WHAT ARE STREET GAMES?

These are the games that children play out-of-doors just for fun, when there are no adults around to tell them what to do or how to do it."" No books either, as we recall--but then Ravielli avoids laying down rules here, though he is very much the responsible adult. Mostly he just offers an informal running catalogue, with a few historical notes and some self-evident generalizations (""children play street games any time they want to play and have friends to play with""). The games include various forms of tag, hide-and-seek, follow-the-leader (this can be ""harmless fun for some groups and foolish tests of courage for others""), foot races, tug-of-war, leapfrog, and others--such as hopscotch, marbles, and ""spaldeen"" ball--that require simple equipment. As such enterprises go, this is respectable, but it hasn't much flair.