How to play Line Tag, also called Pacman Tag

A fun game both indoors and out, especially on basketball courts is Line Tag, also called Pacman Tag. The concentration required to move and balance along the lines adds a whole new level of fun to this tag game. The Game of the Week is Cooperative Pacman Tag!

Group Size: 

 Large group (10 or more)

Age Group: 

 Pre K-Grade 5

Length of Activity: 

 10 minutes or more

Developmental Goal: 

 To develop evasion skills and strategy.

Equipment: 

 None

Before You Start: 
  • Demonstrate safe tagging:

    • Light touch, like a butterfly wings, on back or shoulder
    • Unsafe tags: hard contact that might cause the person being tagged to fall
  • Review the lines on the ground
  • Explain the signal when the game will start and end
  • Designate a start place for tagger(s)

Set Up: 

Designate a safe playing area large enough to run in with connected lines on the ground (use gym if available)

How To Play: 
  • Select one or two player(s) depending on the group and area size to be the tagger or “pac person/people”
  • The object is to avoid being tagged by a pac person by walking/running ONLY along the lines on the ground.
  • A pac person can also only move along the lines on the ground
  • A runner may not jump from line to line (i.e. on a basketball court, players may not jump from top of the key to the free throw line, etc.)
  • If a someone is tagged, they sit down on the line where they were tagged and become a barrier. No runners may pass a sitting person, but a pac person can pass.
  • The game continues until there is only one or two players left or until all others have been tagged.

Variations: 
  • Modify how they can move along the lines, such as tip toeing.
  • Allow players sitting to be additional sitting taggers and switch places with a running player if they tag them while sitting.
  • Have tagged people become taggers and play until everyone is a pac person.
  • Add additional pac people to make the game more difficult.

 

Find more new and exciting games in our games database!
 

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