Page 702 - WhyAsInY

Why (as in yaverbaum)
Capture the Flag is a game that is very similar to Ringolevio (see page 687). It’s like war but a lot less dangerous and more fun. In Capture the Flag, the field is divided into two clearly designated halves, known as territories. Players form two teams, one for each territory. Each side has a “flag,” which is most often a colorful face towel that is visibly planted deep within its own territory. The object of the game is for play- ers to make their way into the opposing team’s territory, grab the flag, and return with it to their own territory, without being tagged or, in some variants, grabbed for a three-count. Players defend the flag by tag- ging (or grabbing) opposing players who invade their territory to attempt to take it. Within their own territory, players are “safe,” mean- ing that opposing players cannot tag or grab them. Once they cross in to the opposing team’s territory they are vulnerable. The best form of Capture the Flag also makes use of a jail in each territory, in which case the jail rules of Ringolevio apply. Sometimes the winning strategy is to permit a high number of members of a team to get caught and then force a jailbreak to capture the flag by making use of the newly created crowd of free runners.
Chinese handBall is traditional one-wall handball, except that the players must cause the ball to hit the ground before it strikes the wall. This variant of normal handball was therefore better suited to play in an alley with the side of one house being used as the wall. Regular handball was usually played on walls provided for that purpose in city playgrounds.
ClinChers were softballs that were stitched like baseballs but were about three inches larger around. Clinchers had a white leather-like cover and, despite being called softballs, were quite hard. When a Clincher was hit, it flew much farther than a rubberized softball of the same size. (Intercamp and other very special softball games were played with brand-new Clinchers.)
CowBoys and indians more properly should have been referred to as Cowboys and Cowboys. There were, thankfully, no bows and arrows.
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