An outdoor game that has been played in Europe and South America at least since 1930s with numerous variants. Most of those variants, however, now seem to suffer from lack of consistency when
it comes to the rules and overall aim of the game. Hence what you will find below is our compilation of the game which hopefully makes more sense as a whole.
One player is chosen to be Mr Wolf. Mr Wolf stands at the opposite end of the playing field (on the 'finish line'), facing away from the other players. The remaining players, on the
other end of the field, stand on a line, facing Mr Wolf. The two lines are preferably at least 8-10 meters apart.
While players aim at reaching the finish line and become the new Mr Wolf, Mr Wolf tries to keep its mighty status by not letting them do so.
Once all players take their positions, a call-and-response then takes place. All players except Mr Wolf chant in unison "What's the time, Mr Wolf?" and Mr Wolf will then answer in one of two
ways.
If Mr Wolf calls a time of day (e.g. "Three o'clock!") the other players will then take that many steps towards the finish line, counting the steps out loud as they go ("One,
two, three!"). They then ask the question again. If any player reaches to the finish line, that is, to Mr Wolf’s post, then that player overthrows Mr Wolf and becomes the new Mr Wolf. A new
game starts.
If Mr Wolf calls "Dinner time!" as a response, Mr Wolf will turn and chase the other players back to their starting point. If Mr Wolf successfully touches a player, then the
player tagged is out of the game and Mr Wolf successfully keeps his/her status and a new game starts with Mr Wolf unchanged. If Mr Wolf fails to tag any players until they are back to their
starting point, then Mr Wolf is out of the game and the game begins again. The player who was closest to the finish line when “Dinner time!” was called becomes the new Mr Wolf.
When played till the end, the very last player to remain will come victorious as The Mr Wolf.
