Scissor Legs (indoor game)  

Players:            8 or more
Materials:        Small rubber ball
Surface:           Smooth floor

            This game resembles a human pinball machine.  Each team tries to stop a rolling ball from scoring points by using scissor legs to block it.

            Teams sit on the floor opposite each other at a distance of around 20 feet (6 m).  If you have enough players, stretch them form wall to wall so that the rolling ball can’t go around the players, only through them.  Players of a team sit about 3 feet (1 m) apart with their legs stretched straight out and close together.

               The spaces between players count for points.  Moving from left to right, the space between the first and second players counts 3 points; the space between the second and third players counts 5 points, and so on, in increments of two, until you reach the last player.

            Teams toss a coin to see who will be first.  The starting team’s player begins the game by rolling the ball toward the opposing team.  He wants to get the ball through a particular space between players for points.  But when those two players see the ball coming, they open their legs, closing the spaces between them.  Then one of them grabs the stopped ball and rolls it back again.  Now the rolling team must close up its spaces.

            The ball goes back and forth quickly, and players must really pay attention.  When a team scores points, it starts the ball again for the next round.  The first team to reach 50 points wins the game.

Collected from The Little Giant Book of Kids’ Games by Glen Vecchione