This is a fun Spanish game, which one of my friends loved to play in preschool. You may know it as ‘Red Light, Green Light’, ‘1,2,3 Soleil, or ‘1,2,3 Ochs am Berg’. It is a well-known and loved game all over the world. So, if you don’t know it yet, you should definitely keep reading and give it a try.
What do you need?
The best part about this game is that you don’t need any materials. Only some motivated friends as well as some space on the schoolyard or on a street are needed; for that, you should, of course, always make sure that there are no cars driving and that it is a safe place to play and run around.
Who plays?
Children in preschool and older will undoubtedly enjoy this game. It works best with a large group with a minimum of four players.
How to play “1,2,3 Escondite Inglés”?
There is one person standing at the end of the field: the curator. Everyone else playing stands at the far end. Thereby, the distance depends on the area you have available for your game. The curator on one side of the playing field turns around. As he or she is not facing all the others anymore, they can run and try to come as close as possible to the other side of the field. When the curator turns around, they must freeze in place and remain motionless as long as the curator is facing them.
They can even be examined, to make sure that they don’t move. But be careful there, as soon as the curator turns his or her back on them, they can move.
If one of the players is caught moving, they are sent back to the starting line to begin again, or they are eliminated.
The goal is to reach the other side of the field without getting caught. Then, this player becomes the new curator.
Variations
Of course, you can adjust the level of stringency in terms of how much movement is allowed while the curator is looking. Maybe allow general movement as long as the feet are not moving, or restrict any kind of movement-even facial expressions. There, it could be fun to make it harder for the players, as the curator makes jokes or funny faces.
Another variation could be to use other colors than just red and green. While red lights mean stop and green lights mean run, yellow lights only mean slow motion. You could also be creative and come up with different colors, like purple for hopping, tiptoeing, etc.
In addition, that game can be played, insight. You can declare that running is not permitted and walk through the game. That is a nice way to add variety to sitting around and doing nothing on a rainy day.
In general, this is just the basic idea of that game, and you can come up with endless variations. Just be creative and try to figure out for your group what works and what doesn’t. Have fun playing, and remember to stay safe!
