Torpedo

This game is a gym version of the pool game “Sharks & Minnows.” Using a basketball court or marking your own, you need a large rectangle. Two kids are chosen as the “launchers” while the rest of the group (anywhere from 15 to 50 kids works fine) lines up outside one of the short sides of the rectangle. The launchers stand on either of the long sides of the rectangle, armed with dodgeballs or something similar. A leader or youth is the caller. The caller shouts “TORPEDO!” and the kids start to run as fast as they can to get past the line on the other side, where they are safe. While they are running, the launchers try to hit as many people as possible with their dodgeballs, while staying behind their own lines. They usually can only get one good throw in, since they can’t cross the line. Any runner who gets hit must sit down exactly where they are. They are now landmines.

Now it gets interesting. Each time the kids torpedo across the room, there are more and more landmines to hit them. The youth on the floor can try to touch the runners. Anyone touched must sit down too. Eventually you get down to two lonely runners, and finally, one winner.

Added by Becky Heffner