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We play a lot of
capture the flag at Field Camp. Sometimes we play other
games, but we always come back to capture the flag.
Historic Games
Rules
Historic Games:
2000 -
The Sara Foster-Reeves Game. We were playing a lopsided game in
the front yard at Tandem School, under the big oak trees.
For whatever reason, one team had about twice as many
competitors as the other. It was near the end of the
day, and it looked like it would be a quick rout. But
time and again, Sara Foster-Reeves and her teammates managed to stop
those who were carrying the flag. Meanwhile, many of her
teammates made desperate attempts to get their flag, but were
hastily tagged and put in jail. As the game progressed,
Sara worked with fewer and fewer teammates to guard the flag.
It seemed like only a matter of time. But then,
Sara pulled one of the most remarkable feats in the brief
history of our game. With only one teammate left, she
ran to the opposite side of the field and freed her entire
team from jail. It was so unexpected. We were all
just waiting for the other team to win at that point.
Big game.
2001 -
The Mo Game. During '01, we began to play games of
counselors v. campers, and with about 50 campers, they had a
huge advantage. Wave after wave, they were unstoppable.
We counselors lost quickly. But we developed a plan, to
slowly pick off and put the kids in jail. After several
losses, we finally seemed to be on our way to a counselor
victory on one July Thursday evening. The counselors
were guarding the jail closely, with 6 of our 9 players.
In time, we had nearly all the kids in jail, save a few
guarding their flag. At this point, Jay, Scott and I
began to make our runs to get their tennis balls and their
flag. Again, it seemed like it would be only a matter of
time before we won. Meanwhile, Mo seemed like he was trying to free his comrades.
But at some point, he realized that the flag was unguarded,
and he made a break for it. With Scott, Jay and I going
after our own flag, we watched helplessly as Mo returned with
his own team's flag, and victory. His teammates all
erupted in cheers and ran down the hill from the jail
celebrating the victory.
2006 -
The Reuben Game. It's been a while since a game has
merited being added to the historic list. This has
been the case despite the fact that quite a few memorable
games have been played, particularly ones pitting the
campers against the counselors. In the early years,
the counselors dominated these games, but last year, the
counselors were pretty much shut out. This year, these
contests ran about 3 to 1 in favor of the kids. But
the big game this year happened on the second-to-the-last
week of camp with our most crowded week in our history.
On Thursday night, we played a few games before the
campfire, and one of these games dragged on interminably.
We were all quite surprised, however, when we saw none other
than Reuben retrieve the ball from the Pavilion side and
nearly run it across the line before passing off to J.P.,
knocking him down, and then watching as J.P. scrambled
across the line. Go Reuben!
2007 -
This game just keeps getting better. We have been
impressed this year with how well the campers are playing, and
it was never more obvious than in the Field Camp Day Hog v.
Frog game. It started off slow, as usual, but after a
good 15 minutes, about half of each team was in jail.
Eli made an especially memorable mid-game run, eluding smart
Hog defenders for several minutes before finally running out
of gas. Unfortunately for the Hogs, they had placed the
flag a little too close to the jail, and Quinn grabbed the
flag and made his way past the jail on his way, freeing 15 or
so frogs. His run with flag failed, but the frogs were
smart, immediately sending reinforcements to guard the jail,
and making a concerted effort to get back on the flag.
Down to just five defenders, the Hogs staved off effort after
effort to take the ball across the line. But when Max
chased Quinn back into the corner, Ethan picked up the ball,
ran half the way forward, and passed off to Maddy, who
expertly caught and ran the ball across to victory. It
was an excellent team effort, and a game for the history
books. Errr, that is, the history pages.
2009 - As
camp has grown slowly bigger, it's been nearly impossible for
the counselors to achieve a legitimate Thursday evening
victory. Sure, we can recruit the Leadership School to
our side or initiate the Junior CIT program ruse to add
players, but we just can't beat the campers when the sides are
about 60 to 10, particularly when the campers feature players
such as Quinn or Ben S.. But on one Thursday night this
summer, Alex Mosolgo-Clark singlehandedly beat the
campers. He famously told Catherine he might as well
make a run for the ball and sacrifice himself. But he
made it to the ball. It was guarded, as has become the
campers' trademark, by about ten people who could have
probably held hands around the circle were it allowed by the
rules. But when a counselor tried to free the
half-filled jail, Alex seized on the moment of his guards'
inattention and scurried across the line. A deft ball
fake near the line fooled young Ben S. and Alex danced across
the line, without anyone hardly noticing.
Rules:
1. Teams are
divided up by some arbitrary criteria, such as odd v. even
days of birth, County v. non-County residents, etc..
2. The
object of the game is to retrieve the flag or flags from the
other side without being tagged, at which point you and your
teammates hoot and holler and bask in victory.
3. If you
are tagged on the opponents' side of the field, you must
willingly go to jail, with one hand atop your head to indicate
you are going to jail.
4. If a
teammate manages to tag you, or anyone to whom you are bodily
linked while in jail, you get a "free walk" back to your side.
While "free walking," you must have both your hands atop your
head. You must return to your side before you can again
participate freely in the game.
5. Teams
can guard the flag, although they cannot go within a ten-foot
perimeter surrounding the flag. Once the flag is
touched, this "safety zone" disappears, until the flag is
returned the original location.
6. You
can pass the flag, although it must be run across the line by
a camper for victory.
7. All
players must compete in a sportsmanlike manner, and all games
end with group handshakes and encouraging, supportive "good
games." |
