Four Square - Land (Canada)

Land (Canada)

A version of the game that allows play without a ball. It is played outdoors in a sandy location. Four squares are drawn of the same dimension as Foursquare and a small stick is selected as the "ball". It is decided who starts, and one of the four children tosses the stick into one of their neighbour's squares. At this point everyone runs away from the squares as far as they can before the "tagged" child (the one with the stick in their square) can touch the stick. When the stick is grabbed the three runners must stop and stand. The holder of the stick now attempts to hit one of the runners with the stick. If successful, the "tagged" child may use the stick to draw a new border into the runner's square from the edge of their square creating a much larger piece of land for themselves. But if the "tagged" child misses, the rules are reversed and the runner gets to claim land. The new landholder then has the stick and selects the next target and the game continues until one child has all the land. Surprise becomes a strategic element when the "tagged" child runs away with the others not realizing the stick has landed in their square, creating an impossible to win situation due to the distance the other players have gotten to.