Cops and Robbers is a chase game that is played outdoors. Children as young as 6 years old can play in a group of at least 8 people. The goal of the game is for the police to put all the thieves in jail.
Before to start
- Mark off the playing area.
- Designate a place for the jail.
- Divide the group into 2 equal teams: gendarme and thief.
How to play the game?
- The gendarmes must catch the thieves and put them in jail.
- To catch a thief, you have to touch him.
- When a thief is hit, he goes to jail.
- To be freed, the prisoners form a chain.
- Either a free thief breaks the chain.
- In this case, the prisoners on the side of the free chain can escape.
- Or a free thief touches the prisoner at the head of the chain, freeing everyone.
- The game ends when all the thieves are put in jail; the gendarmes win, a new game begins where the roles are reversed.
Variation with treasures
Material
- Objects that can be used as treasure,
- Hoops
Set up
- Divide the field into 3 parts:
- The bank at one end,
- The thieves’ hideout at the other end,
- The police camp in the center.
- Place the hoops randomly in the gendarmes’ camp; these are the thieves’ hiding places.
How to play the game
- The goal of the thieves is to transport the treasures to their hideout.
- To do this, they must cross the gendarmes’ camp.
- A thief can only carry one treasure, which must be seen by all players.
- The gendarmes’ objective is to arrest the thieves.
- A thief can only be arrested if he has a treasure in his hand.
- An arrested thief must return the treasure to the bank.
- If a player is standing in one of the hoops, he is untouchable.
- A hoop can only contain one thief.
- The game ends when all the treasures have been transported to the thieves’ den.
