Landje veroveren is a game a Dutch friend of mine loved to play when she was younger. The title can be translated to “Conquer Land”. In this article, you are going to find out what this means and, most importantly, how you can play this game. It is really fun and dynamic, and you can have a thrilling competition with your friends. I think it sounds like a lot of fun, and you should definitely try it and gain an insight into the schoolyards of the Netherlands.

What do you need?
To play a round of ‘Landje veroveren’ you will only need some chalk and a free space on the ground to draw the field markings. Of course, a ball is required for the ballgame variation of this game.

Who plays?
I would say the game is perfect for children of preschool age or older. 2-8 motivated players are needed to make the game work.

How to play “Landje Veroveren”?
The first step is to draw a circle on the floor with chalk, and then divide the circle into as many parts as the number of people you are playing it with. Additionally, you draw a smaller circle in the middle: “No-Man’s Land’.
Each player now chooses a box and puts his or her name in it (you could also think of nicknames). The box with your name in it is your piece of land. Everyone takes turns capturing a piece of land. You do this by running around the circle three times as a land conqueror and yelling “Stop”. In the meantime, all other players have fled their countries and are as far away from the circle as possible. It is now up to the land conqueror to try to tap the other players from his own piece of land in order to conquer a piece of land. There should always be one foot touching the land! You can lay on the ground, but you have to touch your land in some way. When this succeeds, draw a circle around that person and put your name in it. You can now use this to conquer more land. After a predetermined amount of time, it is determined who has conquered the most land and who is the winner.

Variations
The chalk lines on the ground remain the same as in the normal game. Instead of running around the circle three times, one person throws the ball in the air and calls out the name of the person who gets to conquer land (‘Be careful, the ball is for… NAME!’/’I declare war on… LAND!’). Once the ball is released, the rest try to run as far as possible, and the one whose name has been called tries to get the ball as fast as possible. As soon as the player has the ball, he or she shouts “STOP!”. Everyone then stands still, turns to him, and spreads their legs. The land conqueror now gets to pick someone to roll the ball through their legs. He has to roll the ball from where he caught it. When he succeeds in rolling the ball through someone’s legs, a circle is drawn around this person with chalk, and the name of the land conqueror is written in it. He is safe in this location for the next turn; no one else can conquer this piece of land. This person is also the next to throw the ball and declare war. If the ball catcher has the ball and has called stop, and his own piece of land is one step/jump away from him he may go there(also prove that he can do so in one step or jump) to roll the ball through someone’s legs from there. This way he can take several steps if he has several countries in a row. In the end, it is again about who has the most land.

Have fun playing this game with your friends!