Red rover (also known as forcing the city gates and octopus tag) is an outdoor game played primarily by children on playgrounds. This 19th-century children's group game (requiring around 10 or more players total) is thought to have originated in Britain and then spread to Australia, Canada and the United States.
Røver is a Norwegian word for "pirate", so perhaps the early British were showing bravery by daring the Viking raiders to "come over". The 1829 book titled The Red Rover: A Tale by James Fenimore Cooper describes the exploits of a pirate called "Red Rover".
Read more about Red Rover: Game, Risks, Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the words red and/or rover:
“Billboards, billboards, drink this, eat that, use all manner of things, everyone, the best, the cheapest, the purest and most satisfying of all their available counterparts. Red lights flicker on every horizon, airplanes beware; cars flash by, more lights. Workers repair the gas main. Signs, signs, lights, lights, streets, streets.”
—Neal Cassady (1926–1968)
“One dreadful sound could the Rover hear,
A sound as if, with the Inchcape Bell,
The Devil below was ringing his knell.”
—Robert Southey (1774–1843)