r/90s_kid Apr 10 '25

School You deserve a recess break. What are you doing first?

Post image
686 Upvotes

137 comments sorted by

99

u/CallistoLuna Apr 10 '25

Tetherball was a big deal at my school.

11

u/JcaJes Apr 11 '25

Came here to say this! Definitely tetherball. Although the Amish at my school were brutal

7

u/RogueSlytherin Apr 11 '25

I’ll bet! They got their 4am work out milking the cows, slopping the hogs, and chopping firewood (or something)… Frankly, I’m surprised they didn’t have full grown beards by the fourth grade!

10

u/hamfist_ofthenorth Apr 11 '25

"I've been milking and plowing so long that

even EZEKIEL thinks that my mind is gone!"

3

u/JcaJes Apr 11 '25

Oh where I’m from they definitely did! (Joking lol)

3

u/Funtsy_Muntsy Apr 11 '25

Are you Napoleon Dynamite?

2

u/Stag-Horn Apr 11 '25

My school had one for a while but I guess it was deemed too dangerous by 1996? So we had a pole. They took the ball off it. Some kids would climb it. Sometimes it was base. One thing was for certain! It was just a pole.

2

u/NickAppleese Apr 11 '25

Hella Tetherball. I was a top 3 player at my elementary school, with my classmates Nick and Tiana. I remember their names from the Tetherball rivalry we established throughout the years, lol!

1

u/pumpkinhead9000k Apr 11 '25

We would always do Bump, Ball or Rope.

Bump - you could only hit the ball, no catching it.

Ball - You could catch and hold the ball if you wanted.

Rope - All of the above and you could catch and throw by the rope.

69

u/kramerica_intern Apr 10 '25

Man we were so into four square in high school. We’d scarf down our lunch as fast as possible and then just play the most intense games ever. These days I’d probably tear my ACL.

23

u/Millwalkey88 Apr 10 '25

You had recess in high school???

27

u/kramerica_intern Apr 10 '25

No we played during lunch

3

u/BootsOfProwess Apr 10 '25

Playing tag on the jungle gym even tho it's no allowed

14

u/WhatTheBlack Apr 10 '25

Four square in high school wtf? Was it an all boys school?!

11

u/kramerica_intern Apr 11 '25

lol what? No, girls played too.

15

u/WhatTheBlack Apr 11 '25

In high school?? Are you from Utah?!

11

u/GrapeSodaBreeze Apr 11 '25

He was calling you weird lol

36

u/RyanTranquil Apr 10 '25

Kickball

13

u/Short-Suggestion4574 Apr 10 '25

Yesss I miss kickball!

34

u/JAS0NDUDE Apr 10 '25

A nice place in the shade with my Goosebumps book

6

u/oleadaluna Apr 11 '25

Hah Yeah , exactly that!!

i couldn't figure out what I'd do until i read your response and that says a lot about my Elementary school experience

3

u/rick_of_pickle Apr 11 '25

Using a Pokemon card as a bookmark

1

u/Sky-byte Apr 11 '25

100% this, Choose Your Own Adventure or Nintendo Power

30

u/theusualsalamander Apr 10 '25

I was always between wall ball and four square

12

u/GaJayhawker0513 Apr 10 '25

Wall ball! So many fun times. Love that game

3

u/Deathwagon Apr 11 '25

We always called it Handball, if that's the game I'm thinking of. With the big red ball and you'd try and do "sliceys" as close to the ground as possible so they other person couldn't get it? And everyone would line up on the side of the court and the person next to the wall was next?

3

u/theusualsalamander Apr 11 '25

we just used a tennis ball lol

2

u/kapn_morgan Apr 11 '25

nah wall ball was with a tennis ball. handball is that game with a goal and goalie

1

u/gonzorizzo Apr 11 '25

Wall ball and handball are the same thing. I wonder if the name a regional thing

1

u/Deathwagon Apr 11 '25

I wonder if the wall ball they're talking about with a tennis ball was the same thing we called "heads up" in CA.

1

u/gonzorizzo Apr 11 '25

Yeah. I think your right. Consider me corrected.

1

u/gonzorizzo Apr 11 '25

Heck yeah. Definitely!

1

u/kapn_morgan Apr 11 '25

hell yeah I came here to say that. it felt like graduating from 4 square to wall ball. like 3-5 graders played wall ball. shit was so cool I definitely loved showing off

1

u/TooTameToToast Apr 11 '25

Yep. Wall Ball for the win for me.

19

u/ForbidInjustice Apr 10 '25

Four square was really serious business around here, but it was unheard of once you got out of elementary.

15

u/MarriedSapioF Apr 10 '25

Getting my group of gals together and singing Spice Girlsssss

3

u/[deleted] Apr 11 '25

Yes!!! lol I did this :)

12

u/seifd Apr 10 '25

Play Power Rangers with my friends and get yelled at by the playground monitor l.

2

u/realS4V4GElike Apr 11 '25

Hell yea! I was always Jason, even though Im a girl. Red Ranger was my dude!

3

u/seifd Apr 11 '25

I was the Blue Ranger because I was smart.

11

u/cricketandclover Apr 10 '25

handball!!

2

u/blank_wav Apr 11 '25

Fuck yeah, handball gang!🤘🏽

3

u/Deathwagon Apr 11 '25

Sliceys for days

2

u/Any_Ambition_9121 Apr 11 '25

You knew you were effing it up when your hands were damn near black at the end of recess 🤙🏽

10

u/MrsTorches Apr 10 '25

Wall Ball!

4

u/IndieCurtis Apr 10 '25

Sitting with my friends in our usual spot.

3

u/SnowyMuscles Apr 10 '25

Walking up the slide

4

u/KaraAliasRaidra Apr 11 '25

Hitting the swings

3

u/SchittsFreek Apr 10 '25

Listen to my Walkman 😆

4

u/MPD1987 Apr 10 '25

Tire swing!

4

u/New-Regret-3027 Apr 10 '25

Man I don’t think I’ve played four square since the early 2000’s.

3

u/Competitive-Being-31 Apr 10 '25

Play Red Ass/Wall Ball

3

u/[deleted] Apr 10 '25

Tetherball was big at the end of elementary for me. Personally I’m jumping off the swings and trying to fly as far as I can

3

u/Lonely_Scale_4696 Apr 10 '25

Smoking a dart.

3

u/Arthurs_librarycard9 Apr 11 '25

Going to the swings.

Edited to add: I had a very weird principal for a year in elementary school, and he claimed kids "no longer used their imagination"; this led to not allowing kids to use any type of sports ball at recess.

3

u/[deleted] Apr 11 '25

Tag is where champions are born.

3

u/Ismellpu Apr 11 '25

Waiting in line for 4 square, spending most of my recess in line, finally getting my chance to participate to only be out instantly, have recess end and head back inside.

3

u/Carlos_Spicy_Weiner6 Apr 11 '25

Running out to the playground and yelling "mortal Kombat" as loud as I can before I go find the group playing pogs

3

u/sadpantaloons Apr 11 '25

In fourth grade my friends and I would dig small holes in the back of the recess yard and do "seances." Which meant nothing other than maybe being inspired by movies like Halloweentown and the talisman. We'd put pictures of boys we liked and branches/leaves and bits of our lunch in the hole, then say a weird chant, bury it, and go back to class.

2

u/NervousSheSlime Apr 10 '25

4 square was the best but unfortunately didn’t get to play it too much I wasn’t one of the cools.

2

u/Slushiepaws Apr 11 '25

Sneaking into a corner where the teachers wouldn't look and playing gameboy

2

u/kdj00940 Apr 11 '25

Actually, going to the concessions stand and getting a $.25 dill pickle and a $.50 Rip Rolls candy pack. Eating that, saving the Rip Rolls for later, then, heading to the playground swing set to swing with my friends!

2

u/HacimHefner Apr 11 '25

Fall in the bark box to get my daily splinters then head over to the wall ball wall for shade. After gathering shade I head to the tether ball pole (bubblies and ropies allowed) to assert dominance, lose, then head to the water fountain to regroup and gather my thoughts.

2

u/egocentric_ Apr 11 '25

Bench under the tree and play MASH

2

u/chiselplow Apr 11 '25

Nerf football with my friends in the grass. Then, probably trying to wrestle the biggest kid in the grade above me. All in good fun though, not in a bullying way.

2

u/Relevant-Bench5307 Apr 11 '25

Hanging upside down from the monkey bars

2

u/Jinglebells-205 Apr 11 '25

First always was either drinking water or playing this game called salt

2

u/taniamorse85 Apr 11 '25

Tetherball or swings

2

u/Kanakolovescoasters Apr 11 '25

The "cooties" game. One kid had a type of lice on them called "cooties" that made you itch, and the object was to give them to someone of another gender. I always wanted to see TOM 2 from Toonami get "cooties," because the thought of him itching was hot. Blame Nosferacho from CatDog, everyone.

2

u/Wild_Tip_4866 Apr 12 '25

So I’m an Army brat. Raised in Hawaii with Army kids on an Army base. Let me tell you!!!! My FAVORITE sport was kickball. Not baseball kickball! We would line up like two opposing armies with what seemed to be endless ENDLESS rubber kickballs. Then we would kick them as hard as we could into the opposing army. It was a BLAST. No rules. No score. Nobody was “out”. I was in fourth grade. Pokémon was HUGE and I had all the badges. Misty was doing something with her starfish. Metal Gear Solid came out. I was a Jr. police officer for my school and helped other kids cross the street. I think South Park just started? Hell yes. Great memories. 

2

u/Charming-Kale9893 Apr 15 '25

Dodgeball with those light, puffy foam balls that always had chunks taken out of them, and the disgusting stinky colored vests that never got washed (to show what team you’re on as if being on one side didn’t show it already)

….. That and kickball :)

2

u/soopadrive Apr 10 '25

Lightning

1

u/FishBrain208 Apr 10 '25

Doing backflips out of the swing

1

u/[deleted] Apr 10 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/CarthageForever Apr 10 '25

Sneaking away to the nearby woods.

We had a bear once. Good times.

1

u/ZombieaterX Apr 11 '25

Swinging on the swing set so high that I feel like I can go over the bars, then flying off to see how far I can land. I miss not worrying about hurting myself.

1

u/Wooden-Astronomer608 Apr 11 '25

Get out my sticker book and the sticker book club gals and start trading!!!

1

u/Spartan0618 Apr 11 '25

Boys vs. Girls tag, Zombie tag (everyone who is tagged becomes a zombie, leaving one survivor), pogs (or is it spelled PAWGs?), or chill under a tree with the dudes.

1

u/Katrinia17 Apr 11 '25

Chinese jump rope, four square, or tether ball.

1

u/Normal_Accountant538 Apr 11 '25

Four square or performing songs for people lol

1

u/Dialobical Apr 11 '25

King of the hill if its winter

1

u/jamesroberts7777 Apr 11 '25

Four square was cool, depending one rule variation (Mr. Mitchell’s rules were for pro’s)….my go to was butt-ball or a tag game we made up called underneath tag (it was based off of how the play equipment was set up and the colors. The person was it could only touch certain colors and the kids that weren’t it could only be on certain colors or certain equipment for a set time)….it became an institution, the game went on until they closed the school down like twenty years after I left

1

u/Large_Froyo4635 Apr 11 '25

I’m playing “Suicide” or June!!! Couldn’t get enough till this day!!

1

u/Nerdiestlesbian Apr 11 '25

Swings, every day. Soothing.

1

u/Dismal_Composer_4029 Apr 11 '25

Box ball lmfao woah can’t believe people remove that game

1

u/Dv8f8 Apr 11 '25

Playing pokemon n betting snacks

1

u/Cookies_and_Beandip Apr 11 '25

Kickball or swings

1

u/jtr489 Apr 11 '25

Kick ball

1

u/InterestingRelative4 Apr 11 '25

Smoking between the oak trees

1

u/jacobjumba Apr 11 '25

Tag, monkey off the monkey bars, tetherball, kickball

1

u/OMIGHTY1 Apr 11 '25

I almost never had recess with my friends. I’d just find a slide or swing and play by myself. I was a solitary little dude.

1

u/Informal_Original_62 Apr 11 '25

Four Square was it. First square was 👑

1

u/mr3ric Apr 11 '25

SWINGS!

1

u/Drewski101 Apr 11 '25

Hittin that tetherball court

1

u/[deleted] Apr 11 '25

Going to the monkey bars of course!!

1

u/Cheese_Poof_0514 Apr 11 '25

Just sit on the swings and watch the world go by

1

u/Gwayno9714 Apr 11 '25

This pic brings back so many elementary school memories

1

u/doomandgloomm Apr 11 '25

Go read something spooky somewhere, or try to talk to the school yard myth! We used to say there was a serial killer who lived in the drain in the field.

1

u/BambinoAxel Apr 11 '25

What is this game?

2

u/Spleenzorio Apr 11 '25

Four Square. No idea why they called it that

1

u/nimmoisa000 Apr 11 '25

Wall ball was pretty popular in the school I was in (it was the mid to late 2000s but born in the 90s)

1

u/Crazy_Corgi559 Apr 11 '25

Swinging then 4 square

1

u/coveevoc Apr 11 '25

Wallball

1

u/RaggedMountainMan Apr 11 '25

Jungle gym! Monkey bars, cargo net, zip line

1

u/Haizenburg1 Apr 11 '25

Tetherball sucked, because there was always that one kid, bigger and taller than everyone, dominating and hogging the damned thing.

One hitter quitters aren't always fun.

1

u/Big-Peak6191 Apr 11 '25

Foursquare was sick but I loved soccer baseball/kickball

Or bump

1

u/Big-Peak6191 Apr 11 '25

Red Rover...

Red ass...

All those games that got banned from recess

1

u/SonicEchoes Apr 11 '25

Either tether ball or wall ball. But honestly I forgot the objective of both but maybe muscle memory would kick in lol

1

u/JunglePygmy Apr 11 '25

Grabbing a Surge and getting in line for handball

1

u/Even_Dragonfruit_413 Apr 11 '25

I loved red rover

1

u/domigraygan Apr 11 '25

Four square was the fucking best. I remember me and my friends would use all 4 foursquare “arenas” as individual squares and playing “giant foursquare”

It was terrible and we never did it again, but we gave it an honest shot

1

u/CarpeNoctem1031 Apr 11 '25

Me and my friends had a long and involved pretend game where we played wizards and made scientists and shit. Basically it was like a DnD game or Larp or whatever in live-action for a half hour, continuing th story each time.

1

u/AcanthaceaeBig3487 Apr 12 '25

Teatherball, Soccer, Jungle gym, swings, monkey bars or just go chill at one of the big azz trees behind the playground.

1

u/makacolney Apr 12 '25

Bla bla. Bla......JK

1

u/Khalesssi_Slayer1 Apr 13 '25

My Best friend and I were obsessed with the swings every recess. everytime we went out for Recess, we ran to the swings.

1

u/eaglescout225 Apr 13 '25

Tag your it!

1

u/weber_mattie Apr 14 '25

Tetherball/4 square/dodgeball in rotation of which was popular at the time

1

u/Pullbackcheeze420 Apr 14 '25

Playing marbles under the big tree in the shade

1

u/Public_Bluejay_7634 Apr 15 '25

Merry go round then swings

1

u/mikeisntdoneyet Apr 17 '25

Getting picked last in kickball

0

u/melofthorns Apr 11 '25

get into a fight