Russian Smuck is a game we played when we were kids.
It could be described as one-against-all (American) football.
The playing field was the side yard of a house that had one or two trees at the end near the street. This was the end zone.
To start the game, one person, usually the kid that owned the ball, would stand in the end zone with his back to all the other players who on the playing field. They would then toss the ball over their head in the general direction of the other kids.
Who ever caught the ball was to try to cross into the end zone and make a touch down. Everyone else tried to tackle them. If the person with the ball made it to the end zone, they would get a point, then they would stand with their back to the rest of the players and toss the ball over their head toward them. If the person with the ball didn’t make it to the end zone, they would stand about where they were tackled, with their back to the rest of the players and toss the ball over their head toward them.
It was a brutal game in that everyone played full tilt. When you got the ball, you tried as hard as you could to cross into the end zone. If you were tackling, you hung on to the person as best you could and tried to stop them. There was never a thought of hurting each other, no one tried to hurt anyone, but we played hard. Knees got scraped, elbows bruised, heads banged. If you got hurt and didn’t want to play anymore, you went home.
We argued over points, since scoring was in our heads. The end zone line was another area of contention, there was no chalk, we guessed at where the line was.
The game continued until it was too dark to see the ball.
It was a great game.