Drop the Hankie

The players form a circle. One player is chosen to be IT. He walks around outside the circle with a handkerchief in his hand. He drops it quietly behind one player and keeps walking trying to get around the circle before the player discovers the handkerchief. If IT gets all the way around the player becomes a dead fish and stands in the middle of the circle. If the player discovers it he chases IT and catches him, they are not IT. If he doesn't catch IT, he becomes IT. A dead fish can rescue himself in two ways. He may snatch the handkerchief from behind some other player before that player sees it, or a player behind whom the handkerchief has been dropped may toss it into the circle behind a dead fish. The dead fish then picks up the handkerchief and chases IT.