Couples can either lift the race belt up using their hands, or the rules can be adjusted so the couple can't use their hands. Either way the race belt is a lot of fun. Small children who play belt race tend not to be very coordinated, so that in itself is funny to watch as they try to maneuver the race belt up and over their heads.

Adults - especially if the couples are not married - try to get the race belt up and over their heads in a way that is not going to compromise or embarrass the other. The more risqué version of this game is to have the couple face each other and work the belt up and over their heads. There are variations of this game: have the couple be blindfolded, or have the couple face each other and stand on one leg - - that would be the opposite leg by the way.

There's another belt race game that most adults have probably played, but few remember. The game - as I remember it anyway - was a form of "tag" that was called "bread and butter". The object was that the person who was "it" would take the race belt and use it to "tag" all his or her opponents.

It had the potential to be a painful game. The race belt could hurt. You'd have a group of anywhere from 15 to 20 kids running around trying to dodge the person swinging the belt around. Who ever got tagged with the belt then took the belt and the madness and mayhem continued. It didn't make a lot of sense to me when I was 7 or 8 years old. But it seemed like a lot of fun. And really, at that age what else is important?

We would play belt race in the craziest areas; in the street; dodging traffic. On the rooftops trying not to fall off a high rise and fall ten stories below. The belt represented "power" I guess. In all the years of the play belt race, I never remember anyone ever wanting to use anything but a belt. I guess using a belt was half the fun.

Now as an adult I wonder what the attraction is of a game that uses a belt. I wonder for example, why we don't use a sash or a piece of ribbon. But a belt apparently implies some kind of risk to out subconscious. I certainly don't think about such things while I'm standing back to back with someone else trying to work a belt up and over my head, but in any other forum I'm sure I'm not the only one who looks at a belt and let's their mind start to play out any number of taboo scenarios.

Think about it: as soon as the group decides to play belt race it involves someone taking off his or her belt. And that implies dropping one's pants or skirt. So right off the bat, you're putting people at a disadvantage. Anytime I've ever played the game, as soon as the belt comes off, the whistles and sneers come in. Again, what is it about a belt that puts it in the same class as a pair of handcuffs?

I wonder sometimes about the people who think up these games. At their foundation all games - at least those thought up by adults - are rooted in sex. Think about it: when haven't you played a game that pits man against woman and puts them both in a compromising position? Sure it's all played for laughs, but behind all the giggling is an attempt to get men and women to do a little bumping and grinding.