---
title: "Chain Tag 1-2-3"
description: "Groups of three share one busy area: 1 hunts 2's ball, and whoever loses the ball hunts the next number. Protect yours and track your target."
canonical: https://hobbit.football/drills/chain-tag
language: en
publisher: Hobbit (https://hobbit.football)
---

# Chain Tag 1-2-3

> Groups of three share one busy area: 1 hunts 2's ball, and whoever loses the ball hunts the next number. Protect yours and track your target.

U6 to U10 · 6 to 15 players · 20 × 20 m · 8 min

Also called Ryhmähippa 1-2-3.

![Diagram of Chain Tag 1-2-3](https://hobbit.football/api/game-library/diagram/chain-tag)

## How to play

1. For 6 to 15 players, mark a 20 by 20 metre area. Make groups of three and number the players 1, 2 and 3. Each group has two balls: 2 and 3 have one each, 1 starts without.
2. All the groups play at the same time in the same area. On "go", each 1 tries to win the ball from their 2.
3. Whoever loses the ball becomes the hunter and goes after the next number: 2 hunts 3, 3 hunts 1, 1 hunts 2.
4. Every ball you win is a point. A ball that leaves the area goes to the player hunting it. Play 90-second rounds, then mix the groups.

## The decision it trains

Every player has two jobs at once: keep the ball away from the one number hunting them, and keep track of the one they will hunt next. In an area full of other groups, that means looking up through traffic: where is my hunter, where is my target, and whose body can I hide behind? With the ball, the choice is between shielding, escaping into space and using the other groups as cover; without it, the hunter picks the angle and the moment to win it.

## Make it harder or easier

- **Too hard:** grow the area to 25 by 25 metres, so the hunted have room to escape.
- **Too easy:** play in groups of four with three balls: 1 hunts 2, 2 hunts 3, 3 hunts 4 and 4 hunts 1, so there is more to track.
- **Younger players:** play it first as running tag with no balls, 1 tags 2, 2 tags 3 and 3 tags 1, then add the balls.

## What to ask at the breaks

- "How did you keep an eye on your hunter and your target at the same time?"
- "How did the other groups help you?"
- "What did you do the moment you lost the ball?"

## Where it comes from

It comes from the Finnish football association, Suomen Palloliitto: Ryhmähippa 1-2-3 (group tag 1-2-3) is in Kaikki Pelissä, its material on tag games for schools and kindergartens, first as running tag and then with balls. The material gives no date and no age band, and the research found no second source.

## Documented by

- Football Association of Finland (Finland): Ryhmähippa 1-2-3

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