Birdie on a Perch

Numbers needed: At least 6, up to 30ish.

Space:  Yard or park space - room to run and fall down.  

Basic rules:  Again, this is a partner game, although this time, you and your partner are trying to beat all other partners.  At the beginning of the game, you and your partner decide who is the birdie and who is the perch.  

Role options:

Perch sets a stable base and birdie will jump on and off the perch's back.  

Perch stands and birdie runs around the perch.  

Perch stands and birdie jumps into perch's arms.

One player or an audience member acts as the caller.  The caller yells "birdie on a perch," "perch on a birdie," "down,"or "scramble!"  Based on the group's decision of which role option to use for this particular round, when the first two calls are yelled, the partners act appropriately.  For example, say we decided to choose option a.  When the caller yells "birdie on a perch!" the player who is the birdie for that round jumps on their partner's back.  When all partners are up, the caller yells "down."  If the caller would have called (or now decides to call) "perch on a birdie," the player who is the perch for that round jumps on their partner, the birdie's, back.  

The caller may call "perch on a birdie/down" or "birdie on a perch/down" as many times as they want, but the craziness really begins when they choose to call "scramble!" At this point, the birdie and the perch take off in opposite directions around the circle of other players (who are also running in opposite directions around the circle) until they return to their original location.  Options for this point of the game include returning to the last caller position (say, perch on a birdie) and the last team to get into that position would lose.  Another option includes having the perch return and stand with wide legs so the birdie can dive through their legs and grab an item in the center of the circle, where there are less items than partner pairs.