Hide and Seek

One of the best-documented games of European children is Hide and Seek, in which a designated seeker pursues other children who hide. In the ancient Greek game Apodidraskinda, one player kept his eyes shut for awhile to let the others hide and then pursued the hid-ers. Each of the hiders tried to be the first to get back to the point of departure, in order to become the next seeker. Later versions of this game vary; in some, children compete for the role of seeker, while in others they simply try to avoid getting caught. Young children play Hide and Seek in circumscribed areas, while teenagers play in larger spaces, with elaborate planning before the game begins.

In Elizabethan England, children played a number of hiding and seeking games; some of these are better understood now than others. The game King By Your Leave or Old Shewe featured a blindfolded seeker, known as the king, who was replaced by the first hider who could run back to the base. Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost mentions an old game that began with the cry “All hid”; other than explanation of the cry in the fourth act, no other details appear in the play. Similarly, in act four of Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who are inquiring about Polonius's body, “Hide Fox, and all after.” Since the game Hide and Fox appears to have been very similar to Hide and Seek, it seems likely that Hamlet is referring to the children's game that was well known to Elizabethans.

Iona and Peter Opie's classic Children's Games in Street and Playground (1969) lists a plethora of names for Hide and Seek; many of these are based on the cries of the game's players. One 19th-century name, Whoop, comes from Every Boy's Book by J.L. Williams (1841). [Page 287]Other 19th-century British names recorded by the Opies include Beans and Butter (Oxfordshire), Hide-a-Bo-Seek (Berwickshire), Hide-Hoop (Pembrokeshire), Hiders-Catch-Winkers (Hampshire), Huddin-Peep (Lancashire), and Salt Eel (Suffolk).

The children's game of Hide and Seek can be traced back to ancient Greece and is thought to appear in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. The game emphasizes evasion, pursuit, and capture.

A popular variant of Hide and Seek documented by the Opies is Sardines, in which only one player hides at first; all the others cover their eyes and count to give that player a chance to find a good hiding place. The seekers' objective is to join the hidden player. Eventually a large group of hiders awaits the last seeker, who loses the game. Other names for Sardines include Squashed Tomatoes and Mexican Hideout. Both adults and children have enjoyed playing this game at parties in the United Kingdom.

Mary and Herbert Knapp's One Potato, Two Potato: The Secret Education of American Children (1976) identifies Hide and Seek as a game of metaphors, in which children can express their feelings about eluding authority figures and taking or avoiding “It” roles. The Knapps suggest that hiding, getting caught, being alone, and becoming independent are important aspects of childhood that emerge during game-playing. Since Hide and Seek and other children's games emphasize pursuit, isolation, and capture, it seems clear that these states of being are meaningful for children.

...