Remember SPUD? Here are the rules

We lived on the best street growing up. It didn't lead anywhere so it didn't get much traffic and almost every house had a handful of kids living there. That meant many, many hours of outdoor fun. One of our favorite games was SPUD, but I had completely forgotten about it until I saw the new book "Let's Go Outside" by Jennifer Ward.
It's a collection of the rules to your favorite outdoor games, recipes for bubbles, instructions for things like building kites and forts, and suggestions for outdoor activities.
So here are the rules to SPUD as I remember them (assisted a bit by Jennifer Ward). First, gather a group of kids, five or more would be good. Someone is IT. IT whispers a different number to each of the other players. For example, if there are 6 kids total, IT whispers the numbers 1 through 5 to the other kids.
Then IT throws the ball up in the air as high as he can while he yells out a number. The kid who is assigned that number runs to catch the ball while everyone else runs away from the catcher. When he catches it he yells out "SPUD" and everyone else must freeze. The catcher then takes four giant steps toward the nearest player (yelling S-P-U-D) and tries to tag them with the ball. If that player is hit they get an "S".
The catcher then becomes IT and assigns numbers to the other players and it all begins again. Each time a player gets tagged with the ball they get the next letter in the word SPUD. Each player keeps track of the letters he has been "tagged" with. When he gets all four letters to spell out "SPUD" he is out of the game. Or you can forget that rule and just keep playing until the ice cream truck comes by.
"Let's Go Outside" is published by Trumpeter Books, is recommended for ages 8-12, will be available at bookstores in July and retails for $14.00. While you're checking it out, look for her previous book "I Love Dirt." I want that book just for the title, its priceless!