Rescue: One Hand Slap Empties the Jail

Rescue is a team chase game from Spanish schoolyards and streets: one team tags and takes players to jail, the other runs away and frees teammates by slapping their hand and shouting «Rescue!». It works on speed, team strategy and looking after those who are caught.

How to play

1. Mark the field (half a court or more) and a 3 x 3 meter jail with cones at one end. Two mixed teams, one in pinnies (3 min).
2. Round 1: the pinnie team chases; anyone tagged goes to jail. A free player can run in, touch a prisoner's hand and shout «Rescue!»: that prisoner is free (5 min).
3. Round 2: switch roles. Count the prisoners at the end of each 4-minute round (5 min).
4. Chain round: prisoners hold hands in a chain stretching out of the jail; if a free player touches the last one's hand, the whole chain is freed (5 min).
5. Strategy timeout: each team decides who guards the jail and who chases, then plays a final round in each role (7 min).

Rules

• Tag with a hand on the shoulder, arm or back; no grabbing or pushing.
• Guards can't stand inside the jail, and must stay more than 2 meters away.
• A rescued player gets three safe steps to escape.
• The chain doesn't let go to run: if it breaks, it reforms in the jail.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: a wheelchair user tags and rescues with a pool noodle and gets two extra safe moves.
• Visual impairment: play with a guide, connected by a short strip of cloth held in the hand.
• Asthma or low fitness: be a guard, which is stop-and-go effort, or ask to rotate every round.

Learning goals

• Improve speed and changes of direction.
• Organize team roles for attack and defense.
• Play a traditional street game built on rescue, not elimination.

Equipment for a class of 25

• pinnies: 15
• cones: 12

Teacher tip

The game stalls if guards hug the jail: enforce the distance with a cone. Short rounds with a prisoner count keep anyone from standing still too long.

More activities like this

More main activities for Middle School