How To Play Capture The Flag

Capture the Flag is a classic kids game that combines strategy and teamwork with the game of tag. Here’s how to play Capture the Flag so you can give the kids a fun way to spend their time and get some exercise without even realising it!

What you need for a Game of Capture the Flag:

Capture the Flag is a pretty simple game; just grab the flag from the opposing team’s base and take it to your home base without losing it.Two Flags

One different flag for each time so the kids can tell them apart

The flag could be something as simple as an old bandanna or cloth if you don’t have any flags lying around

How to Set up a Game of Capture the Flag:

• Divide the children into two equal (if possible) teams
• Determine the territory, boundary, and base of each team
• A typical setup is that one team will control the back yard while another team will control the front yard
• Each team will then need to choose where the flag and jail for their team will be

The flag needs to be placed in a visible location where all the kids can see it. The teams are also not allowed to move their flags themselves and change where it goes. You should set up a safety zone around each flag. This is a 10 – 15’ circle around the flag. Members of the team that the flag belongs to are not allowed to enter this circle unless a member of the opposing team enters it first. This keeps everything fair and stops kids moving their own flag.

How to Play Capture the Flag:

The teams should essentially split in two with one group of kids going to the enemy territory to capture their flag while the rest stay behind to guard their own flag. If you get tagged by an opposing team member then you are “caught” and you need to go to their jail.

The only way that you can get out of jail is to be tagged by a member of your team, and you can only free one person from jail at a time. After one team captures a flag then they need to get back to their territory without being “caught” to win the game. If the person with the flag is tagged then they need to go to jail and the flag is returned to where it was before

Capture the Flag Variations

If you want to spice up your game of Capture the Flag there are some options you can go with. Here are some of the most common:

Spies and Lookouts

When a team places their flag the other team can send out “spies” to find the flag ready for when the game begins. There are also lookouts who keep an eye out for these spies and stop them.

Jail Chain

This is a variation that you can do when the jail is far from the boundary line. The players of the team form a human chain between the jail and the boundary. The more people that you have in the jail the easier it is to get them out with a jail chain.

Jail Break

If both teams agree to it going into the game you can also play a variation where both teams are allowed to shout “JAIL BREAK!” to automatically free everyone who is in jail on both sides and return them back to their home territory.