Andy-Over

     Pigtail!

     That’s what you said when your throw was errant and you had to try again.  As the game evolved, “Pigtail!” could be a fake.  Watch out!

     The game was called “Andy-over”, or was it ”Auntie-over”? or “Anti-over”?  I never knew for sure.  Still don’t.

      It required a building, a ball and a few players.  The players divided into two teams.  The teams stood on opposite sides of the building.  One team called, “Andy-over” and threw a ball over the rooftop.  The team on the other side watched for the ball and tried to catch it before it hit the ground.

      If they caught the ball before it struck the ground, they were entitled to run around the building to try to tag opposing players with the ball.  “Tagging” included throwing the ball to hit one of the opposition.  The player(s) who were tagged or hit by the ball had to switch sides and become a member of the enemy team.  The object was to get all of the other team’s players on your side.

       The team on defense tried to avoid being tagged by the ball.  The pursued team members were safe if they reached the other side of the building without being tagged or hit by the thrown ball.  The teams have then changed sides of the building.  That is, the survivors of the attack were on the other side.  Anyone hit by the ball stayed on the same side and became a member of the opposing team.

      Once things had settled down, the offensive team had to restart the game by calling out “Andy-over” and throwing the ball over the roof to the other side.  If a throw misfired, didn’t make it over the roof, then the thrower had to notify the opposite team by saying “Pigtail.”  Then “Andy-over” and the thrower tried again to get the ball over the roof to the other side.

      Again, the receiving team tried to catch the ball before it hit the ground.  If they did so, then they were entitled to chase around the building and try to tag some of the opposition.  If the ball evaded the receivers, they had to pick up the ball, call “Andy-over” and throw the ball back to the other side.  The game was over when one team had all the players on their side.

      It was a simple but exciting game.  There was a lot of tension when the ball disappeared over the roof and the throwing team waited to see if there would be a rush around the sides of the building and the subsequent tagging attempt.   If the receiving team failed to catch the ball, they would hear “Andy-over” and all eyes watched the roofline to see where the ball would appear.

     Obviously, you had to rely on the honesty of the receiving team as to whether they caught the ball or not.  The sound of “Andy-over” meant the receiving team failed to catch the ball and they were returning it for the other team to try to catch.

     The game involved strategy.  The throwing team was obligated to get the ball over the roof.  But the thrower could do everything in his power to make the ball difficult for the receivers to catch.  You could throw the ball diagonally across the roof, throw low and slow so the ball barely got over the roof and dribbled down the other side, or depending on the building, throw it high and make it bounce on the other side of the roof.  The ball would bounce off a slanted roof unpredictably, making it difficult for the receiving team to catch.

      Thus, not every throw resulted in a catch and a pursuit around the building.  A creative thrower could make it very difficult to catch the ball before it struck the ground.  The attempts to make deceptive throws often failed.  The thrower had to acknowledge his misthrow by calling out “Pigtail”.  Then, “Andy-over” put the receivers on alert again.

     Human beings are always challenging barriers, and the unwritten rules of Andy-Over got pushed a little.  It came to pass that a creative receiving team caught a ball cleanly.  Instead of hurrying around the building immediately to try to capture some of the enemy, a would-be thrower called out “Andy-over” to divert the unsuspecting receivers to the roofline and away from the building corners.  Then the fake-throwers ran around the building and caught their opponents with their heads up (maybe their pants were down).

     In a variation of the fake strategy, one imaginative thrower actually kicked the building after calling out “Andy-over” to simulate a mis-thrown ball.  He yelled “pigtail!” as his team headed around the corner to capture the enemy.        

      Thus, a bit of deception intruded on a game that called for basic honesty—truth-in-catching, so to speak.  Defensive strategies developed, too.  If your team had the manpower, two spies could be stationed by the two corners of the building to warn the team if the opponents were on the way.  Alternatively, a single safety could be stationed a few yards away from the building to keep an eye on both sides of the building.   The remote lookout was at a greater risk of capture since she had a longer ways to run to reach the safety of the other side of the building.

      It was a good game that involved teamwork, the excitement of pursuit and the suspense of being the hunted.  Everyone got lots of exercise running around the building.  You had to trust your opponent at the same time you suspected them as the enemy.

      When we played the game, we had two buildings to use.  One was a chicken house that had a sloped roof.  The high side was maybe ten feet high, the low side maybe six or seven feet high.  It required shorter distances to run, as it was about thirty feet wide and maybe twelve feet in depth. 

      The chicken house gave the throwing team lots of options, depending on which side of the building you were on.  From the low side, you could wind up and throw it as far as you could throw it, sort of like a lob in tennis.  The other extreme was a bowling type throw where you tried to get the ball to roll up the roof and trickle off the edge of the high side.

      From the high side, the bowl type throw wasn’t successful because the team on the low side could see the ball trickling down and had time to get in position to catch it.  A good throwing strategy form the high side was to throw the ball high and get it to land on the corrugated roof.  The ball would bounce off the roof in crazy angles, making it difficult to catch.

     Our other option was the main house.  It was two-story with a steep peaked roof.  Both sides had porches, and the east side had a chimney.  The chimney had to be avoided because a ball stuck behind the chimney was game-over.  A picket fence around the perimeter made catching difficult.  Just getting a ball over the high roof was a challenge for the smaller kids.  A ball landing on either porch roof made for unpredictable bounces.

      The distance running around the main house was much farther than running around the chicken house.  There weren’t near as many catches made when using the big house, so the running wasn’t as frequent as when using the chicken house.

    It was a fair-weather game that involved kids of all ages and sizes.   I look around my neighborhood and see all the nightmarish rooflines with juts and gables galore.  A lot of time would be spent getting the ball out of the neighbor’s back yard or from under the cars parked in the street.  Many front yards are separated from backyards by landscaping or fences, making it difficult or impossible to get from back o front yard  Besides, kids today would probably find the game not nearly as exciting as a video game.    

     The game is destined to become a relic of the past.  It was a fun and exciting relic.