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

Some children's games depict dark events (such as "Ring around the Rosy" which drew it's origins from the Black Plauge). My theory is that Marco Polo is a game that reinacts the return voyage of Marco Polo. The voyage involved a fleet of ships and a large number of voyagers. When Marco Polo finally did return, over 600 of his travel companions were missing. My theory is that the fleet was caught in a great storm that destroyed many of the ships and left the crew and passengers in the ocean. Hoping to be found, they yell for the expedition leader. Visibility is very low (hence the closed eyes) and Marco Polo tries desparately to find the swimmers (hence the pool). The yells come from all around which adds to the confusion. The game ends when he finally connects with one player which portrays the small percentage of people that survived the voyage.

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)

The historical significance of this game relates back to a time when Marco Polo (age 17) was traveling to China with his father and uncle on their way to see the Great Khan. Marco was very tired and he fell asleep on his horse. His horse must have sensed this and slowed down dropping back from the caravan. When Marco Polo awoke he did not see his family. He began to hear voices in the desert thinking it was the caravan calling for him...hense "Marco" "Polo." He was later found but it was not his family calling. He was halluicinating.

A young couple finally decide to make love. His name is Marco. (You may see where this is going) Upon seeing the humungous size of his manly member, She, (her name is Marijo Fullof Crappi)exclaims, "Oh Marco, what a Polo !".......by Guydeco

The game is fairly new having begun right after WWII. There was a bridge called "Marco Polo" right outside of Wanping (by Beijing)China. The League of Nations had given the the West side of the Bridge to China and the East to Japan right after WWI. Although there was a treaty that said Japan must tell China of any military action in the area, Japan failed to notify China.
On July 7, 1937, at about 23:00 (that's 11 pm to me) Japan had a training military excerize on their side of Marco Polo Bridge. China's soldier, thinking they were under attack, fired back with little consequence.
The initital event lasted for only minutes. Both sides rushed to their leaders with news of attack. Japan was missing a man and believed he was lost in the river below (really a rice field). War was declared and it lasted July 7-9th, 1939.

as one night my greatt uncle brendon was looking for my friend nikkis uncle gregory. when he went to yell for gregory he got stung by a wasp and screamed holly marko!!! gregory then reply did you say polo?
no marko!
polo?
marko!!
hence that is how the game really came about, check the media reports
new york times april 1st 1930

Marco Polo originated around Spain, and is strongly apart of German hertitage. A man in the 1700 to 1800--around that time i think--was traveling in the mountains with another man. When they lost eachother, one man would say Marco, and the other Polo. They would keep yelling to eachother untill they found eachother once again.

I have no idea, but the kids love playing it in the pool, for ages, it seems a bit strange to me........

The game originally came from China. "Marco Polo" is an Anglicized version of the Chinese phrase for "Where are you?"

I don't know

This swimming pool game originated at the Marco Polo resort hotel in Miami Beach in the 1950's or early 60's. It was constantly played there and was spread by the myriad of kids who came to Miami for a vacation with their parents. Whenever a spell of inactivity caused a "gap" in the guest stream and a new bunch of kids arrived who didn't know the game, the Marco Polo's lifeguard would hop into the pool and train the new batch how to play the game until it was once again self sustaining. For years I thought it was one of the best hotel promotion gimmicks I had ever witnessed. But after reading the other responses here, I realize that not all those kids who played the game for the first time in far-away places (like Indiana or where-ever) asked the crucial question "Where did you learn this game?"

Marco Polo started as an old way of asking "Where are you?" This is
because people had no real way of asking any questions before I
invented the question mark in 1937. All they could do was call a
word like Marco and try to figure out where people were when
there was a response like Polo. After I invented the question mark,
it becane possible to shout things like "Where are you?" or "Where is
everyone?"

--TomS

I looked around online and saw a site where it claims no one knows the origin of this game. But just for kicks, I remember my parents telling me that they were brothers who got lost in some mist and are looking for each other. Hence the closed eyes... Probably related to the Marco Polo legend.

The game had its origins based on the similarity between the alternate reality of swimming underwater in a pool, looking for unseen friends, and Marco Polo's travels through the opium dens of China looking for his fellow explorers.

I think the true question here is "Why are kids nowadays spending all of their time in the pool yelling, 'Adamm! Corrrollllaaa!"

Marco Polo was my uncle in a past life and he told me the whole story...One night he was wandering around drunk looking for himself with his eyes closed calling out "Marco..."and he kept hearing the reply "Polo!" How about that?!

Share your answer...