Kick the Can

Playing group games outdoors has been around for centuries, perhaps as long as humans have interfaced. These games are unending in type, as rules for the games change dependent on the players themselves. Kick the Can is a game that combines parts of other popular children's games, such as Tag and Hide & Seek. Most often this game has been played by groups of children of varying ages. The essence of Kick the Can is in the connections and feelings of belonging that games provide.

Perhaps Kick the Can was born of using rules from known games. When given the time and freedom to play with rules, new variations emerge. Kick the Can has the hiding and finding elements of Hide-and-Seek and the chasing and “it” elements of Tag. Kick the Can is played in various ways.

The basic rules of this game are easy to learn and allow multiple age groupings to play together. One child is “it,” and all the others hide, trying not to be seen by the person who is “it.” If a child is found by the child who is “it,” that child goes to “jail,” a spot chosen at the beginning of the game. The child who is “it” actively seeks the hiding players while also keeping guard of the can. An actual can is generally used, often an old coffee can. The can has the power to release anyone in jail if kicked by one of the non-“it” players. The player who kicks the can shouts “alii, alii, oxen free,” and all those jailed run back out to hide. And the game continues on.

Any number of children (at least three) can play this game. This allows entire neighborhoods of children to play together. It is often a game that is played until dusk or until parents call children back to their homes.

As outdoor and unstructured play of children continues to dwindle, the game of Kick the Can is becoming less and less known to each generation. In the last 50 years, the time children spend outside in unstructured activities has decreased each decade. At one point in time, teenagers played Kick the Can with younger children, and the game and its variations were passed on from child to child. Past generations remember this game fondly, and it was enough of a cultural phenomenon that it was the central player in a 1962 episode of the television show The Twilight Zone and was incorporated later in the 1983 film of the same name.

In the “Kick the Can” episode of The Twilight Zone, Charlie, a retirement home resident, is longing for his youth, when he comes upon some children playing Kick the Can near his home. He ponders the idea that playing games like Kick the Can are in children's blood and that possibly the reason people grow old is that they stop playing. His wistftilness encapsulates all that this game represents. It is about youth, but also freedom, control, fear, cleverness, quickness, connectedness, belonging, and a whole world of trust, where the players know the rules will be followed for the sake of the game.

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