When I was growing up British Bulldog was a popular game that we played in the schoolyard during playtime breaks. It is considered a sporting game commonly played in playgrounds, schoolyards and on athletic fields in various parts of the world, but was very common in the UK.
Here are the basic rules for playing British Bulldog:
To Begin:
- You really do need at least five players, but the more merrier.
- A place with enough space to play the game, like a field or playground, with chosen designated boundaries for the play area.
- Choose one player (or sometimes two depending on how many are playing) to be the “bulldog.” The bulldog stands in the center of the play area.
Gameplay:
- All the other players (the runners) line up at one end of the play area.
- The bulldog yells, “British Bulldog!”
- When the shout is heard, all the other players must run from one end of the play area to the other, staying within the boundaries.
- The object of the game is for the runners to reach the opposite end of the play area without being tagged by the bulldog.
- If the bulldog tags a runner, they become a bulldog themselves for the next round.
Winning:
- The game continues with multiple rounds, with tagged runners then becoming bulldogs. The more bulldogs there are, the more difficult it is for the runners to get across.
- Depending on how many are playing, you can choose to only have so many bulldogs at any one time. The tagged players taking turns.
- The last runner remaining without being tagged wins the game.
British Bulldog is characterized by its physicality, as the bulldog used to have to take the runner down to the ground to stop them from crossing to the other side. That way the runner stood more of a chance of getting there, by being able to wrestle with the bulldog and get away. Over the years it changed to be more like tag, which also made it much more difficult to get across to the other side.
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Wow I love the art Pennie! I used to play British Bulldog when I was a kid too. We played the ‘roughhouse’ version when it was only the lads. When the girls wanted to join in we played the tag version. Only when we were in the playing field though on grass, the school grounds were too hard! Thank you for sharing.
HI Terry, thank you for your comment and for your kind words about my art :). I do remember playing the same way too. If the boys were playing by themselves it was always with the original rules of being ‘grounded’. If the girls played it was usually by the tag rules, but not always!!