Marco Polo! One person stands in the pool with their eyes closed and shouts "Marco" and everyone else yells back "Polo" and the Marco person has to tag the Polo people just by following the sound of their voices. I don't know where it comes from or why it's named after him, but yes, kids do actually play it-- at least, I did. :o)

god i hate that stupid game

thankyou!!!
for years i have been plagued with not understanding this game when i see it movies and tvshows like the simpsons.
and i'm glad it's got nothing to do with that Marco Paulo chap. lol

Ah its a great game! another rule is that you aren't aloud to get out of the pool. If you do and the person saying "marco" callsout "fish out of water?!" you are automatically the marco person even if ou weren't tagged. Thats an Aussie rule anyway, i don't know if they'd do that in america

Fish out of water! Oh, I forgot that part!!

I need to round up some friends for Marco Polo. It's been too long.

Hehe last summer (its winter now here) i played it at a drunken 'gathering' with some mates. so so much fun!

i might try and get some people to play it, if i can explain patiently what it is to them first. hehe

You should! It's more fun when you're actually playing it than it sounds.

It was when I was nine, anyway.
;o)

we dont have the

fish out of water rule in the usa
at least we didnt

MARCO......

POLO

marco polo? if we're talking about the same thing, it's a game played in the water most often. i don't know when it was invented, or why it's called that really, but the game consists of one person (marco polo) who has to wander around in the water saying "marco" with his/her eyes shut, to which the other players have to respond with "polo". the object of the game is for marco polo to try to catch another player using only his/her hearing. the other players keep their eyes open and try to avoid marco.



hope that....helped. i never dreamed i'd ever type a synopsis of that game. haha.

...but apparently this is old news and someone's already answered you. oops. i guess i should have read the comments.

that's ok!
the more i read about it the more likely i am to understand it completely in order to further educate other stiff-upper-lip-ers. hehe

Right! I'm all set now I know, I just need a pool, and friends... oh. Bugger!

HERE IS WHY [the pool game] WAS NAMED AFTER MARCO POLO 4/29/2005 8:20 AM Squashua

Because HISTORICALLY, Marco Polo wrote a paragraph about travellers getting lost in the dark in the desert. (SEE the quote from his Travels below).



These travellers would get lost and would try to find their way back in the dark by listening to noises that may or may not be phantom sounds. The concept from the game, Marco-Polo, extends from this very same situation that Marco Polo wrote about.





"When a man is riding through this desert by night and for some reason -falling asleep or anything else -he gets separated from his companions and wants to rejoin them, he hears spirit voices talking to him as if they were his companions, sometimes even calling him by name. Often these voices lure him away from the path and he never finds it again, and many travelers have got lost and died because of this. Sometimes in the night travelers hear a noise like the clatter of a great company of riders away from the road; if they believe that these are some of their own company and head for the noise, they find themselves in deep trouble when daylight comes and they realize their mistake. There were some who, in crossing the desert, have been a host of men coming towards them and, suspecting that they were robbers, returning, they have gone hopelessly astray....Even by daylight men hear these spirit voices, and often you fancy you are listening to the strains of many instruments, especially drums, and the clash of arms. For this reason bands of travelers make a point of keeping very close together. Before they go to sleep they set up a sign pointing in the direction in which they have to travel, and round the necks of all their beasts they fasten little bells, so that by listening to the sound they may prevent them from straying off the path."

---- Marco Polo, Travels

aw thanks!!
so it was related to him. :)