Pie or, Pieman, Pieman is an outdoor game

Game

A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...

 for more than three children. Its origin is unknown. A variant exists called Easter Eggs.

Description

The game requires a seating area for the players (such as a flight of porch steps or a garden wall) which is designated the "Pie Shop" or "Bakery." Also required are a Goal

Goal

A goal is an objective, or a projected computation of affairs, that a person or a system plans or intends to achieve.Goal, GOAL or G.O.A.L may also refer to:Sport...

 distant from the seating area such as a tree, post or other object, and an expanse of lawn or field for a chase similar to the chase in the game of Tag

Tag (game)

Tag is a playground game played worldwide that involves one or more players chasing other players in an attempt to tag or touch them, usually with their fingers. There are many variations...

.

One player is chosen Pieman, another Buyer, and the other players are Pies. The Buyer is sometimes designated Simple Simon

Simple Simon

Simple Simon may refer to:*Simple Simon , a nursery rhyme*Simple Simon , a Broadway musical*Simple Simon , a solitaire/patience card game*Simple Simon , a 2010 Swedish film...

 following the Mother Goose

Mother Goose

The familiar figure of Mother Goose is an imaginary author of a collection of fairy tales and nursery rhymes which are often published as Mother Goose Rhymes. As a character, she appears in one "nursery rhyme". A Christmas pantomime called Mother Goose is often performed in the United Kingdom...

 rhyme:

Simple Simon met a pieman

Going to the fair;

Says Simple Simon to the pieman,

"Let me taste your ware."

To begin the game, the Buyer is sent to the Goal where he cannot see or hear the other players. The Pieman than names each Pie with a common pie filling

Pie

A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients....

 such as Apple, Blueberry, Pumpkin, etc. When all the Pies have been named, the Pieman calls the Buyer to the Pie Shop.

The Buyer demands, "Pieman, Pieman, I would like a pie." The Pieman asks, "And what might that Pie be?" The Buyer then names a pie flavor such as Apple. If one of the Pies has been designated Apple, then he rushes from the Pie Shop to the Goal while the Buyer runs after him and attempts to tag

Tag (game)

Tag is a playground game played worldwide that involves one or more players chasing other players in an attempt to tag or touch them, usually with their fingers. There are many variations...

 him. Both the Pie and the Buyer must touch the Goal before running back to the Pie Shop. If the Pie returns to the Pie Shop without being tagged, he resumes his seat, and is renamed for another round. The chase may be complicated with dodging about lawn furniture, flower beds, clotheslines of drying laundry, or other obstacles in the path to and from the Goal.

Before the Buyer leaves the Pie Shop in pursuit of the Pie, he is required to pay the Pieman the price he asks for the Pie (such as 10 dollars). Payment is accomplished by slapping the Pieman's outstretched, up-turned palm, and counting aloud the required number of "dollars." Paying the Pieman gives slower, or smaller Pies a "head-start" against the Buyer.

Should the Pie be "tagged" during his flight to the Goal, he becomes the Buyer, the Buyer becomes a Pie, and play resumes in a similar manner.

Variant

A variation of the game for children who may have limited knowledge of pie flavors is Easter Eggs. Here, players are given colors (red, blue, green, etc.) rather than pie fillings. The Pieman becomes The Easter Bunny

Easter Bunny

The Easter Bunny or Easter Rabbit is a character depicted as a rabbit bringing Easter eggs, who sometimes is depicted with clothes...

and the seating area the Easter Basket. Another variant is called Red Devil, where one child is removed from the group, and the kids are assigned colors (pink,yellow,blue) the child then returns and says "Red Devil, Red Devil, may I borrow a crayon?" the group then asks "What color?" and like pie the color chosen must try to catch the asker before the asker takes that person's seat.