Keep Away - Variations

Variations

Like other children's games, this has game has many variations to shape it in the manner they like to play. Some common variations are:

• Playing with a larger area and the person who is it only has to touch the ball instead of catch it.
• The ball must bounce at least once in the circle on a pass to prevent high lobbing passes which can give taller children an unfair advantage.
• When the person who is it catches the ball, he must get outside the circle with the ball without getting tagged by the thrower to make them it.
• The person outside the circle to last touch the ball becomes it instead of the last thrower. This is often used so that the person who failed to catch the ball is it instead of the thrower.
• The person with the ball outside the circle cannot move until he or she throws it.
• None of the people outside the circle can move around and must throw and catch from a constant position.
• The people outside the circle must throw it within a certain amount of time, usually five seconds. This keeps the pace of the game high and prevents players from hogging the ball.
• Playing with larger areas with multiple people being it and even multiple balls.
• There isn't a circle
• Similar to a Pickle, or "Rundown" in a game of baseball, 2 basemen throw a ball back and forth. A third player who is it remains safely touching a base, until he/she decides to make a play (run) for the other base. Either of the two basemen must physically tag the runner with the ball in hand to count the runner out. This is done by tossing the ball back and forth between the basemen, forcing the runner to change direction, while the basemen close the distance to the runner, until either the runner is safe at a base, or successfully tagged. When successfully tagged, the runner and the baseman exchange places, and the game continues.