Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Cloak and Drag

By Lord Brian Goodheart

General type: Physical, Chasing

Adult Involvement: Physically intense

Props: A strong cloak.

Premise:  The children chase your cloak and try to hold on.

Number of Children: Two to four, smaller children only.

This game is suitable for entertaining up to three or four *small* children. The limitation on child size will quickly become obvious. The adult involved will also get quite a workout.

Take a cloak and put it on the adult. Make sure it is a strong and sturdy cloak. If a cloak pin is involved make sure to turn it over in the cloak material a couple times. To avoid accidental stabbings of anyone involved.

A “White Knuckle Death Grip” on the cloak closure, whether by pin or hand, is highly encouraged. Okay now for the game. The Children try to grab and hold onto the cloak. The fun comes from the adult dodging, weaving and dragging the cloak around. With a simple twist the cloak is sent spreading out over a wide arc giving the kids something to chase over a long distance. By doing such cloak swirls the adult will use a lot less energy then the kids. The adult can also walk or jog making the small children run at their top speed to catch up. You can tease the children by turning around just as they are about to catch up. This spins the cloak and you can pass it right over their heads.

It can also happen that a child could sit down on the cloak. Often you can actually pull the child along on the ground. A sudden tug or arcing turn though will usually get the cloak free.

If the children do get a solid grip don’t use a forceful pull. Instead either lower yourself to the ground letting the kids pile up on you in victory then restart. Or you can spin yourself and the cloak. Be careful to watch the balance the children have.

Playing (and inventing) this at Murder Melee in the Meadow I found that I could safely manage about three to four children on the cloak at once. More than that and it became difficult to avoid collisions or overloading the cloak.


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