Jailer

Updated: Dec 5, 2024

How to Play:

Set up eight chairs equally in a square formation.
A player should be standing behind each chair. They will be the Guards. Guards should be standing half an arm-length behind the chair.
Remaining players take a seat on an empty chair. They will be the Prisoners.
There will be some chairs without anybody sitting in them, but with someone standing behind.
Prisoners look around to the Guards standing behind an empty chair. The empty-chair Guards give permission for a Prisoner to come to their chair by making contact and discretely winking at a Prisoner.
Once a Prisoner is winked at, they must get from their current chair to the open chair without being tagged by the Guard standing behind them.
Once their Prisoner gets out of the chair, Guards can tap the Prisoner on the back. If they manage to tag the Prisoner, the Prisoner must go back to their seat and try again. If the guard does not tag the Prisoner, Prisoner goes to their new jail and finds a new empty-chair Guard to make contact with and receive a wink.
Once a Prisoner has successfully moved five times, they shout out “I win!” and the game is over.
Prisoners switch with the Guards behind them, and the game begins again.
Play enough rounds of this game so that all players have a chance to be a Prisoner at least once. Most likely they will end up being a Guard 2-3 times for each one time as a Prisoner.

Credit: John Beale