How to Play Red Rover

By Jaques of London · Est. 1795 · Updated 2026-08-17

Red Rover is a running and physical contact team game for large groups, played outdoors on grass or any open flat space. Two teams form human chains by linking hands, then dare individual opponents to charge at full speed and try to burst through. It is loud, fast, and genuinely exciting for players of almost any age.

The game works because it balances pure physical effort against tactics: defenders must decide who stands next to whom, and attackers must pick the weakest link in the chain. It needs no equipment, scales easily from eight to thirty or more players, and a round fills a lunch break or a long afternoon depending on group size.

A little history

The exact origins of Red Rover are unclear. The game is documented in British and American sources from at least the late nineteenth century and appears to belong to the broad family of traditional British playground chain-breaking games. Some researchers connect it to older tag and prisoner games common across northern Europe, but no firm written record pins down a single inventor, date, or place of origin.

Setting up

1. Count all players and divide them into two roughly equal teams. Teams of four to fifteen per side all work well.
2. Pace out two parallel lines roughly 10 to 15 metres apart, marked by natural boundaries or agreed landmarks such as a fence line and a path edge.
3. Each team stands on one of the lines, facing the opposing team.
4. Players on each team join hands firmly with the players on either side of them to form a continuous chain. The chain should be shoulder-width spacing; no one should stretch uncomfortably.
5. Decide which team calls first. A coin toss or simple agreement works fine.
6. Confirm that the playing area behind each team is clear of obstacles, as runners will sometimes fail to break through and need safe room to stop.

How to play

1. The calling team confers briefly and chooses one player from the opposing team by name.
2. The whole calling team shouts together: 'Red Rover, Red Rover, send [name] on over!'
3. The named player immediately leaves their team's line and runs at full speed towards the calling team's chain.
4. The runner aims to break through the chain by forcing apart any two linked hands. The runner may choose any point in the chain to target.
5. The defending chain must hold firm: players grip each other's hands tightly and brace. They may not move their feet to block the runner's path, reposition along the line, or let go deliberately.
6. If the runner breaks through the chain, they return to their own team and may bring one player of their choice from the calling team back with them. That captured player joins the runner's team for the rest of the game.
7. If the runner fails to break through, they are captured: they join the calling team, linking into that chain at the point where they were stopped.
8. The turn now passes to the opposite team, who call a player from the other side. Teams alternate calls throughout the game.
9. Play continues, with chains growing and shrinking as players are captured or won back, until one team has collected all players or the agreed time limit expires.

Winning and scoring

The team that captures every player from the opposing side wins outright. In practice, with large groups or limited time, most players agree a time limit before starting and the team with the most players when time is called wins. There is no formal points system in the traditional game.

The fine points

The most common dispute is whether a break was genuine. A break counts only if the runner forces two players' hands fully apart and passes through the gap with their body. If the runner only causes hands to slip momentarily but does not pass through, the chain is considered held and the runner is captured. Players who deliberately open their grip to let a runner through are penalised: the runner is declared safe and returns to their own team without a capture, and the offending player may be asked to sit out a turn at the discretion of the group.

A runner who trips and falls before reaching the chain, or who veers wide and does not make a genuine attempt, is typically ruled captured at the discretion of both teams. Shoulder charges directly at a single person rather than at a link between two players are discouraged and considered poor form; most groups rule that a runner must aim at a joined-hands point, not at a player's body. On hard surfaces or with very young children, the game is often played with a softer contact rule where the chain drops hands and the runner simply runs through a designated gap, removing the physical collision element entirely.

How to win more often

• Target the weakest link literally: look for a large height or strength mismatch between two adjacent defenders, or a player who looks uncertain in their grip, and aim there.
• When building your chain, put your physically stronger players at the ends where the line anchors, and alternate stronger and weaker players throughout so there is no obvious weak point.
• As a runner, commit fully and run at full pace. Hesitating or slowing before impact makes it far easier for the chain to hold. Momentum is your main advantage.
• When choosing who to call over, target either the opposing team's strongest runner before they become hard to stop, or their weakest chain member so that breaking through is more likely when they eventually charge you.
• Watch how the opposing chain grips after each attempt. If a particular pair of players are shaking out their hands or adjusting their grip, they are the natural target for your next call.

Variations

Timed Rounds

Rather than playing until one team is eliminated, set a fixed time of five or ten minutes per round. The team holding the most players when time expires wins that round. Play a best-of-three series. This version suits large groups and keeps energy levels high because no one is sitting out for long.

No Capture on Break

In this simplified version, a runner who breaks through simply returns to their own team without taking a captive. The only way to gain players is to hold your chain. This reduces strategic calling and makes the game more accessible for younger or mixed-age groups who find the capture mechanic confusing.

Soft Contact Version

Players link arms at the elbow rather than gripping hands, or the chain drops hands completely and simply stands shoulder to shoulder. The runner must push between two players without barging directly into them. Widely used in school settings or on hard surfaces where full-contact play is not appropriate.

Three Teams

With very large groups of twenty-four or more, form three teams standing in a triangle roughly ten metres apart. The team with the most recent successful break gets to call next, and they may call from either of the other two teams. The first team eliminated drops out, and the remaining two play a straight final. This version suits playground sessions where numbers are uneven and keeps more players active at once.

Red Rover: frequently asked questions