Capture the Flag
Two territories with a flag on each: get to the other side's flag and carry it home without being tagged on their half.
Capture the flag asks two things at once. The whole team cannot go on the attack: the would be left unguarded. Nor can everyone stay back: then the game would never end.
So the whole game is an argument about how many to send forward. The decision has to be taken again every minute, with an eye on how many of your own are already sitting in .
Why an empty circle is drawn around the flag
Without a limit, defenders simply form a tight ring around their own flag and taking it becomes impossible. The game then degenerates: both teams sit on their bases and nobody risks anything.
So a is marked around the flag, which defenders may not enter. The flag stays watched, but it can be reached.
Flag
Under these rules: One per team; set in plain sight, about waist height.
A visible object a team guards and the other side tries to carry off.
Anything conspicuous serves as a flag: a scarf, a ribbon, a jacket. What matters is that it can be seen from a distance and lifted with one hand at a run.
The rules of capture the flag
The field
The ground is divided by a centre line into two equal territories, one per team.
Each side sets its flag in plain sight and marks out a place for a jail. A circle some ten paces across is drawn around the flag, which defenders may not enter.
The flag may not be hidden, buried, tied to a person or put in a bag.
The teams
At least two a side; five to ten a side plays best. There are no formal roles, but teams usually divide themselves into those who go forward and those who stay near the station.
Tagging
On their own half a player cannot be touched. On the far half they can be taken out of play by a light touch of the hand on the arm, shoulder or back.
Pushing, grabbing and knocking down are not allowed under any circumstances.
Jail
A player tagged walks to the opposing jail themselves and stays there.
Only their own side can free them: a player who reaches the jail and touches the prisoner. The freed player and their rescuer return to their own half unimpeded — they are not tagged on the way.
The flag
The flag is taken by hand. It may not be thrown, kicked, hidden under clothing or passed to a teammate.
If its carrier is tagged, the flag stays where it fell, or goes back to the station — as agreed before the game.
Winning
A team wins when one of its players carries the opposing flag over the centre line and stands on their own half with both feet, the flag still in hand.
If the game is played to time and nobody carries a flag home, the count is of who has fewer of their own in jail.
Worth knowing
Whether one touch frees one prisoner or the whole jail, and what becomes of the flag when its carrier is tagged — left where it fell or returned to the station — are agreed before the start. The size of the field is fitted to the number of players rather than taken ready-made.
Glossary of terms
- Jail
- The place a player tagged on the far half goes to, and from which only their own side can free them.
- No-guard circle
- The circle around a flag that defenders may not stand inside, so that the flag cannot simply be surrounded.
- Station
- The place on a team's own half where its flag stands. The flag may not be hidden, nor moved by its own team.