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In grateful
appreciation to:
Bob Grigg
Curator:
Colebrook Historical
Society
Municipal Historian:
Town of Colebrook,
County of Litchfield,
State of Connecticut, USA
"Anty Over is played in an open yard
surrounding a low building. There are no boundaries except fences,
roads or woods. The only equipment is a large, soft ball, like a
volleyball."
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Of all the various games that are played at
the Rock School, none is
 more popular than
“Anty Over the Shanty”. Modern playgrounds and athletic fields have
standardized the games school children play, but in the era of the one room
school, a completely different set of diversions were in place.
In a survey conducted in rural northwestern
Georgia, in the heart of the Southern Appalachians, more old timers
remembered playing Anty Over than any other game. This was not
considered surprising, since it can be played anywhere there is a low
building and some yard on both sides. The surprising element was the
general agreement on the rules of the game. A few variations will be
listed at the end of this paper.
How to Play:
Anty Over is played in an open yard
surrounding a low building. There are no boundaries except fences,
roads or woods. The only equipment is a large, soft ball, like a
volleyball.
It can be played by large or small groups.
Divide up into two equal sides. The
object is to capture the players on the other side and avoid capture
yourself.
The two teams gather on opposite sides of the
building so they are out of sight of each other. The team with the
ball, Team A, shouts “Anty Over!” and one member throws the ball over the
building toward the other side. Skillful players try to bounce the
ball off the roof to make it difficult to catch. If a member of Team B
does catch the ball, the whole team rushes around the building (running
around each side) toward Team A, throwing the ball at members of Team A.
Anyone hit is captured and then belongs to Team B.
Meanwhile, Team A members try to go past Team
B to B’s side of the building. Members of Team A who get to the other side
of the building are safe – they cannot be captured.
If no one on Team B catches the ball, they
shout “Anty Over!” and one member throws the ball over the building toward
Team A.
After Team B has its turn, whether anyone on
that team catches the ball or not, then it is their turn to “Anty Over” and
avoid capture. The two sides alternate until one side captures
everyone on the other side or until the game is stopped by dinner time,
darkness, or the school bell. The side with the most captures wins.
Obviously there is a lot of running, confusion
and trickery. One old timer remembered: “You see, you couldn’t
tell whether the other side caught the ball or not, because you couldn’t see
on the other side of the house. So everybody was peekin’ around the
corner to see who was coming. But you still didn’t know who had the ball
because everybody had their hand behind them, pretending to have the ball.”
Variations:
The player who catches the ball holds on to it
and tags players on the opposite team, rather than throwing it at them, and
the team with the ball could hand it off to one another while they were
trying to capture players on the other side.
What everybody remembered was there were no
umpires or referees, yet no one could remember any cheating. If they didn’t
catch a ball, they just didn’t catch it. Everybody was trusted. It
never crossed anyone’s mind of somebody cheating and saying, “Yeah, I caught
it” when he didn’t.
- Bob Grigg
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