Players Needed: 4-10

Equipment Needed: A can (any kickable object will do, a ball, a plastic bottle, even an Old Dutch potato chip box-as long as it's empty).

Field of Play: Anywhere you can find some good hiding places.

How to play:

To start, someone has to be "it." Someone else gets the right to kick the can (a good way to choose these positions is to draw chips. Whoever draws the smallest chip is "it", whoever draws the biggest chip gets to kick the can). After the can is kicked, all the kids scatter and hide. The person who is "it" retrieves the can, counts up to some agreed-upon number (20, 50, or 100), runs back to the "jail" (a predefined area where captured players must go), and yells, "freeze."

The "it" person then goes out to find the players. If s/he sees someone, s/he goes back to jail, picks up the can, taps it three times and calls out, "I see Hans behind the pine tree" (assuming, of course, that the person is named Hans). If Hans is indeed behind the pine tree, he must come out and has to go to jail. If the person is not Hans (let's say it's Jenny), she doesn't need to come out. When all the players have been seen and caught, a new person is chosen to be "it," usually the first person that was caught. Once you are spotted, you can't change hiding places (remember, honest, Midwest values here, players).

Jailed players may be freed if one of the other players rushes to their rescue by either (1) tagging the players to set them free, or (2) kicking the can. Once again, when the can is kicked, "it" runs, picks it up, counts to a specified number, and goes out searching for the other players.

Download game rules