---
title: "Dragons and Castles"
description: "Knights dribble into castles and out again while a few dragons hunt their balls: pick a castle no dragon is watching, and pick your moment to go in."
canonical: https://hobbit.football/drills/dragons-and-castles
language: en
publisher: Hobbit (https://hobbit.football)
---

# Dragons and Castles

> Knights dribble into castles and out again while a few dragons hunt their balls: pick a castle no dragon is watching, and pick your moment to go in.

U4 to U8 · 8 to 16 players · 20 × 20 m · 10 min

Also called Field of Doom, Find the Underload!, You Can't Catch Me!.

![Diagram of Dragons and Castles](https://hobbit.football/api/game-library/diagram/dragons-and-castles)

## How to play

1. For 8 to 16 players, mark a 20 by 20 metre area and put five castles inside it: small squares from 3 by 3 to 5 by 5 metres.
2. Pick two or three dragons. Everyone else is a knight with a ball. Dragons can go anywhere, castles included.
3. A knight scores a point by dribbling into a castle and out again without a dragon touching their ball. The next point has to come from a different castle.
4. A dragon catches a knight by touching their ball with a foot. Then they swap: the dragon takes the ball and becomes a knight, the knight becomes a dragon. Everyone keeps their own points.
5. Play rounds of 90 seconds, with a short break in between.

## The decision it trains

A knight sees five castles and two or three dragons, and has to find the gap: which castle has no dragon near it, and which dragon is busy chasing someone else. The big castle is easy to get into, but a dragon can reach it quickly; the small one is quiet, but the ball has to be kept close to get in and out without losing it. So knights look up between touches, change speed when the way opens, and turn their body between the ball and a dragon that comes close. Dragons have their own puzzle: stay by one castle and wait, or chase and leave it open. Two dragons who share out the castles catch far more than two who chase the same knight.

## Make it harder or easier

- **Too hard:** make the castles bigger, or play with one dragon fewer.
- **Too easy:** add a dragon and make the castles smaller, or let a point from the smallest castle count 2.
- **Younger players:** play a first round without a ball. A dragon catches a knight with a touch on the back, and knights choose how they travel, galloping like a horse or hopping. Then add the ball. When the story wears thin, change it: aliens landing on planets works just as well.

## What to ask at the breaks

- "How did you choose which castle to go for?"
- "What was the dragon doing when you decided to go in?"
- "Dragons: when did you stay by a castle, and when did you chase?"

## Where it comes from

The FA documents it in its England Football Learning sessions as "Knights, castles and dragons" (2024), a Play Phase game for children aged 4 to 6, and again as the opening activity of "Pressing and tackling session: 3v3 tournament challenge" (2024), shared by Stacey Miles, where guards protect castles of different sizes and a guard who steals a player's bib swaps places with them. No source names who created it.

## Documented by

- The FA (United Kingdom): Knights, castles and dragons
- Football Association of Finland (Finland): Ryöstöhippa
- Royal Belgian FA (Belgium): Krokodillenspel
- Massachusetts Youth Soccer (United States): Field of Doom
- Ontario Soccer (Canada): You Can't Catch Me!, You Still Can't Catch Me!, Find the Underload!

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