Jack o' Lantern

Any one else play this game? We certainly did in 1950s Brambles Farm.

It required one torch and took place during dusk or later. Players would split into two teams, runners and chasers. The runners would run away from the base for a count of 100 then flash the torch light back towards the base. They could then run to a new position while the chasers pursued them. On each count of 100 they must again flash the torch towards the base (the direction now just guessed at as they'd gone down a number of back-alleys). This continued until a member of the chasers caught a member of the runners and then called Jack Lantern!

If it took too long the chasers would cheat by calling out Jack Lantern even if they hadn't caught anyone, in the hope that this would bring the runners back to base where they could be caught.

Owen Davies