Steal the Bacon: Rules, Calls & Variations

• 6–12

  Ages

• 6+

  Players

• Outdoors

  Where

• 15–25 min

  How long

Steal the bacon is a dash game dressed up as a guessing game: two teams line up facing each other, every player on each side gets the same number as their opposite number on the other team, and an object sits on the center line. Call a number, and the two matching players sprint for the object — grab it clean and get back to your own line before the other player tags you, and your team scores. It needs almost no equipment and works on nearly any patch of open ground, which is most of the appeal.

This covers how to call numbers so nobody feels singled out, what actually works as the bacon better than an actual piece of bacon, and the one rule that resolves the argument every group eventually has: what happens when both players grab it at the same time.

Calling numbers fairly, and object ideas

Number each team identically — if there are eight players a side, both teams count off one to eight, so every player has exactly one opposite number on the other team. Call numbers in a genuinely random order rather than working up from one, and call each number roughly the same number of times across a full game; a caller who keeps favoring low numbers early gives those players more turns than everyone else, which the group notices fast. Keeping a running score somewhere both teams can see also helps — it gives the game a shape, and it settles the constant question of who's winning without anyone having to ask.

As for the bacon itself: a rolled-up sock, a small beanbag, a soft toy or a cone all work better than anything you'd actually want two children colliding over — nothing breakable, nothing with sharp corners, and nothing valuable enough that a fumbled grab causes an argument on its own. A rag or scarf, knotted into a ball, is the traditional choice and costs nothing.

Resolving a tie grab — and what goes wrong

The single most common dispute in this game is what happens when both players reach the object at exactly the same moment. Decide the rule before you start, not after the first tie: the simplest fair option is that whoever's hand is touching it when the tie is called owns it and can now run for home, tagged out if caught before crossing their own line. State it out loud at the start so nobody's inventing the rule mid-argument.

The game usually goes wrong when the running lanes aren't clear of the other players still standing in line — a sprinting child colliding with a teammate who forgot to step back is the most common injury in this game, not the tag itself. Keep both teams a full step behind their own line at all times, not just the two players whose number was called, and mark the center line and the two home lines clearly enough that nobody's guessing where the boundary actually is mid-sprint.

Dodgeball is the other high-energy outdoor game worth pairing with this one — see dodgeball for kids for the version with balls instead of a dash.

What you need

• One object to be the bacon — a rolled-up sock, a beanbag, a cone, or a soft toy
• Two lines of cones or tape marking each team's home line
• Enough open, flat ground between the two lines for a clean sprint

How to play steal the bacon

1. 1Split into two teams of equal size, standing in lines facing each other about twenty-five to thirty feet apart, with a clear center line between them.
2. 2Number each team identically from one upwards, so every player has exactly one opposite number on the other side.
3. 3Place the object — the bacon — on the center line, equidistant between both teams.
4. 4Call out a single number at random; the two players holding that number sprint for the object.
5. 5Whoever grabs it must get back across their own team's line without being tagged by the other player to score a point; if they're tagged first, the point goes to the tagging team instead.
6. 6Reset the object on the center line and call a new number for the next round.

Variations