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For other uses, see Hide and Seek. | Marco Polo | | | Players | 2 or more | | Age range | 4-18 | | Setup time | < 1 minute | | Playing time | no limit | | Random chance | Low | | Skills required | Swimming, Slyness, Hearing | | The game of Marco Polo is a form of tag, often played in a swimming pool. The game is popular in the UK, United States, Australia, Argentina, Canada, Paraguay and Brazil, and possibly in other parts of the world. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
This article concentrates on human swimming. ...
Hearing is the following: Hearing is the sense by which sound is perceived. ...
Tug of war is an easily organized, impromptu game that requires little equipment. ...
Tag (also known as it, had, he, tips, tig, touch, tiggy, tick, dobby, chasing, chasemaster, chasey and other names) is an informal playground game that usually involves two or more players attempting to tag other players by touching them with an object, usually their hands. ...
This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...
Rules The game is played by three or more people. At any time there is one distinguished player, "It", who must usually wait a certain number of seconds before swimming around the pool with his or her eyes closed, attempting to tag the other players. The "It" player can only sense where the other players are by sound, but may call out "Marco!", at which point all the other players are required to yell "Polo!". When the "It" player succeeds in tagging another player, the latter becomes "It". Tag (also known as it, had, he, tips, tig, touch, tiggy, tick, dobby, chasing, chasemaster, chasey and other names) is an informal playground game that usually involves two or more players attempting to tag other players by touching them with an object, usually their hands. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
This article concentrates on human swimming. ...
There are a few common minor variations. Fish-out-of-water allows the non-It players to get out of the pool (thus protecting themselves from being tagged by the water-bound "It"), however, should "It" call "fish out of water" while some one is out of the pool, that person becomes "It". If there is more than one person out of the water, the person who is "It" has the choice of picking anyone out of water to become "It". If "It" should call fish-out-of-water when nobody is out of the pool, "It" must redo the beforehand count.
"Mermaid on rocks" is a variant itself of fish-out-of-water. This is when a person is sitting on the ledge of the pool with their legs in but their body is out. When the "it" person calls mermaid on rocks, and someone is doing this, they are it.
Alligator Eyes allows "It" to call out "alligator eyes" or "submarine" and then swim underwater with eyes open for one breath. Usually, "It" is limited to one use of alligator eyes. Other variations on this rule allow "It" to look around underwater but not to move until he or she is above water with eyes closed once again.
A variant in the mid-western United States, "Speedo Torpedo," is played with much of the same rules as standard Marco Polo, except for the lack of bathing suit bottoms. "It" is not allowed to use "its" hands or feet to tag other participants, but must find a more creative way of getting others out.
Variations There are many variants to this game. It may be played on dry ground; in that case, it is similar to "blind man's bluff". Women playing Blind Mans Bluff in 1803. ...
Another variant is "Sharks and Minnows" or "Silent Witness", which uses the tag rules of Marco Polo, but the players are not required to make a sound at any time. Sharks and Minnows is a popular tag game played in swimming pools. ...
In Argentinian Marco Polo, the one who is "It" has to grab the tagged one and say his name out loud. If said correctly, the tagged one becomes "It". If not, the player who is "It" has to start again. Argentina is a Spanish-speaking country in southern South America, situated between the Atlantic Ocean in the east. ...
Media references - Bart and Lisa are shown playing Marco Polo in the episode "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" of The Simpsons. During the scene, Bart tiptoes around the edge of the pool while Lisa, oblivious to the fact that he is cheating, continues to shout "Marco...Marco."
- In the South Park episode "Super Best Friends", Stan plays a sort of game similar to this to find his Super Best Friend, Kyle by calling out the famous catchphrase "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" (usually said after the death of the character Kenny in that period), to which Kyle responded "You Bastards!" Stan kept calling out his catchphrase, and Kyle kept responding, until Stan followed his voice straight to him.
- In one of the Easter eggs of Teen Girl Squad episode 6, Cheerleader calls out "Marco" from inside a lion's mouth. What's Her Face answers "Polo" (from outside the lion), whereupon Cheerleader calls "Fish out of water."
- In the movie Wild Hogs, a gay policeman catches up with the four protagonists, who are skinny-dipping in a pool, and initiates a game of Marco Polo.
- In one comic from Penny Arcade, a zombie is shown wandering around saying "Marco...Marco..." While one of the protagonists prevents the other from saying "Polo", telling him he "really doesn't want to do that."
- In Garfield 2, the rabbit exclaims "Who wants to play Marco Polo?!"
- In this strip of M, after turning his entire flat into a huge ball pit, Mads swims around, saying "Polo... Polo?", and is caught by surprise as his girlfriend performs a "bomb jump"
- In Alpha Dog the main hero Zach and two girls are playing Marco Polo.
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