crossed to one side they try in the same way to return to their first goal. The first one to be caught is It for the next game.
Players should give the chaser as much difficulty as possible in catching them by making feints in one direction and suddenly running in another or by running diagonally instead of straight across etc.