Tom Dudones:  

Slaughter – no game for sissies As a kid you learn to play all sorts of games – tag, hide & seek, marbles, tops, catch, etc. Then as you get a bit older, the games usually get a bit more complicated, with rules to follow, special equipment, definite goals and teams. Games like baseball, softball, basketball, football. Yes, lots of games involve a special ball, loads of rules, specific scoring, set number of players per side, and so on. . But then can there be some games that have few or no rules at all? No set number of players, not even definite teams at all? Finite time limit to end the game – innings, set amount of playing time, or even a score, like in tennis. And what about a ball? Or need there be a ball at all? How can you have a game without all these factors? Well, you sure can. We came up with just such a game when I was in St Clare of Montefalco Middle School on the South side of Chicago in the 1950s. The game was called Slaughter. There were no set teams as such, but generally anyone you knew or was in your class was a potential team mate. The goal of the game was to be in possession of the ball/cap/glove/shoe/school eraser/etc when the recess bell was rung at the end of lunch period. The game would begin with someone throwing the chosen object far out onto the field and yelling out “Slaughter”. At which point the entire group would race toward the ball or whatever was being used, and first one there grabbed it and ran like hell. The entire group would then chase the person with the ball, eventually tackling him (girls were’ allowed to participate, though I don’t remember any complaining about that) and snatching the ball away. Then that kid would be the target of our mass aggression and chased until, etc. Of course, if you were smart and wanted to avoid being trampled by the mob, then just before you were going to be run down, you would toss the ball to a “team mate” – or anybody who happened to be handy. Let them be the target of the mobs fury. The game generally continued until the lunch bell rang. The winner was the person/team that had possession of the ball/cap/ eraser. One lunch hour, however the Slaughter game didn’t quite go according to the usual scheme. We boys were all out from lunch and Pat had grabbed a blackboard eraser from one of the classrooms to use as “the ball”. “Hey, look what I got for Slaughter.” Patrick O'Mahonney hollered out to the gang. “This’ll be great. It’s easy to hang on to and you can still throw it far and can even catch it with one hand. ” “Yeah, so let’s go.” shouted Jim Dalton, as he hit Pat with a pretty good tackle, causing Pat to drop the eraser. Arnie Baltrusaitis snatched it up off the ground and took off across the field, with about forty guys chasing after him. “Come an’ get it, you guys.” Arnie shouted over his shoulder. He was a fast runner and would have kept ahead of us had he not tripped. Down Arnie went, the eraser tumbling off in the weeds. Jim Dalton grabbed up the eraser and took off. Now Jim was a good runner, but not as fast as some of the guys. He knew he wouldn’t stay ahead for long, so he pivoted and ran right at the mob! “You want it, you’ll have to take it from me.” Jim hollered and he plowed into the group, straight-arming the first would-be tackler – me. - right to my chest, a...Expand for more