How did the "Marco Polo" game, where one child says "Marco" and another responds with "Polo", come about?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Marco_Polo_%28game%29

WHAT DOES MARCO POLO HAVE TO DO WITH THE GAME MARCO POLO?

Perhaps telling the origin of the game will clear this up. The name of the game is not directly related to the explorer.

In the early 1960's my family lived in northern Indiana.I had a younger brother named Steve. When he was little his eyes looked oriental and his skin tone looked Asian. One of the neighbors that lived behind us affectionately called him Chinese Boy. Later another brother, Mark, received the nickname Marco Polo from this same neighbor. Probably in keeping with the Asian theme.

The game of Marco Polo did not initially start out as Marco Polo. It started out as a game of blind man tag in our backyard pool. The calling of "Marco" and "Polo" evolved out of the times Mark (Marco) was it.

The game was initially played as it is played today. However, as we got older the game evolved slightly with "new" rules. Such as not having to be in the pool as long as an arm or leg was still in, or even later when you could be totally out of the water as long as you were within reach of the pool. Nobody ever cheated or peeked. From what I have read, these variations also pickup new game names even though the game is basically the same game.

I have had people question this claim to the origin of the game of Marco Polo. I do not know how I can prove this other than I was there. I would be very surprised if you can find any mention of the game in any media prior to the early 1960's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Grichard56 13:30, 7 September 2007 (UTC)