Orange County, Calif., mid-70s….
Orange County, Calif., mid-70s. Played a game we called Butts Up, with the same consequences for the loser as the Asses Up described on this site. The rules: anywhere from 3 to 20 guys would stand 10 to 15 feet from a garage door or school wall. Someone would throw a tennis ball against the wall and anyone could pick it up, but you were only allowed to use one hand. If you dropped the ball or if the ball hit any part of your body and then hit the ground, you had to run and touch the garage/wall before someone else picked up the ball and winged it at you. If you made it to the wall without getting hit, you were safe. If you got hit, you had one point against you. Three points, and you were Butts Up. Loser would kneel down, facing wall with butt sticking up. Rest of players would line up and fire the ball at your rear. Worst part was if you were playing at recess during school — five guys may be playing, but as soon as someone was Butts Up, 30 guys lined up for target practice.
In addition to the big three sports, we also played a lot of Over the Line (tons of variations) and basketball games like Around the World, HORSE and Poison.