Summer Swimming Games
The weather is hitting the 90’s, schools are closing, and the last flowers of neighborhood trees are being replaced by green leaves. Summer is back once again, and with temperatures already hitting record highs, it’s clear it’ll be a boiling hot three months. Going down the shore, to a nearby lake, or to your local pool will be the only way you’ll find salvation from the blistering outdoors. But if you’re like me, I don’t want to just cool off in the water; I want to have fun. But what else is there to do other than tag? “Sharks and Minnows” requires too many people, and I don’t have a ball to play “Monkey in the Middle”. Well, in my desperate search to not resort to swimming laps, I found three fantastic summer swimming games.
Alcatraz
This game is a personal favorite of mine. It’s great because it doesn’t require a lot of people and can be played in a small pool. It was inspired by the famous Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay, which is completely surrounded by water.
Requirements: The minimum number of people required to play this game is 4, with no more than 10. You will need two open walls you can swim back and forth from.
How to Play: Have one person stand out of the water as the “prison guard”. The prison guard will start out near the edge of the pool, facing away from the water. The rest of the people will be in the pool, having some part of their body touching the wall. The goal is for the prisoners to “escape”. They can do this by swimming to the opposite wall. However, if the guard hears them escaping, or just feels as though somebody is swimming away, they can turn around. If they see somebody escaping, they have to jump in and catch the prisoner before they reach the opposite wall. The prisoner, once they let go of the wall, cannot go back to it. If the prisoner makes it to the opposite wall, they are safe. If they are tagged, the round ends and they have to be the guard the next round. So, what happens if the guard doesn’t catch the prisoner, or turns around and sees nobody escaping? If this happens, the guard then has to go back to their original spot and take a step forward. This will keep repeating every time the guard turns around. This keeps the guard from turning around every five seconds, since the further they move up, the harder it is for them to catch prisoners.
Strategies/Technicalities: If all the prisoners passed the guard and made it to the opposite wall, then a new addition to the game can be made where the prisoners now have to swim back to the original wall. This is harder for the prisoners and easier for the guard. You can also ban fake splashing, which tricks the guard into turning around, thinking a prisoner is swimming away. If the guard is not the strongest swimmer, you can allow the guard to go to any side of the pool and jump from it, to more easily catch the swimmer. In contrast to that, if the guard is a strong swimmer (or just incredibly talented at the game), there are some different additions you can make. You can ban the guard from diving in or taking a running start. You can also allow there to be “prisoner chains”. This is where if one prisoner reaches the opposite wall, they can keep one foot on the wall and extend as far out as they can. When another prisoner tries to escape, they don’t need to reach the wall to be safe, just the other person. You can add more prisoners to the chain, as one outstretched prisoner keeps their foot to the wall while holding another.
Overall, this game can bring a competitive spirit into a boring day. It’s a blast to play with friends or siblings (as long as you don’t get too competitive). Just watch to make sure the guard doesn’t cheat by looking into any windows to see swimmers escaping!
Ridiculous Relays
Ridiculous Relays is pretty straightforward: you host ridiculous relays - no actual strokes where things might get cutthroat. That’s what makes it awesome, leaving you in fits of giggles and choking down laughter.
Requirements: You need to be by a pool, lake, or ocean. For version A, you need 2 to 6 people. For version B, you need 6 to roughly 25 people.
How to Play: In version A, it’s every man for themselves. In the beginning, everyone starts off with a doggy paddle race. The winner then chooses the next ridiculous race. They can come up with a silly new stroke, or use some of the popular racing events. These include racing with a wet tee-shirt or shorts (which makes it harder to swim, so make sure you do it safely!), balancing on a kick-board, or swimming backward.
In version B, there are teams. The winning team decides the next event. You can also do a medley relay, where the first person has to swim one way, and the second person has to swim a different way, and so on.
Strategies/Technicalities: While this game is supposed to be lighthearted, you can keep score if you want. At the beach or a lake, you can line up stones and/or shells to keep track. To make the game looser (or intenser, depending on how you look at it), splashing and pulling racers can be considered fair game.
With waves pushing you around, you should totally play this game by the ocean. Even in still water, play Ridiculous Relays for a happy time.
Toothpaste
I have no idea where the name for this game came from, but if you have ever played it on land, you know it’s easy to get everyone on board to play. It’s drama free and fun in the sea.
Requirements: You need a pool, ocean, or lake. You need at least 3 to 10 people.
How to Play: It’s just like the way you play on land, but with a few differences. As usual, there is one person who is “it” on one side, with the others on the opposite side. Whoever is “it” chooses a category, such as “ice-cream flavors”. The others decide among themselves which flavor they will be. The person who is “it” will be underwater during deliberation. Once decided, the person who is “it” will begin to call out flavors. Once somebody’s flavor is called, they race. The first person to reach their marker calls out “Toothpaste”. The loser has to be “it” in the coming round.
Strategies/Technicalities: If you’re in a pool, the markers can simply be two opposite walls. If at the beach or lake however, you can use your friends as one marker (by high-fiving them), and a rock or stone by the shore as another. The person who is “it” gets to choose the type of swim the others are racing in. They can choose an actual stroke, or do something silly like swimming backwards.
Edited by Chloe Lee
