Okay, tetherball was cool but any Gen Xers rule Foursquare?
Posted by jesseberdinka@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 97 comments
Posted by jesseberdinka@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 97 comments
Vivid-Teacher4189@reddit
Don’t know four square, but we played it with a tennis ball in Australia, guess it was the same thing, and it could have multiple and sometimes complicated set outs of squares, depending on the area we had available and how many people wanted to play.
mrnoonz@reddit
The Grab, Spin, Toss was my Jam!!
dasreboot@reddit
never played it. we mostly played acorns or ran grass sprints
PassorFail1307@reddit
Depended on the particular square rules, the average playground's set of courts was the kid equivalent of a row of blackjack tables. Whether it was a Carry or not could lead to some pretty heated arguments and personal attacks.
bwanabass@reddit
This is not ‘Nam. It’s Four Square.
narc1s@reddit
Four square was my ‘Nam.
GnarlesB1982@reddit
AM I THE ONLY ONE AROUND HERE WHO GIVES A SHIT ABOUT THE RULES?!
sanctimoniousmods_FU@reddit
A world of pain.
mrtoad47@reddit
My recollection of the game is that most of the time was spent either arguing about the rules or having whoever was starting things off getting to list out the rules and it taking 5 minutes.
StandByTheJAMs@reddit
We had to outlaw the butterfly (what we called 2-handed power-slams) because balls kept ending up on roof of the school's boiler building and we had no way to get them down.
mrtoad47@reddit
Reminds me of when a Teacher declared that, in kickball, a ball going over the right field fence (into a yard) was an automatic out, while one going over the fence in left (just some gravel wasteland) was still a home run. Aside from thinking WTF are teachers doing horning in on the rules of our games, I thought it was discriminatory against us lefties.
HazySkyFire@reddit
Last year, my now 6th grade daughter had some gnarly arguments with other kids about 4 square. The bubbly rule is still very contentious.
Extension_Juice_9889@reddit
We had it in Australia, it was called downball.
davesnotonreddit@reddit
Shorts, no shorts on serve, backstops, and power slams.
jenorama_CA@reddit
No tea parties.
abbeyroad_39@reddit
Me, me, me!!!
2Dogs3Tents@reddit
We called it Box Ball (NYC suburbs in Suffolk County, Long Island). Played it constantly.
duckntureen@reddit
Searched for "box ball" to see if anyone else called it that. Happy to see others did! Seems like a NY thing. NYC here.
Humble-Membership-28@reddit
Box ball. Also NY.
Malgus-Somtaaw@reddit
I remember using the squares as a dodgeball court.
golgol12@reddit
I ref'ed it for the other kids instead of playing it. I was supremely lazy.
Hamproptiation@reddit
dude on bottom left is the boss, unless recess had just begun & he got there first
Jnb69@reddit
Probably the best school yard game in my time
lizziekap@reddit
WOW major memory unlocked! Anyone got the rules of play handy? Gotta teach my kids.
Pristine_Poetry1340@reddit
jammed so many fingers playing this
deadbeatmac@reddit
I played this.
jakeoverbryce@reddit
Super Sonic Ajax!!!
Ndmndh1016@reddit
I certainly didn't cry over being knocked out of first square. Not me. Maybe some other kids did.
CapTexAmerica@reddit
Girls were playing foursquare. Boys were playing smear the queer.
Wild_Bag465@reddit
Imagine playing that today ……… 😂😂😂😬😀😂😂😬😂😂😂😂
SaltyDogBill@reddit
Hells yeah. No double stop
xlq771@reddit
Is this the same game as King's Court?
Tangboy50000@reddit
Agathocles87@reddit
Can confirm, use to lose a lot at 4 square
Refresh98370@reddit
No backstops was the rule stuck out to me. Easy way to slow the ball down, then whack at someone else.
ryansholin@reddit
Boxball to us in Florida. Middle School PE staple, three courts, absolutely the source of every fight and many, many arguments. Violent game.
ice1000@reddit
I knew it as boxball.
Older_cyclist@reddit
Drive way was set up for Foursquare.
19dadchair73@reddit
My daughters are the 4-square champs in our neighborhood
Witty-Gain-9733@reddit
This alll hurts so much……
hibou-ou-chouette@reddit
Never heard of it. We played dodgeball in the round.
Jsinswhatever@reddit
I miss it so much. And now I'm old.....but it is weird. I still feel like I'm in my 20's.
MattonArsenal@reddit
Gym teacher organized an after school Four Square tournament and it was the talk of the school a couple weeks before and felt like the Super Bowl or Final Four.
Kuildeous@reddit
I was not one of the masters.
But I was decent enough that I sometimes made it to the first square (serving square? WTF did we call that?).
jesseberdinka@reddit (OP)
I always thought that was the 4th square?
Kuildeous@reddit
Oh, maybe it was. I honestly cannot recall. I just remember that you had to claw your up to the top of the food chain and hang on for as long as possible. I made it up there, but I generally didn't stay long.
kingtermite@reddit
Four square was da bomb!
Haunt_Fox@reddit
No one knew what it was
Cyrus_Imperative@reddit
What's "foursquare"? Do you mean "boxball"? Is this a regional thing?
Soulariana@reddit
It's wild how tetherball could make us feel like Olympians, while also teaching us the valuable lesson of being hit in the face.
Equivalent-Client443@reddit
Man that ball hurt to get hit with, worse than a dodgeball
Standard_Gur30@reddit
Especially on a cold day.
SlowHandEasyTouch@reddit
It was like a brick in the wintertime
KCchessc6@reddit
We stand as close as you could without getting hit and someone would throw the ball at your head. If I hit got hit you lost if it didn’t you won but you have to be as close to the ball as possible. I remember playing but I don’t remember if I ever won or not.
Axxkicker@reddit
This is the most gen x sentence ever.
Kamimitsu@reddit
We played every day at school, but our squares were about half that size, and we used a hard rubber ball (sometimes a tennis ball) that was extremely responsive to spin. We also played in a vestibule-type area, so there were special rules for whether bouncing off the walls was permitted or not. The "king" position got to set the rules (kinda like dealer's choice in poker). Wow, thanks for the memories!
Grouchy_Writer_Dude@reddit
The crab shot!
Hopper52@reddit
Every night at summer camp. Took it a little too seriously.
MonkeyWrenchAccident@reddit
I brought up 4square in the tetherball thread, glad to see it get its own.
I played it at school, but summer camp was a whole other animal. I was one of the people who get the game started and then it went until something else on the schedule demand we stop. Long line up of campers to play. Then later, when I was summer camp staff in my early 20s I kept the game alive and taught to the campers. It wasn't as well known to the millennials. Once they started, they couldn't stop though. I like to think i made some 4square addicts as a counsellor.
gtmattz@reddit
went to a school that had these painted on the yard. they always filled up instantly, before I got out there, usually.
talrich@reddit
Filled instantly?
On our playground, anyone could line up to join the lowest ranked square and win your way up to the top server square.
sofakingWTD@reddit
Yeah!... but did you even Funnelball? https://i.redd.it/o0q16xw7ct341.jpg
Primalscreamr@reddit
Weenie wars
akfun42@reddit
and 6-square!
HOUS2000IAN@reddit
Wait, wut? Do tell!
akfun42@reddit
I don’t remember much other than we had it and the line was always really long.
Tyrannosaur_roar@reddit
That pic has squares that are far too large. Not a match for break time kiddy reactions! . Oh and that was definitely a catch, held it for a few milliseconds! You're out!
PacRat48@reddit
Still played in Camp. At least the camp my kids go to
jesseberdinka@reddit (OP)
The worst was when the server and some particular square would soft serve to each other so they could stay in game.
HOUS2000IAN@reddit
Yep. From that we learned the enemy of my enemy is my friend… at least until we knock those two colluding enemies out of the game
Savvy-R1S@reddit
Good times!
PiggStyTH@reddit
Was never a fan
HermioneMarch@reddit
Played a lot of both happily. I hated most sports, but these were fun. Also, Chinese jump rope
No_Significance_3840@reddit
I did
FullWoodpecker1646@reddit
Hit em' with the ol' shoe shiner
Dirty_Wookie1971@reddit
Four square, the precursor to pickleball
The1Ylrebmik@reddit
I remember playing it, but I don't remember how it was played. I more remember, slamball I think it was called, where you had a rectangle divided into three and you bounced the ball in the middle and your opponent on the other side had to catch it.
rawcane@reddit
My son and a couple of other 7 year olds were trying to explain to me how this worked in the playground the other day I had no fucking clue
NTPC4@reddit
We often played in a driveway with a basketball hoop centered above the garage. The ultimate (and legal by our rules) shot was up onto the roof, around the basketball hoop, and back down into the square.
rokken70@reddit
Loved foursquare!
username-taker_@reddit
Fuck yeah! I'm in.
GnarlesB1982@reddit
Got in my first fight playing four square. Got my ass kicked. But I wasn't gonna be cheated.
IcicleWrx@reddit
Four-square was awesome. We also played six-square, which could get pretty wild.
schnozzberryflop@reddit
Very Millennial too!
Congo404@reddit
No treetops, slams, or baby bouncies
thatguygreg@reddit
I was next to these playing kickball
cmparkerson@reddit
I never heard of it until my kids were in elementary school and would play it. By that point I was over 40.
MasterClown@reddit
The good thing is, you're never to old to play the game.
PaczkiPirate@reddit
Yeah, we played 4-square as millennials. Recess games didn’t stop because generations changed.
andio76@reddit
What the Hell is that - never heard of it - now that fucking Red indestructible rubber ball - Ive heard of it
drowninginidiots@reddit
I never even heard of foursquare until I was in my 20’s.
PoorGovtDoctor@reddit
Never heard of it until today. The local playground for me was for drug deals and dead body drop off
No-Day-5964@reddit
Foursquare champion!
Humble-Membership-28@reddit
Still love it.
Reasonable_Smell_854@reddit
Played a lot of foursquare as a kid
PassorFail1307@reddit
Depended on the particular square rules, the average playground's set of courts was the kid equivalent of a row of blackjack tables. Whether it was a Carry or not could lead to some pretty heated arguments and personal attacks.
PassorFail1307@reddit
Depended on the particular square rules, the average playground was the kid equivalent of a row of blackjack tables. Whether it was a Carry or not could lead to some pretty heated arguments and personal attacks.