All these games will help you practice stalking. Clock Hunt and Beat the Sentries are indoor games. For the Hide and Stalk game, you need a good outdoor stalking area. Look for a park or garden where there are bushes, dips in the land, long grass or clusters of trees to use as cover. This game will help you learn to use cover, to move quietly, to wait patiently and watchfully, and to spot without being spotted.
Use the indoor games below to train yourself to listen for tiny sounds, to move about silently and stay in one spot without moving.
Clock Hunt
Stalkers should use their ears as much as their eyes, particularly when following a Quarry in woods, dense undergrowth or at night. This game will help you practice doing this.
Any number of people can play. One person hides a clock with a loud tick somewhere in a room, while the other players wait outside. These players will have one minute to discover where the clock is hidden, without moving anything in the room.
Beat the Sentries
You need at least four players. Two stand blindfolded either side of an open door. The others, one by one, try to creep from the opposite wall through the door. If a sentry hears a player, he puts out his arm. If the player is touched he goes back to the wall. A player who gets past becomes a sentry.
Hide and Stalk
For this game, you need two players – Stalker and Quarry. If there is a third person, he can take the loser’s place after each round. Stalker and Quarry try to spot each other without being spotted.
Choose something like a fallen tree trunk or big stone as your base. The Stalker waits here while the Quarry runs off about 100 yards to hide. He can go further if cover is scarce, but he must stay within earshot. When he has hidden, he shouts “Ready!” Then the Stalker shouts “Ready!” and begins to stalk his Quarry.
The first one to spot the other calls his name and says “You’re spotted!” THe loser is the Stalker for the next round. To win the game, you have to make three spottings in a row.
When you are the Quarry, think carefully about your tactics. To fool the Stalker, you might try hiding close to base. Wait a bit before you call “Ready!” to make him think you are further away. Stay quiet until you hear him go past – then creep out behind him.
When you are the Stalker, listen carefully to your Quarry’s shout. Try to work out where the sound is coming from, and how far away it is. Try circling round the spot where your Quarry might be hiding to take him by surprise. But remember he can move about as well. Stop from time to time to listen for tell-tale noises.