It's like handball, but not against a wall. We used to play "British" Bulldog growing up. We also used to pllay what we called soccer-baseball, and something called "All around the World". Did other people play Elastics?

You draw a big square, divided into four smaller squares, on the blacktop. One kid stands in each square, and you bounce a playground ball between each other, and there are some rules that I can't remember about where it's allowed to bounce and the order in which people have to hit it.

Yep, that's the one (we used a tennis ball). My school had two varieties: upball, where your shot was legal as long as it bounced in someone else's square, and downball, where it had to bounce once in your own square and then in someone else's. The first variant was really all about the power - it only had to bounce once, so you hit it as hard as you could and made them run for it. The second was a much more skilful game. Good fun.

Did other people play Elastics?

French Skipping, with a loop of knicker elastic? Yes. If that's not what it is, clearly not.

French Skipping, with a loop of knicker elastic?

We called that Chinese Jump Rope. It was a fad for awhile when I was about 10, and they sold already-made elastic loops in different colors for about a dollar or two. Never thought of just using regular elastic.

French Skipping, with a loop of knicker elastic? Yes. If that's not what it is, clearly not.

Ours was a bunch of rubber bands joined together, and people would hold it at different heights (ankles, knees, arms-length, hips, waist, underarms, shoulders, arms-length) and other people had to jump over them without letting the elastics touch the ground. Up to about hips, you had to clear the elastics without touching them at all.

We called that Chinese Jump Rope.

I figured it probably wasn't from France.

I can't remember the rhymes we used, which is odd, because when I knew them I thought I'd know them forever.

But have you seen the UK equivalent, Bulldog? 30 kids each side of a "pitch". They run at each other and try and force the other side back. No rules

We had to play this in gym class in elementary school. Only with fewer kids, because we had a class of 20 or 21. Still. (shudder)

Am-chau, I can only remember one right now...

Ours was a bunch of rubber bands joined together, and people would hold it at different heights (ankles, knees, arms-length, hips, waist, underarms, shoulders, arms-length) and other people had to jump over them without letting the elastics touch the ground. Up to about hips, you had to clear the elastics without touching them at all.

That's different-- ours depended on jumping on the elastic with your feet: two people would put the elastic round them (again, starting with ankles and moving up), and you had to land on it in specific patterns, saying the silly rhyme to help you remember what you where doing.

Dammit, now I want to stand up and see if I can use the lines between the cork floor tiles to see if I can remember any of them. I'd get some strange looks.

We had to play this in gym class in elementary school.

Yeah, bulldog and dodge ball both. I find it interesting that the really shudder-inducingly brutal games were the ones the gym teachers imposed on us, not the ones that we kids came up with ourselves.