Bucket Fishing | Details

Rules for a field game from summer camp.

Posted on 2020-02-02

About

At Camp K in 2000 I made up four games that all belonged to a family of hide-and-seek games. I gave it the code name bucket fishing. The original game came from an activity class that Tracker and I had during Pirate Week. We used toys and play structures such as action figures and sand castles with twigs and old man's beard. The next summer Polliwog, Quan, and I adapted those rules for people during a cookout at the Outpost. We intended it to replace the existing, local version of kick-the-can and gave it a name after a popular video game. But I quickly realized that in order to truly keep in the spirit of stealth, I needed to give it a new name that I could write down in plain text. Hence forth, all my create-some-fun sessions would have the words "bucket fishing".

Mines Mode

In mines, players needed to get from point A to B and then take the MacGuffin back to A. Or just get to B to disarm the it-person for shorter games. The it-person would mark places where if someone stepped they would lose and go back to the beginning.

Turret Mode

In this version, players needed to get from point A to B. Usually we played this in the open field hiding in plain sight. The it-person lies down on the ground so even the slightest hill or tall grass can give players some cover. The it-person closes their eyes and yells out "Shields down!" to signal to the players they can move around in the open. After closing their eyes, the it-person counts down "Five, four, three, two, one, shields up!" and then opens their eyes back up. The it-person calls out anyone they can see. With smaller groups they must say the person's name. Otherwise just a description such as "You in the red hat!" calls the player out. In harder games, anyone they can hear.

Variations

• In the true "bucket fishing" variation, players start with an empty bucket, fill it with water, and then dump it on the it-person instead of just getting to point B.
• In "tank mode" the it-person can crawl around and open their eyes to avoid tripping while counting down. But they must stop and have their eyes closed again by the time they say "Shields up!" before opening their eyes again.