How to Play Freeze Tag

In 2004, a school dinner lady in Dorset was partially paralyzed when a boy playing tag rammed into her. Unfortunately, her claim for damage was ruled out by 3 Court of Appeal judges.

Tag is a game that is enjoyed by the young and the old, the quiet and the noisy, the big and the small, and everyone in between. It has been played for as long as we can all remember, and whether you were in the U.S, in Britain, in France, China, or India, you have played some form of tag or the other.

As of its versatility, the rules, requirements, and end goal, it can be played around with and shifted about. Today, we have over 20 distinct versions, like Zombie Tag, Blind Man's Bluff, Laser Tag, Duck, Duck Goose, Flashlight Tag, Cops and Robbers, Chain Tag, Shipwrecked, Kick the Can, and Paintball - all exciting and colorful forms of the classic.

✦ A group of 4 or more people

✦ A large, open space

✦ Time on your hands

✦ And some stamina!

You caught us there, we were trying to be funny with the last bit!

Just like a basic tag game, freeze tag too has one player has to chase around and tag (touch) other players. The player who is tagged, freezes in his/her place. They cannot move until another player tags them, which "de-freezes" them. This continues till all the players are frozen. Have a talk about playing the game in true spirit before you start.

Gather your posse and decide which member will take den. He or she can take a count till 5, while the other players will disperse, and then begin to chase them.

When a player is taged by a denner, he freezes. Another player has to come to the rescue of the frozen one, tag them or give them a high-five, which acts as a "melter" or "de-freeze".

This goes on till all the players are frozen. Based on how you choose to play, either the first player caught, or the last player frozen becomes the new denner.

So how easy was that? To spruce things up, this game can be turned on its head and played in a couple of different ways.

In your alternate version you can change a couple of things. If you're up for a serious game, you can allot a time limit. Within that time limit, if all players are frozen, then the denner wins. Alternately, the team wins, if the denner fails to complete his task.

If there is a large group, you can have two players acting as denner, this will make the game more challenging, and thus more interesting.

You can also give the denner a fair chance to win the game by setting the rules such that the player who is frozen cannot be rescued by their teammates.

You can also have a person who is tagged/frozen thrice in a row to be the new denner.

Another fun version, sometimes called Tunnel Freeze Tag is a form where to rescue a frozen player, a teammate has to crawl between their legs and tap them, which releases them from the freeze position.

In Chain Freeze Tag, freeze tag is merged with its counterpart, the Chain Tag. A player can be rescued by tagging him, and the latter links hands, thus forming a chain. They run together, rescuing other frozen teammates on the way. If the denner tags a player in the link, everyone freezes, until they get lucky with a free player who de-tags them.

Tag is a fun game where age or occupation never acts as a barrier, and you can enjoy this game with friends and family any time of the month, and through any season! Go tag!