Whether it’s Four Square Fridays in Free Speech Alley, hide and seek in the Quad or a campus-wide game of capture the flag, students are reviving childhood past-times and finding ways to keep themselves entertained. While each event begins with a group of friends looking for ways to end their boredom, some of the games are simply the successor to versions played in recent years. Angel Cutno, art education and ceramics senior and KLSU DJ “Magik Fox,” said she was inspired to start her own four square event by a group playing four square her freshman year.”There was a group named Club Club, and they always had these events like pool parties and other games including four square,” Cutno said. “It was always really fun and I just wanted to bring that back.”Cutno said because four square only requires four people to play, it’s easy to get games started. But ease isn’t the only thing that attracts students to four square. “We typically add categories to the base game of four square,” Cutno said. “You may have to say something like a snow cone flavor at the same time you hit the ball. It makes the games more interesting, especially when someone comes up with something hard like naming a mythical creature as you hit the ball. But therein lies the fun.”Four Square Fridays are    hosted by Cutno every Friday afternoon from 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.Capture the flag is another game played on campus that was revived by a rivalry between two friends.Rami Khoury, chemistry sophomore, and Peter Kelton, economics sophomore, said from the day they met, everything was a competition.”It started with us just playing Halo,” Khoury said. “Then we just ended up trying to outdo each other in everything — all in the interest of good fun, of course.”Kelton explained the origin of their version of capture the flag, played every Thursday night from 9 p.m. to about 11:30 p.m. “There used to be a group of about 20 people or so who would play in the Quad,” he said. “But we didn’t know anything about them until later. We were just bored one day, so we thought a game of capture the flag would be a good idea. Everybody played it as a kid, and we just wanted to bring back that type of fun.”Though capture the flag is campus-wide, much of the action takes place in the Quad, where players receive stares and funny looks from studying students.”People just passing through the Quad are always asking what we’re doing,” Khoury said. “It’s a really good way to recruit because they see how much fun it is, and then they join and invite their friends.”The event began with only two players but has now ballooned to anywhere between 20 and 40 students showing up to play.One such student is Sophia Hegmann, natural resource ecology sophomore, who actually broke her foot playing capture the flag. But she won’t let that stop her.”Yeah my foot is hurt. But it’s so much fun, I have to come back,” Hegmann laughed. “I might even come back before it heals.” Hide and seek is played less frequently than the other two games, but political science junior and hide and seek coordinator Dwight Roy said that doesn’t make it less fun.”We only do hide and seek once a year, beginning with last year,” Roy said. “We try to do it right after mid-terms to help students relieve stress. Hide and seek is something most people think is for kids. But it’s a great way to just have fun.”Roy said about 15 students, ranging from freshmen to seniors, attended hide and seek and got creative with their hiding places.”People mostly hide in bushes, trees and shadows,” Roy said. “But some people put more thought into their hiding places. One girl covered herself with leaves and laid there for the whole round. Last year’s winner hid in the fountain right outside Dodson.” Kelton, Roy and Khoury said they view the campus differently now. They look for new places to hide and try to strategize for upcoming games. On top of seeing the world differently, each of the event coordinators said playing recreational games is a great way to meet people and get some exercise.Cutno, Kelton, Khoury and Roy said each of the games is open to anyone who wants to play.  As the old adage goes, “The more, the merrier.”- – – -Contact Abraham Felix at [email protected]